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Message: [QUOTE="suloyalfan, post: 845960, member: 397"] The teams are fairly evenly matched regardless of what anyone wants to argue. Here are some nuggets: Minnesota Rushing vs. BCS AQ teams (8 games) - 3.65 yds/att on 43.88 att/game Syracuse Rushing vs. BCS AQ teams (10 games) - 4.55 yds/att on 41.5 att/game Minnesota Passing vs. BCS AQ teams - 160.9 yds/att on 21.9 att/game Syracuse Passing vs. BCS AQ teams - 161.3 yds/att on 31.5 att/game So, clearly Syracuse has a significantly more potent rushing offense against the best competition (BCS AQ teams) that they've played. Their passing offense is similarly poor as Minnesota. Syracuse offense runs at a faster pace than Minnesota, thus the 73 plays per game versus about 66 plays per game for Minnesota. Minnesota is 4-4 against BCS AQ competition, while Syracuse is 4-6. I think the biggest thing that Minnesota fans feel they can "crow" about when comparing the 2 teams is their head-to-head wins over Northwestern and Penn State. Obviously, the circumstances of the games that Syracuse played versus those teams was different than when Minnesota played against them. Either way, I'm not even going to address the Penn State game because it was close throughout and could have gone either way, it was the first game of the season with a new coaching staff, new QB, and was essentially a road game. When Syracuse played Northwestern they were rolling as the #19 team in the country. Siemian, Colter, and Mark were all playing in the game. The game Northwestern played against Minnesota, Colter and Mark were both out with injuries. Colter accounted for almost 24% of the team's rushing yards for year, and over 20% of their passing yards while missing 2 games and part of at least 1 other game with injury. Veneric Mark accounted for 182 yards rushing on 20 carries (9.1 ypc) and 2 rushing touchdowns against Minnesota last year. Does anyone think this game may have been different with these 2 players healthy and on the field? Also, keep in mind that Minnesota won their game against Northwestern by 3 points. They were outgained in the game, but did manage to force 3 turnovers, one of which was an interception return for a TD. Their offense only managed 299 yards and 13 points (7 were scored by the defense) against the porous Northwestern defense, while Syracuse racked up 434 yards and 27 points even with 4 turnovers, all in Northwestern territory. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?