WOW...Syracuse favored by 43 points

[JeremyCuse]

Want to have a friendly bet?

LOL I think we both want a convincing Syracuse victory I dont think I can bet against that. I just feel the game could be closer then expected due to how good Nova's QB is and the huge question marks our D line has. I still expect Syracuse to win though and win with a decent margin.

 

[PhatOrange]

People think we can beat Notre Dame and hang with Clemson in Death Valley but we're worried about Villanova. Stop it. Syracuse will roll in this one, it won't be close. This is not the same Syracuse team of years past that would be conservative and end up sleepwalking through 1AA teams.

Villanova has not seen a defense as fast and physical as ours, they'll have trouble moving the ball. And offensively there is no way they'll slow down our OLine or athletes unless we get cute; which we won't.

 

[TheCusian]

Normally I would agree with you but the Maine, Rhode Island, and even Stony Brook games would say otherwise. I think we have a chance to impose our will early as there D and O lines are question marks but if we let this QB start scrambling all over us and the interior D line is as bad as it has looked in the preseason this game could be a lot closer then it should be.

Those games are almost irrelevant to this particular coaching staff and starting QB. All P5 teams should be careful when playing a lower tiered team.

Hunt and this staff have a small track record vs these types of teams, but we smoked Tulane and Wagner last year.

 

[Chip]

People think we can beat Notre Dame and hang with Clemson in Death Valley but we're worried about Villanova. Stop it. Syracuse will roll in this one, it won't be close. This is not the same Syracuse team of years past that would be conservative and end up sleepwalking through 1AA teams.

Villanova has not seen a defense as fast and physical as ours, they'll have trouble moving the ball. And offensively there is no way they'll slow down our OLine or athletes unless we get cute; which we won't.

Agree. I don't see much trouble here. Maybe a couple trick plays keep us on our toes in the first half, but they shouldn't be able to stop us. And we should pull away completely in the 2nd half.

 

[orange_in_VA]

45-17. First sting gives up a score in the first half, then they score on our second string a couple times late. This game should not be close. People underestimate how much better our talent has gotten in the last 5 years.

 

[TheCusian]

LOL I think we both want a convincing Syracuse victory I dont think I can bet against that. I just feel the game could be closer then expected due to how good Nova's QB is and the huge question marks our D line has. I still expect Syracuse to win though and win with a decent margin.

I don't think we have question marks plural - we have one - what to do with Bromleys spot on the interior. Crume, and our DE's are proven. They were all very good against the run last year.

 

[JeremyCuse]

People think we can beat Notre Dame and hang with Clemson in Death Valley but we're worried about Villanova. Stop it. Syracuse will roll in this one, it won't be close. This is not the same Syracuse team of years past that would be conservative and end up sleepwalking through 1AA teams.

Villanova has not seen a defense as fast and physical as ours, they'll have trouble moving the ball. And offensively there is no way they'll slow down our OLine or athletes unless we get cute; which we won't.

Playing Notre Dame 4 weeks later is a completely different then an opening game on the Friday of labor day weekend with both teams trying to knock off 8 months of rust. One game has nothing to do with another, Syracuse barely beat several 1AA teams under Marrone but went on to have successful seasons and beat several top 25 teams.

And no offense but we have no idea if this team will or wont get conservative and play lethargically vs a 1AA team like you mentioned we have in the past. Wagner was so bad a bunch of guys from this board could have fielded a competitive game against them. We have a lot of questions marks on our team especially on Defense to start declaring games wont be close.

 

[Orangello]

Poppy Livers ??????? Can't wait to hear Matt Parks butcher this one. "Looks like Poppy got popped big time there....."

 

[orange_in_VA]

I don't think we have question marks plural - we have one - what to do with Bromleys spot on the interior. Crume, and our DE's are proven. They were all very good against the run last year.

This. SS defenses have always been good against the run since he's been here. Bromley didnt prevent a 100 yard rusher all last year by himself. Plus I have a lot of faith in our OLB's. This QB from Nova will not face a better/faster group of Linebackers probably for the rest of his college career.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don't think we have question marks plural - we have one - what to do with Bromleys spot on the interior. Crume, and our DE's are proven. They were all very good against the run last year.

Our d ends while good against the run were pretty abysmal rushing the passer outside of Welsh against PSU. If this team wants to beat Clemson, ND, etc then you have to generate some type of pressure from your front four.

 

[JeremyCuse]

This. SS defenses have always been good against the run since he's been here. Bromley didnt prevent a 100 yard rusher all last year by himself. Plus I have a lot of faith in our OLB's. This QB from Nova will not face a better/faster group of Linebackers probably for the rest of his college career.

Linebackers are a huge advantage for Syracuse, theres a lot of skill and depth there. I expect them to be the #1 strenght of the D and a difference maker in several games.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Those games are almost irrelevant to this particular coaching staff and starting QB. All P5 teams should be careful when playing a lower tiered team.

Hunt and this staff have a small track record vs these types of teams, but we smoked Tulane and Wagner last year.

I agree about Tulane and while that Wagner beatdown was great to watch I dont put to much stock in it as that team was god awful. If the offense comes out on fire from the start I think you could see Syracuse just blitz Nova from the start and turn the game into something similar to Tulane.

 

[CanadianSU]

http://www.villanova.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/nova-m-footbl-sched.html

They do not look that scary. We will see

 

[orange_in_VA]

I agree about Tulane and while that Wagner beatdown was great to watch I dont put to much stock in it as that team was god awful. If the offense comes out on fire from the start I think you could see Syracuse just blitz Nova from the start and turn the game into something similar to Tulane.

I still feel bad for Nick Montana, lol. Just another reason why I'm not worried about this game though. Tulane was much better last year than Nova this year.

 

[PhatOrange]

Playing Notre Dame 4 weeks later is a completely different then an opening game on the Friday of labor day weekend with both teams trying to knock off 8 months of rust. One game has nothing to do with another, Syracuse barely beat several 1AA teams under Marrone but went on to have successful seasons and beat several top 25 teams.

And no offense but we have no idea if this team will or wont get conservative and play lethargically vs a 1AA team like you mentioned we have in the past. Wagner was so bad a bunch of guys from this board could have fielded a competitive game against them. We have a lot of questions marks on our team especially on Defense to start declaring games wont be close.

We barely had 1AA talent under Marrone. This team is uberly more talented, hungry and ready to get after it. I'm not predicting the Orange Bowl for these guys but we're going to pummel Nova. The Rhode Island, Stonybrooks have no bearing on Friday night. Totally different Cuse team.

We didn't get conservative last year against Tulane and Wagner so I don't believe we will this weekend. That just doesn't seem to be this staffs style. They'll go immediately to our strengths; what we've been working on since jan, and try to set the tone early. We wont hand the ball off 10x in a row like Marrone would've of. We're going to get the ball in Brisley, Broylds, Gulley's hands and let them go to work.

Defensively I worry about our interior DLine but the ends, the backers and dbacks we are fast and physical. They're going to bring it.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I still feel bad for Nick Montana, lol. Just another reason why I'm not worried about this game though. Tulane was much better last year than Nova this year.

Tulane's O line was a disaster that game, there mesageboard fans were worried he was going to get killed at some point that year and he took an absolute beating in that game. That O line was freeking brutal.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We barely had 1AA talent under Marrone. This team is uberly more talented, hungry and ready to get after it. I'm not predicting the Orange Bowl for these guys but we're going to pummel Nova. The Rhode Island, Stonybrooks have no bearing on Friday night. Totally different Cuse team.

We didn't get conservative last year against Tulane and Wagner so I don't believe we will this weekend. The coaches will want to get after it and go to our strengths; what we've been working on since jan. We wont hand the ball off 10x in a row like Marrone would've of. We're going to get the ball in Brisley, Broylds, Gulley's hands and let them go to work.

Defensively I worry about our interior DLine but the ends, the backers and dbacks we are fast and physical. They're going to bring it.

You make some good points, agree with just about all of them. Im a little more concerned about the D line then you but otherwise it all sounds great to me.

 

[ImperialOrange]

We were a decent team last season but Florida State was just that much more talented. Villanova will be a decent team this year but Syracuse are just that much more talented. Superior athletes win games and we've got quite a few at this point.

They've got a solid QB and RB's but they are facing our LBs. If they want to run their QB that's great but at some point he is going to get lit up. Also, when we contain and stop the run, who do they have out wide to beat Whigham, Eskridge and co in ar WR? They have a solid MLB but what is their dline going to do with our offensive line to keep him free to make plays? Who else do they have that can stop/keep up with Hunt and our RB stable in the run game or tackle Broyld/Estime etc 100% of the time in the flats? Who's going to man up and try and tackle AAM running downhill? Who's going to do so a second time without a moments hesitation?

Let's not undersell what we have at Syracuse right now folks.

 

[orange_in_VA]

Tulane's O line was a disaster that game, there mesageboard fans were worried he was going to get killed at some point that year and he took an absolute beating in that game. That O line was freeking brutal.

As bad as that O-line was, they went to a D1 bowl game last year. They also beat 3 D1 bowl teams. Bad line or not, they were infinitely better than this years Nova squad. Now that I'm thinking about it, this game could be even uglier than my 45-17 prediction.

 

[HeaterCuse22]

 

[HeaterCuse22]

 

[SU2NASA]

I'm not predicting the Orange Bowl for these guys.

Me neither. I'm calling Sugar Bowl.

 

[JeremyCuse]

As bad as that O-line was, they went to a D1 bowl game last year. They also beat 3 D1 bowl teams. Bad line or not, they were infinitely better than this years Nova squad. Now that I'm thinking about it, this game could be even uglier than my 45-17 prediction.

I think tulane had some decent skill guys and there D while abused by Syracuse was better suited for conference play. I also think they got ambushed by Syracuse early, they played better in the second half but by then it was way to late.

 

[PhatOrange]

You make some good points, agree with just about all of them. Im a little more concerned about the D line then you but otherwise it all sounds great to me.

I think our interior DLine is going to kill us this year. We have nobody close to replacing Bromley. It's going to be rough against the power teams. I' think we'll be better off against the finesse spread teams.

 

[orange_in_VA]

I think tulane had some decent skill guys and there D while abused by Syracuse was better suited for conference play. I also think they got ambushed by Syracuse early, they played better in the second half but by then it was way to late.

Tulane was 12 points away from an 11 win D1 season last year. Nova went 6-5 with a good D1-aa QB. Its not even close. We are better overall then last year, our opponent is much worse.