Looking at the remaining schedule does anyone see 4 or 5 wins?

[JeremyCuse]

I hate to say it but I am struggling to see how this team isnt finishing 3-9 or worse at this point based on the continued mistakes and inability to really score or stop a team when it really has to.

I think we can all agree that Louisville and Cincy are pretty much guaranteed losses at this point.
I know some people disagreed with me when I called @ Mizzou a sure loss in the off season but lets all be honest and stop kidding ourselves were not winning that game.

That leaves Pitt, Uconn, The Girls, USF, and Temple.

I see Pitt, Uconn, and USF all being winnable games for SU but I can also see SU easy losing 2 or all 3 of those games. Obviously I think this Friday's game against Pitt will tell us a lot. Based on the performance of both teams to date I get the sense we see a blowout one way or another. I sure as hell hope it us but Sunseri has killed us over his career and with a healthy Graham and our putrid pass rush Pitt is likely to put up points.

UConn should be a game where SU can get up early and put a W on the board. However after watching Deleone and UConn score on every second half possession last year running literally the same 3-4 plays ( I am not exaggerating) this will probably be a close game. After watching Uconn play 3 times now they really are not a good team, there offense is non existent and outside of great special teams they really have no way to score. I believe it was CIL who posted last year that he started to lose some faith in Marrone after last years UConn loss and I have to say another loss here would not be good for Marrone.

USF- Tough to say, we looked awful in last years game and during our run in 2010 we barely scraped by the Bulls. I think this a game SU really should win, Daniels is a mess and if we actually stop him from running all over us this year we should be able to slow down whatever offense there running these days. But again if SU lost this game would you really be surprised? Game could hinge on SU's ability to move the ball and actually put up Touchdowns verus field goals and turnovers in the endzone. Could really be a make or break it game for Hackett.

This leaves Rutgirls and Temple, at this point I am going to say Temple should be a Win. No execuses, there not a good team, there young, and there D isnt good. A loss here probably seals Marrone's fate.

So that leaves Rutgirls. It pains me to say this but you would have to put this down as a likely loss. Rutgers is no where near as good as there record and fans think they are but outside of the Dome ambush we gave them in 09 we havent been able to score against there D. Now I can say the same about our D and there offense but with there D and special teams there likely to get at least 1 or 2 short fields and will likely come up with a big play to Coleman or another of those big WR's. If we could put up 3 touchdowns I think we can/could win that game but at this point who knows what game plan Hackett and Marrone will come up with, I hope its more like 09 where we showed a bunch of new wrinkles and plays versus the disaster of last year.

I really hope this team can make a run during the conference part of the schedule and get a sniff at a bowl but looking at we have left it seems more likely were looking at 2-3 wins verus 5-6. Its a sad state of affairs my friends and from what I am hearing one that may cost Marrone his job.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I stand by my preseason prog of wins vs Buttgers, UCONN and Temple.

 

[Scooch]

I had us at 4-8 preseason, so sadly I'm sticking to that for now.

We'll learn a lot Friday night though. If we can pull out a W I think we may have a puncher's chance of winning a few more games in the Big East.

If we lose I think the bottom may drop out.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I think we have a shot to win ever game... also have a shot to lose everyone as well. eliminiate dumb penalties, turnovers, tighten up specials, win games.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think we have a shot to win ever game... also have a shot to lose everyone as well. eliminiate dumb penalties, turnovers, tighten up specials, win games.

Dont disagree but we have been repeating your last sentence for 4 years now and outside of a handful of game in 2010 it hasnt happened. Penalties, turnovers, and horrific special teams continue to be an issue and have shown little signs of improving.

 

[upperdeck]

there is not a solid team left on the schedule. we already have seen that if we played a complete game we would be 3-1. UL could have 2-3 losses already as well, uconn is lucky to be 3-2. USF us lucky to not have only 1 win.

if we play poorly we can lose them all. if we play well we can win them all.. we made 4 huge mistakes in two of the losses. cut that in half and we win both games. maybe we get the couple games where the balls bounce off helmet/feet and go to us.

we don't need to play out of our minds to win these games. we just need the mistakes on both sides to be equal..

even in the minn loss the qb in hist first start was throwing very well. against Iowa he was missing wide open rcvrs by yards.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Dont disagree but we have been repeating your last sentence for 4 years now and outside of a handful of game in 2010 it hasnt happened. Penalties, turnovers, and horrific special teams continue to be an issue and have shown little signs of improving.

Well lets start Friday night with one win... One win and go from there. I hate looking at the whole season. I find it amusing though because after a decent game versus USC people were stating we would should win the Big East. Stonybrook was mediocre for sure and then a horrible game where we shot ourselves in the foot repeatedley and Minny played well in a night game, people have totally written the team off. We are probably still what most people predicted a team that will fight to get to a bowl game, sure we have an uphill battle but it can happen.

People tend to put wins and losses in ink here prior to the game every starting, after week one NW stubk so did Minnesota, etc etc. Iowa isn't the easiest place to play either... Three weeks agao, Pii was horrible, they had hired their GROB, etc etc. Then they beat VT everyone and they are good sagain but when VT lost to Cinci they arent that good anymore!!! Only game that matters is Pitt.

Sure, I wanted to believe that we were better than many thought we would be but we are probably still a 5-7 win team tops... and that is the ebst case scenario but I still think we get there.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Well lets start Friday night with one win... One win and go from there. I hate looking at the whole season. I find it amusing though because after a decent game versus USC people were stating we would should win the Big East. Stonybrook was mediocre for sure and then a horrible game where we shot ourselves in the foot repeatedley and Minny played well in a night game, people have totally written the team off. We are probably still what most people predicted a team that will fight to get to a bowl game, sure we have an uphill battle but it can happen.

People tend to put wins and losses in ink here prior to the game every starting, after week one NW stubk so did Minnesota, etc etc. Iowa isn't the easiest place to play either... Three weeks agao, Pii was horrible, they had hired their GROB, etc etc. Then they beat VT everyone and they are good sagain but when VT lost to Cinci they arent that good anymore!!! Only game that matters is Pitt.

Sure, I wanted to believe that we were better than many thought we would be but we are probably still a 5-7 win team tops... and that is the ebst case scenario but I still think we get there.

You make some great points especially about people changing there opinions on teams from week to week depending on who they win or who they beat, Pitt and Va Tech being great examples.

However, we all follow Syracuse closely and in year four of the program under Marrone I think we have seen enough to be able to see where the team is likely headed. Minnesota is great example people keep saying well if we dont shoot ourselves in the foot we likely win. Problem is we have been able to say that multiple times the past few years and this season allready with NW. I am not writing the team off but I find it highly unlikely this team is going to stop making the same mistakes its been making all year and suddenly start winning games against BE teams we haven't beaten in years or in Pitt's case nearly a decade. This team has flaws that we appear unable to correct that teams who know us in the BE are going to continue to exploit.

 

[Scooch]

I am not writing the team off but I find it highly unlikely this team is going to stop making the same mistakes its been making all year and suddenly start winning games against BE teams we haven't beaten in years or in Pitt's case nearly a decade. This team has flaws that we appear unable to correct that teams who know us in the BE are going to continue to exploit.

This is where I'm at, and where I was at when I made my 4-8 prediction in August.

We have no game-breaking talent on either side of the ball, so we have so little margin of error to score and defend.

Extremely talented teams can make mistakes, shrug 'em off, and come back and win. SU doesn't have that luxury. We're on a tightrope every minute of every game.

I feel like I'm becoming numb in the same way I was from mid 2007 through the end of 2008. I hate it.

 

[SU2NASA]

We have no game-breaking talent on either side of the ball

He spends 95% of the game standing on the sideline.

 

[PhatOrange]

I haven't seen a team on the remaining schedule that we can't beat, including Missouri. We can also lose to every team.

Missouri still plays Vandy, Kentucky, Alabama, Tenessee and Florida before they see us.

Temple and Uconn are games Syracuse can win as are Pitt and USF. 4 VERY winnable games where Syracuse should be evenly matched.

Cincy, Rutgers and LVille are toss ups. None of those teams has been real impressive. Who shows up in those games?

I do agree though that this team will continue to make mistakes.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I haven't seen a team on the remaining schedule that we can't beat, including Missouri. We can also lose to every team.

Missouri still plays Vandy, Kentucky, Alabama, Tenessee and Florida before they see us.

Temple and Uconn are games Syracuse can win as are Pitt and USF. 4 VERY winnable games where Syracuse should be evenly matched.

Cincy, Rutgers and LVille are toss ups. None of those teams has been real impressive. Who shows up in those games?

I do agree though that this team will continue to make mistakes.

You really think this team is going into Missouri in the second to last game of the year and winning? This team couldnt beat Minnesota or Uconn the road how the hell are we gonna beat Mizzou. Cincy, RU, and Lvill are all undefeated and outside of Rutgers have beaten some decent opponents, were also 0 fer against Lville under Marrone, this is a horrible match up for SU.

Temple, UConn, USF, Pitt, and even RU are games SU has a chance of winning but they haven't shown the ability to play consistently good football or shore up the mistakes we continue to make game after game after game. Even if the other team doesn't show up will we be able to capitalize or we will shoot ourselves in the foot again.

 

[Rocco]

There isn't a game left on the schedule that we can't win. We need to execute, cut down on the mistakes, come out strong and finish strong. We do that, no reason why we can't end up in a bowl. We got a healthy team, a week off to get back to the basics and some rest.

Paint me orange, but I am bullish as hell.

 

[GoSU96]

I hate to say it but I am struggling to see how this team isnt finishing 3-9 or worse at this point based on the continued mistakes and inability to really score or stop a team when it really has to.

I think we can all agree that Louisville and Cincy are pretty much guaranteed losses at this point.
I know some people disagreed with me when I called @ Mizzou a sure loss in the off season but lets all be honest and stop kidding ourselves were not winning that game.

That leaves Pitt, Uconn, The Girls, USF, and Temple.

I see Pitt, Uconn, and USF all being winnable games for SU but I can also see SU easy losing 2 or all 3 of those games. Obviously I think this Friday's game against Pitt will tell us a lot. Based on the performance of both teams to date I get the sense we see a blowout one way or another. I sure as hell hope it us but Sunseri has killed us over his career and with a healthy Graham and our putrid pass rush Pitt is likely to put up points.

UConn should be a game where SU can get up early and put a W on the board. However after watching Deleone and UConn score on every second half possession last year running literally the same 3-4 plays ( I am not exaggerating) this will probably be a close game. After watching Uconn play 3 times now they really are not a good team, there offense is non existent and outside of great special teams they really have no way to score. I believe it was CIL who posted last year that he started to lose some faith in Marrone after last years UConn loss and I have to say another loss here would not be good for Marrone.

USF- Tough to say, we looked awful in last years game and during our run in 2010 we barely scraped by the Bulls. I think this a game SU really should win, Daniels is a mess and if we actually stop him from running all over us this year we should be able to slow down whatever offense there running these days. But again if SU lost this game would you really be surprised? Game could hinge on SU's ability to move the ball and actually put up Touchdowns verus field goals and turnovers in the endzone. Could really be a make or break it game for Hackett.

This leaves Rutgirls and Temple, at this point I am going to say Temple should be a Win. No execuses, there not a good team, there young, and there D isnt good. A loss here probably seals Marrone's fate.

So that leaves Rutgirls. It pains me to say this but you would have to put this down as a likely loss. Rutgers is no where near as good as there record and fans think they are but outside of the Dome ambush we gave them in 09 we havent been able to score against there D. Now I can say the same about our D and there offense but with there D and special teams there likely to get at least 1 or 2 short fields and will likely come up with a big play to Coleman or another of those big WR's. If we could put up 3 touchdowns I think we can/could win that game but at this point who knows what game plan Hackett and Marrone will come up with, I hope its more like 09 where we showed a bunch of new wrinkles and plays versus the disaster of last year.

I really hope this team can make a run during the conference part of the schedule and get a sniff at a bowl but looking at we have left it seems more likely were looking at 2-3 wins verus 5-6. Its a sad state of affairs my friends and from what I am hearing one that may cost Marrone his job.

You need some meds.

Why don't you wait and see what happens with Pugh inserted in the lineup. This team is a couple of plays away from 2-2 or 3-1, no need to go crazy.

L'ville is here, and they have a some areas of weakness. Missouri is going to have been through the SEC meatgrinder by the time SU gets there. They could be seriously beatup.

For those that believe yardage is a good predictor SU has the 2nd best combined ranking for total offense and total defense in the conference behind Pitt.

5-3 is very achievable for this team. I think they could do better. There is an immediate significant improvement at both tackle positions with Pugh coming back. There are three established WR's that are in the base offense. All three running backs have been through four games. There has been an off week for quality control and tweaking the run game and the run defense.

 

[Chris02M]

mizzou isnt really that good its not like were playing alabama on the road.but realistically all the bigeast games are toss ups as it has been the last couple years we can win any but lose any as well. If we win this week we can start looking at a bowl game as a realistic goal

 

[Scooch]

You need some meds.

Why don't you wait and see what happens with Pugh inserted in the lineup. This team is a couple of plays away from 2-2 or 3-1, no need to go crazy.

I agree that only time will tell, but "we're just a few plays away from X" has been the mantra for a long time now.

I can understand why people are pessimistic and deflated.

 

[arbitragegls]

:rolling: Crazy, crazy isnt winning...crazy is remaining calm when all is crumbling around you. Deflated and pessimistic...not at all...maybe we should all get lacrosse sticks and see if we can motivate the football team...kidding!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I agree that only time will tell, but "we're just a few plays away from X" has been the mantra for a long time now.

Yup.

We used to talk about how we were just a few plays away under GRob too.

 

[Scooch]

Yup.

We used to talk about how we were just a few plays away under GRob too.

Well, to be fair, MUCH less so than now.

I mean there was no way to spin 2005, and after a little tease in 2006 I think by mid-2007 everyone knew the program was toast.

But in the Marrone era that talk has certainly been at the forefront. There were lots of posts about how the 4-8 in 2009 was soclose to 6-6. And of course there's been a lot of focus on how last year's 5-7 could have been 7-5 (although surprisingly less talk about how it more easily could have been 2-10).

And I get it, people want to be positive, it's human nature.

We'll learn a lot Friday night.

 

[Shenexon]

Paint me orange, but I am bullish as hell.

+1

 

[JeremyCuse]

You need some meds.

Why don't you wait and see what happens with Pugh inserted in the lineup. This team is a couple of plays away from 2-2 or 3-1, no need to go crazy.

L'ville is here, and they have a some areas of weakness. Missouri is going to have been through the SEC meatgrinder by the time SU gets there. They could be seriously beatup.

For those that believe yardage is a good predictor SU has the 2nd best combined ranking for total offense and total defense in the conference behind Pitt.

5-3 is very achievable for this team. I think they could do better. There is an immediate significant improvement at both tackle positions with Pugh coming back. There are three established WR's that are in the base offense. All three running backs have been through four games. There has been an off week for quality control and tweaking the run game and the run defense.

Look you know I respect your opinion about the program as much as anyone but you know full well what I posted is far from crazy. Your putting a lot of stock into Pugh turning this around. While I think its clear hes our best linemen and a hell of a player were not talking about getting a Mcnabb or Mike Williams back from injury. Your asking a linemen who hasnt played in 10+ months to come in and be All big east from the get go. And again not takign anything away from Pugh because he is a great player but hes still an O tackle, unless he can morph into a game breaking WR or a RB who has the best of both Smith and Gulley you cant expect this offense to suddenly answer all of its issues.

While 5-3 maybe achievable so is 3-5 or worse. We havent beaten Lville since Marrone took over and havent beaten Pitt since 04. We havent beaten Uconn since 06 and have one win versus Cincy and South Florida since 2005. With the issues this team still has do you really see them suddenly beating all of these teams??

Getting FLemming back will be a help but hes still a Jr Wr who has exactly zero catches for his career. We still go whole games without taking any shots downfield and desperately need someone who we can take some shots with on Go routes, deep posts, double moves etc. Perhaps that player is Brolyd because hes not a RB and simply handing him off the ball is not the answer.

This is without mentioning the disaster that special teams and penalties continue to be in year four. When exactly can we expect those two issues to be cleaned up 2019?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Well, to be fair, MUCH less so than now.

I mean there was no way to spin 2005, and after a little tease in 2006 I think by mid-2007 everyone knew the program was toast.

But in the Marrone era that talk has certainly been at the forefront. There were lots of posts about how the 4-8 in 2009 was soclose to 6-6. And of course there's been a lot of focus on how last year's 5-7 could have been 7-5 (although surprisingly less talk about how it more easily could have been 2-10).

And I get it, people want to be positive, it's human nature.

We'll learn a lot Friday night.

Yeah, it is happening less, as it should be. Marrone's a much better coach doing a much better job.

I was on board in 2009 with how close we were to making a bowl. Last season I was a lot less enthusiastic and was more on the side of feeling we were lucky to win as many games as we did.

This season... I don't really know. I had low expectations going in. I've been pleasantly surprised that we seem to be committing to an actual offense. There's also enough to make me hesitate in terms of some of the decision making. We haven't really gotten better in-season under Marrone; we're dead in the water if we don't improve a lot these last two thirds of the year.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

We should- and I hope will -- win against UCONN, USF, Temple and Pitt. We might be able to pull one of Rutgers, Cincy, Louisville or Mizzou out of the hat. It will be very tough to do, however. I'd say Missouri would be our best shot if the game were being played in the Dome. As an away game I don't expect a win.

Regardless of the above the season is pretty much over IMO if we don't beat Pitt Friday. I say that as someone who predicted 7-5 or maybe even 8-4. Damn was I naive!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Your asking a linemen who hasnt played in 10+ months to come in and be All big east from the get go.

Yeah, I'm hoping he comes back at full strength and the line gels right away. We do upgrade the talent at both tackle spots. We also disrupt whatever chemistry has been developed by the 5.5 starters we have on the line (I called them 5.5 because I wasn't sure how to account for the Foy/Trudo rotation). Hopefully the bye week has helped a lot there, but I think there's some risk in assuming our line is immediately better. On paper it absolutely should be, but we don't really have time for it to settle - it needs to be good Friday. That might be asking a lot.

 

[PhatOrange]

You really think this team is going into Missouri in the second to last game of the year and winning? This team couldnt beat Minnesota or Uconn the road how the hell are we gonna beat Mizzou. Cincy, RU, and Lvill are all undefeated and outside of Rutgers have beaten some decent opponents, were also 0 fer against Lville under Marrone, this is a horrible match up for SU.

Temple, UConn, USF, Pitt, and even RU are games SU has a chance of winning but they haven't shown the ability to play consistently good football or shore up the mistakes we continue to make game after game after game. Even if the other team doesn't show up will we be able to capitalize or we will shoot ourselves in the foot again.

Do I think we can go into Missouri and win? Not really. But I never thought we could go into South Florida and West Virginia two years ago and win those games either. Mizzou game is too far down the road to really predict at this point. Missouri will likely be 5-5 when we meet and they'll be desperate. A loss is likely yes.

Two Marrone LVille losses have been winnable games, losing 10-9 (a game that Syracuse dominated missing an xpoint) and 28-20 (a game that was 21-20 to start the 4thQ). In any event I don't put too much stock in past history b/c the personnel changes so much year to year. And LVille's season to date performance has been up and down.

And that's just it, nobody else is playing consistantly good football either and that's why every game on the schedule is winnable. It's hard to say right now if any team would be more than 6 or 7 point favorite over us.