It's (Finally) Good to Be Orange
So before I was so rudely interrupted by that earthquake... and the hurricane which is currently bearing down on us here in Philly... I was about to write up my annual preview of Syracuse football. I have to say that I am truly excited about this team for the first time in many years. For about the last 10 or so years since Donovan McNabb left, the typical Orange fan entered the season with certain expectations about the season, but very wary that the team would fall well short of them. With the exception of the 10-3 2001 season, we were right... and even in 2001, we looked back at that season and thought how much greater it would have been had we had a decent offense in the first 2 games.
First we became the school that lost to Rutgers when Rutgers hadn't won jack for years... then we became the school that lost to Temple when the Big East was about to toss Temple out of the league... then we became the school that lost to Temple TWICE when the Big East was about to toss Temple out of the league. Then there was Greg Robinson... *shudder*... don't need to say anything more about that. Doug Marrone came in here 2 years ago, a product of the SU system under Coach Mac, ready to install a system of strict discipline and attention to detail. While Internet Troll Nation was too busy damning Greg Paulus for having the audacity to, well, be Greg Paulus, Marrone cleaned out a lot of the wreckage of GRob and put the team on the path to winning football. While the trolls were decrying the number of players Marrone "ran off", the ones who bought in were becoming solid leaders.
The results came last season, when he told anyone who would listen that the Orange was going to a bowl game, and then, damned if they didn't do it, and then some. SU raced to a 6-2 start, beat the likes of West Virginia, South Florida, and Cincinnati on the road, and came tantalizingly close to entering the Top 25. After sputtering down the stretch due to a lack of depth, the Orange rested, recovered, then beat Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl in one of the most exciting bowl games in recent memory. An 8-5 season, exceeding expectations for once. Marrone become only the 3rd coach in the last 25 years to end a BCS conference school's streak of 5 or more losing seasons in just his 2nd year on the job. Now, what to do for an encore?
Well, the team to a man and their coach both say the goal for this season is to contend for the Big East championship. When you consider the fact that had SU beaten Louisville last year, they would have had a share of the title (and had they beaten UConn, they would have stolen the BCS berth), that seems to be an appropriate goal. When you consider how much they lose from their defense due to graduation, it's definitely a worthy goal to which they aspire. Defensively this year, we get to see if defensive coordinator Scott Shafer's system is one that only requires reloading from year to year rather than rebuilding. The front line is strong with seniors Chandler Jones and Mikhail Marinovich leading the way, but sophomore Marcus Spruill is the only returning linebacker. He must become a leader pretty quickly to stabilize that position. The secondary has a veteran presence, but safety Philip Thomas may miss the opener against Wake Forest on Thursday as he recovers from a fractured jaw.
The onus is on the offense to step up this year. We saw signs of that in the Pinstripe Bowl, as QB Ryan Nassib came alive after a season of up-and-down play that left some wondering if he was right to be the starting signal-caller in future seasons. With leading rusher Delone Carter now in Indianapolis, Antwon Bailey steps into the starting role. He has certainly made sizable contributions during his Orange career, all the way back to the upset win at Notre Dame when he was a freshman. But any successful running attack at Syracuse has always required more than one solid back, and this year, sophomore Prince-Tyson Gulley and freshman Adonis Ameen-Moore will look to fill that role. Gulley earned raves for his offseason work, and Ameen-Moore is highly-praised as well. They will run behind a veteran O-line that improved greatly last season, as Nassib had to run for his life far fewer times in the bowl game.
The receiver spot, on paper, looks to have been weakened by Marcus Sales' week-before-camp shenanigans (more on that later). Yes, Sales was the star of the Pinstripe Bowl with 3 touchdown catches, and he caught the winning TD at South Florida, but he also was not even on the depth chart at times last season. The leading returners are actually Van Chew and Alec Lemon. Chew is a solid receiver who, when healthy, can definitely extend the field. Lemon's hands were an issue last season, as he dropped two key passes that may have gone for TDs in the Louisville game. Tight end Nick Provo is a solid contributor. The position of punter is open at the moment with the departure of Rob Long, but kicker Ross Krautmann was automatic as a freshman, lending stability to a position that arguably had not been that way since the days of Olindo Mare.
So how far can this team go? Well, they are blessed with fortunate scheduling in the early going. Wake Forest will be no easy game, and the Orange have to get the monkey off their back of not winning at home; they did not beat a single FBS school at the Dome last season, which makes their 8-5 record all the more impressive, but can be a mental block to further success if they let it be. After Wake, SU plays FCS school Rhode Island at home, then travels to USC, a team that is not what it used to be under Pete Carroll, but still very talented even under NCAA sanctions. Next up are home games with Toledo and Rutgers before a road trip to Tulane.
A 5-1 start is not out of the question for this Orange team, but I think we'll know a lot about where this team is headed by how they handle the Demon Deacons on Thursday night. If they get the job done, then a 5-1 start is certainly achievable heading into the meat of BE play, and that should put them in good position to at least go bowling again. Many experts have chosen not to believe in Marrone's turnaround job yet, placing us at the bottom of the Big East (Bodog) or stating that we will not go to a bowl game (ESPNU). Then again, these people were laughing when we started 6-2 last year, so clearly it will take a string of strong seasons to convince some people that Orange football is truly back. Me? I'm convinced, and Thursday night cannot get here fast enough.
I close on the topic of off-the-field problems... the optimism and excitement surrounding the team was tempered a bit the week before preseason camp started. Marrone sent his players home for 10 days... 10 days... and you would think that they would be capable of behaving themselves for 10 days, but alas, Sales was arrested with his brother when police found drugs in their car with evidence suggesting there was intent to deal. It didn't help that Sales had an open container of alcohol on him. Meanwhile in Colorado, Jonny Miller, a QB pretty far down on the depth chart, was arrested on robbery charges, and back in the 'Cuse, Prince-Tyson Gulley was stabbed during a fight at a party. Gulley's case was clearly one of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he healed from his wounds pretty quickly to jump back into the competition for backup RB. Sales' days as an Orange are over, and likely Miller's are as well.
You hate to see things like this with college athletes who receive full rides to play a sport, but it's small potatoes compared to what was uncovered in Miami. Allegations of cash payments, bounties, prostitutes, jewelry, all kinds of improprieties that stretch out over years, and as we know, this is not Miami's first time at the improper benefits rodeo. Also, it's not like the Hurricanes have ever been model citizens ON the field. In 2006, I recommended that Miami football be investigated and strongly punished by the NCAA for a series of ugly on-field brawls that culminated in the infamous bench-clearing, helmet-swinging melee against Florida International. Now, it's quite clear what the NCAA must do. If they find even a fraction of these allegations to be true, two words: DEATH PENALTY. I don't quite agree with "Friday Night Lights" author Buzz Bissinger that the program should be ended entirely, but 2 years without football ought to send the right message to the university and everyone in college athletics that this will not be tolerated.
You have to feel for new Hurricanes coach Al Golden. He re-established Temple football the last couple years, won the respect of many in college football for his work and his approach, and he goes to Miami to do the same, only to have this dropped on him. Many of the leading figures in this scandal got out of Dodge before everything got out, and Golden certainly wasn't told this was going on when he took the job. Now, he's the person forced to do damage control, and after this season he likely will not have a program to oversee for a year or two. Quite frankly, it's awful watching bad things happen to good people.
First we became the school that lost to Rutgers when Rutgers hadn't won jack for years... then we became the school that lost to Temple when the Big East was about to toss Temple out of the league... then we became the school that lost to Temple TWICE when the Big East was about to toss Temple out of the league. Then there was Greg Robinson... *shudder*... don't need to say anything more about that. Doug Marrone came in here 2 years ago, a product of the SU system under Coach Mac, ready to install a system of strict discipline and attention to detail. While Internet Troll Nation was too busy damning Greg Paulus for having the audacity to, well, be Greg Paulus, Marrone cleaned out a lot of the wreckage of GRob and put the team on the path to winning football. While the trolls were decrying the number of players Marrone "ran off", the ones who bought in were becoming solid leaders.
The results came last season, when he told anyone who would listen that the Orange was going to a bowl game, and then, damned if they didn't do it, and then some. SU raced to a 6-2 start, beat the likes of West Virginia, South Florida, and Cincinnati on the road, and came tantalizingly close to entering the Top 25. After sputtering down the stretch due to a lack of depth, the Orange rested, recovered, then beat Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl in one of the most exciting bowl games in recent memory. An 8-5 season, exceeding expectations for once. Marrone become only the 3rd coach in the last 25 years to end a BCS conference school's streak of 5 or more losing seasons in just his 2nd year on the job. Now, what to do for an encore?
Well, the team to a man and their coach both say the goal for this season is to contend for the Big East championship. When you consider the fact that had SU beaten Louisville last year, they would have had a share of the title (and had they beaten UConn, they would have stolen the BCS berth), that seems to be an appropriate goal. When you consider how much they lose from their defense due to graduation, it's definitely a worthy goal to which they aspire. Defensively this year, we get to see if defensive coordinator Scott Shafer's system is one that only requires reloading from year to year rather than rebuilding. The front line is strong with seniors Chandler Jones and Mikhail Marinovich leading the way, but sophomore Marcus Spruill is the only returning linebacker. He must become a leader pretty quickly to stabilize that position. The secondary has a veteran presence, but safety Philip Thomas may miss the opener against Wake Forest on Thursday as he recovers from a fractured jaw.
The onus is on the offense to step up this year. We saw signs of that in the Pinstripe Bowl, as QB Ryan Nassib came alive after a season of up-and-down play that left some wondering if he was right to be the starting signal-caller in future seasons. With leading rusher Delone Carter now in Indianapolis, Antwon Bailey steps into the starting role. He has certainly made sizable contributions during his Orange career, all the way back to the upset win at Notre Dame when he was a freshman. But any successful running attack at Syracuse has always required more than one solid back, and this year, sophomore Prince-Tyson Gulley and freshman Adonis Ameen-Moore will look to fill that role. Gulley earned raves for his offseason work, and Ameen-Moore is highly-praised as well. They will run behind a veteran O-line that improved greatly last season, as Nassib had to run for his life far fewer times in the bowl game.
The receiver spot, on paper, looks to have been weakened by Marcus Sales' week-before-camp shenanigans (more on that later). Yes, Sales was the star of the Pinstripe Bowl with 3 touchdown catches, and he caught the winning TD at South Florida, but he also was not even on the depth chart at times last season. The leading returners are actually Van Chew and Alec Lemon. Chew is a solid receiver who, when healthy, can definitely extend the field. Lemon's hands were an issue last season, as he dropped two key passes that may have gone for TDs in the Louisville game. Tight end Nick Provo is a solid contributor. The position of punter is open at the moment with the departure of Rob Long, but kicker Ross Krautmann was automatic as a freshman, lending stability to a position that arguably had not been that way since the days of Olindo Mare.
So how far can this team go? Well, they are blessed with fortunate scheduling in the early going. Wake Forest will be no easy game, and the Orange have to get the monkey off their back of not winning at home; they did not beat a single FBS school at the Dome last season, which makes their 8-5 record all the more impressive, but can be a mental block to further success if they let it be. After Wake, SU plays FCS school Rhode Island at home, then travels to USC, a team that is not what it used to be under Pete Carroll, but still very talented even under NCAA sanctions. Next up are home games with Toledo and Rutgers before a road trip to Tulane.
A 5-1 start is not out of the question for this Orange team, but I think we'll know a lot about where this team is headed by how they handle the Demon Deacons on Thursday night. If they get the job done, then a 5-1 start is certainly achievable heading into the meat of BE play, and that should put them in good position to at least go bowling again. Many experts have chosen not to believe in Marrone's turnaround job yet, placing us at the bottom of the Big East (Bodog) or stating that we will not go to a bowl game (ESPNU). Then again, these people were laughing when we started 6-2 last year, so clearly it will take a string of strong seasons to convince some people that Orange football is truly back. Me? I'm convinced, and Thursday night cannot get here fast enough.
I close on the topic of off-the-field problems... the optimism and excitement surrounding the team was tempered a bit the week before preseason camp started. Marrone sent his players home for 10 days... 10 days... and you would think that they would be capable of behaving themselves for 10 days, but alas, Sales was arrested with his brother when police found drugs in their car with evidence suggesting there was intent to deal. It didn't help that Sales had an open container of alcohol on him. Meanwhile in Colorado, Jonny Miller, a QB pretty far down on the depth chart, was arrested on robbery charges, and back in the 'Cuse, Prince-Tyson Gulley was stabbed during a fight at a party. Gulley's case was clearly one of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he healed from his wounds pretty quickly to jump back into the competition for backup RB. Sales' days as an Orange are over, and likely Miller's are as well.
You hate to see things like this with college athletes who receive full rides to play a sport, but it's small potatoes compared to what was uncovered in Miami. Allegations of cash payments, bounties, prostitutes, jewelry, all kinds of improprieties that stretch out over years, and as we know, this is not Miami's first time at the improper benefits rodeo. Also, it's not like the Hurricanes have ever been model citizens ON the field. In 2006, I recommended that Miami football be investigated and strongly punished by the NCAA for a series of ugly on-field brawls that culminated in the infamous bench-clearing, helmet-swinging melee against Florida International. Now, it's quite clear what the NCAA must do. If they find even a fraction of these allegations to be true, two words: DEATH PENALTY. I don't quite agree with "Friday Night Lights" author Buzz Bissinger that the program should be ended entirely, but 2 years without football ought to send the right message to the university and everyone in college athletics that this will not be tolerated.
You have to feel for new Hurricanes coach Al Golden. He re-established Temple football the last couple years, won the respect of many in college football for his work and his approach, and he goes to Miami to do the same, only to have this dropped on him. Many of the leading figures in this scandal got out of Dodge before everything got out, and Golden certainly wasn't told this was going on when he took the job. Now, he's the person forced to do damage control, and after this season he likely will not have a program to oversee for a year or two. Quite frankly, it's awful watching bad things happen to good people.
Labels: college football
posted by Dave | 11:44 AM
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