Football Picks With Bad TV Cliches, Part 2

Welcome back, obviously you don't think I'm totally clueless about this whole "football picks" thing if you have returned for the eagerly awaited second half of my yearly football predictions. As I said last week, we all care about the NFL, but I especially care about Syracuse, Susquehanna, and West Genesee, so this week is devoted to them. Why? Well, I'm from Syracuse, so I'm a lifelong Orange fan. I graduated from West Genesee High School and Susquehanna University, so I consider myself bigtime fans of their football teams. Also, in the case of West Genny, I've got to clear up some nastiness that has been occuring of late in cyberspace. That comes later, though; first up, let's get the Orangemen out of the way.

As of the time I'm writing this, the quarterback issue is of course still not resolved, and won't be until kickoff against the dangerous (yeah, right) Buffalo Bulls on September 2. Obviously for Buffalo, whomever the starting signal caller is won't matter much; SU could beat UB with ME starting at quarterback. Oh by the way, that "we have four quarterbacks, one for each quarter" joke was cute for about five minutes, now it's just plain annoying. So, who do I think gets the job?

Will it be Troy Nunes, the incumbent starter? (cue the organ)

Will it be RJ Anderson, the hotshot freshman? (again, cue the organ)

Will it be Chad Elliott, the JUCO transfer? (cue the organ yet again)

Will it be Madei Williams? Skip the organ, it will not be Madei Williams.

Simply put, Williams was second out of two last year, what makes anyone think he will suddenly emerge as the best of four this year. Do us all a favor, Madei, and switch to receiver. It worked for Kevin Johnson, it works for Malik Campbell, it might just work for you. NEXT!!!

RJ Anderson: I know there are a lot of you Orange fans who feel that RJ Anderson is the second coming of Donovan McNabb, and yes, we knew about as much about McNabb at this point in his freshman year as we do now about Anderson. Sorry, folks, it's not going to happen. Anderson is running third in my eyes right now, which may precipitate a switch to linebacker, and don't go getting your tar and feathers ready, RJ has said he doesn't have a problem with that. NEXT!!!

We're down to Nunes and Elliott. First of all, I got my best laugh in months when I read that Lindy's, well respected preview magazine that it is, proclaimed Troy Nunes as one of the "sophomores to watch" this year. That said, the main thing going against Nunes is the fact that when we hear the name Troy Nunes, the first thing we think of is his infamous 30-yard scramble in the wrong direction that led to what may have been the game-deciding safety against Michigan last year. When he got the whole game to himself in the Music City Bowl, he did pretty darn good. Pretty darn good against Va Tech or Miami ain't gonna be good enough. Nunes is the most qualified to run an option offense like Syracuse's, but he can't throw the deep ball.

And then there's Elliott: the guy started at Arizona State as a freshman, anything less than that here will probably make him reconsider the whole "coming to the frozen North" decision. He has the arm all right, which is good, with deep threats like Pat Woodcock, Maurice Jackson, and the frosh Johnnie Morant to throw to. However, he's never had to run the option. You need speed and elusiveness to run the option; I would submit Don McPherson, Marvin Graves, and Donovan McNabb as Exhibits A, B, and C for that. As bally-hooed as he is, I can't see it, not right now.

Therefore, it is Troy Nunes' job to lose. Yeah, folks, that means you can cancel your travel plans for Miami in early January, there will be no National Championship Game, no BCS for that matter. The true test of Troy Nunes comes September 23 against East Carolina. SU is probably 2-0 at that point, having polished off Buffalo and Cincinnati. If Nunes excels against the Pirates and again the next week against BYU, the job is his. If not, Elliott gets his shot.

There, see how easy that was?

As for the rest of the team, we know the D is solid, no argument there. The front seven is experienced and if there's anything we can never bicker about, it's SU's ability to stop the run. The secondary has to step up, and it's up to Will Allen and Quentin Harris especially to step up. They've been around long enough to know what it's going to take to stop teams from running up 300-yard passing games. The microscope of course is on the offense, can they score enough points to make up for a rare day off by the defense when and if it happens? The Orange can run the ball, but the question is who runs it more? Obvious answer there: Kyle Johnson. OK, OK, I know, you meant between Dee Brown and James Mungro. Mungro has to get the ball more than last year, he proved that against Kentucky. He will get it more, but Dee still has to get his touches, and freshman Walter Reyes may also get into the mix. He's impressed many in the early going of preseason camp. The O-line is better than last year, but thinner, so staying healthy is key.

So, how will they finish? 7-4 looks good to me. Virginia Tech and Miami play us at the Dome, and we've certainly done better against the Hokies at home than in Blacksburg in recent years, but the SU will probably drop both. Sorry if you don't want to hear that, but I've gotta be honest. The other two losses will come from the following: East Carolina, BYU, West Virginia, Boston College, and Pittsburgh. Maybe they'll go 8-3 or better, maybe they'll shock the world and beat the Hokies and Hurricanes, and don't get me wrong, I'd love that to happen, but I've got to stick to my guns on this one.

Now, on to the OTHER SU, as in the one that actually HAS a shot at a conference title. Susquehanna got by last year with their defense; this year, it's the offense people will be looking at. Mike Bowman's got a year under his belt as starter, and other than the Lycoming game where he wound up scoring more points for Lyco than for his own team thanks to a few interceptions, he was very impressive for a freshman. He has all his targets back and then some, with the transfer of Mark Bartosic from Bucknell. The locals saw quite a few B-to-B hookups for touchdowns at nearby Shikellamy High School, and we can look forward to three more years of it at brand-spanking new Lopardo Stadium. Tim Ronchi and John Smith are also back and were very reliable last year. Raschon Drayton returns to lead the backfield, and he gets help from another local product, Isaac Hernandez, and also Ryan Cidzik, who West Genny fans will remember from his days at RFA. They will get plenty of chances to run the ball with the Crusaders' Delaware Wing-T offense, but look for Bowman to get lots of opportunities to air it out as well, plus he can also scramble when he needs to. The O-line has two preseason all-stars in Dave Wonderlick and Randy Zook, so Bowman may not have to scramble all that much.

The D is still no slouch, not with returning Little All-American Antonio Nash at cornerback for three more years. David Howard and Mario Cromartie also anchor a very solid Crusader secondary. Frank Hanlon, Troy Sosnovik, and Dom DeSteno lead a young but experienced front seven. The key to the season may be finding adequate replacements for the graduated Torrance Cleveland, Casey Goff, and Denny Bowers. If the brothers Briggs can pull that off, their season will probably go more than 10 games this year. Special teams are very good with Andy Nadler at kicker and Ryan Hollis at punter.

The schedule is certainly tough. SU opens Lopardo Stadium on September 23 against Dickinson, which is always a battle, Juniata will provide more than a match on Homecoming October 7, and of course, there's always Lyco, who everyone is picking to win the MAC. The fact that the Crusaders have to play the Warriors at Williamsport this year will likely wind up sticking SU with its only regular-season blemish. So, unless there's another debacle a la the Lebanon Valley game last year, I expect the Crusaders to go 9-1, three-peat as Commonwealth League Champs, and go on to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991. And no, that's not my orange and maroon talking

Finally, West Genesee. It has become apparent that ever since the young Wildcats heard the phrase "Delaware Wing-T", some of them have started making plans for the Dome. I contribute often to the high school football forum at Syracuse Online, and frankly, the breast-beating has annoyed me. Let me break it down for you, or you can just go to the WG football page and see for yourself: West Genesee has not made the postseason since 1988, has not won sectionals since that same year, and has not won a league title since 1982. Having said that, I do believe Dave Mancuso is a great coach, and he has certainly brought the program back from the 0-8 mess that Rob Cummings left him in 1997.

Now, I've seen the Delaware Wing-T offense in action at Susquehanna, and it's a tough set to stop, but equally tough to learn. That may put added pressure on quarterback Aaron Kelly to excel in the passing game, which he did last year. It won't all come together in one preseason camp, game experience is the only sure way to put it all together, which leads to the assumption that the Wildcats will improve as the season progresses. While the offense is learning these new sets, the focus is on the defense, and they get a test right away from Corcoran's high-powered attack. I'd say that by halftime Friday night September 1st, we'll know what kind of team WG will give us this season.

With the Cougars and RFA both in the early part of the schedule, I stand by the prediction that West Genny can only get better as the season goes along. If they can get through the early battles without getting too badly beaten up, they have a realistic shot at 4-3 and a trip to sectionals. Now all of you reading this have some bone of contention probably with that, and of course, that's what the reaction board is for. So, have at it folks, and I'll see ya at the stadium!