It’s easy to pick apart a number of issues in Marrone’s first season, and I have.  From quarterback playing time to blown leads, there were some down moments.  But a closer look at the numbers shows a great improvement.  Seriously, great:

It may have been rough to watch sometimes, but offensively, Doug Marrone’s NFL system seemed to have worked wonders.  Over the course of the season, Syracuse averaged 21.2 points, 330 yards of total offense, and allowed 27 sacks.  That’s the best for those three categories since 2004 – a bowl season.  In pass efficiency, Syracuse quarterbacks completed 64.7% of their passes.  That’s the best percentage in the last twenty years! More than 17% better than the year before Marrone got to Syracuse.

Defensively, the turnaround was even more staggering stat-wise.  Brace yourself.  The defense had the most sacks since 2001 (35), let up the least yards per carry since 1997 (3.0), the fewest rushing yards per game since 1992 (102), and the fewest yard per play in the last 20 years (12.1).  Overall it was the best defense statistically since 2000.

Syracuse is returning 15 starters this season – they’ve never had more come back in the last 20 years.  Maybe there is something here and maybe too much focus is going towards what Syracuse has been, not what it could be.  We’ll have to wait and see.  In the meantime, thank you Phil Steele for giving me hope.