SWC75
Bored Historian
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Historically, when SU has been rebuilding, they’ve done it with defense first, then tried to build up the offense. Frank Maloney put all his best athletes on defense and rose from 2-9 to 6-5 in 1975. Then he recruited Bill Hurley, Art Monk and Joe Morris and we started lighting up scoreboards. But by that time the defense had lost its key people and we couldn’t stop anybody. Dick McPherson did the same thing, putting together strong defensive teams that couldn’t score in 1983-84.The offense started to percolate in 1985 and the defense was till good. We went to a bowl game and Dick used that “bowl credibility”, (it meant more back then when there were fewer bowls), to recruit a crew of big offensive linemen: John Flannery, Turnell Sims, Blake Bednarz, Gary McCummings and Mike Bernard, who moved in en mass to the offensive line in 1987. Suddenly the plays were being run just as they looked on the blackboard. Holes were open and backs ran through them, not being hit until they were past the line of scrimmage and moving forward. The quarterback not only had time to pass but could check off from one receiver to another. The defense, anchored by Ted Gregory, was still strong. The offense kept them off the field much of the time and scored. The defense got the ball back quickly and in good field position. We started grinding our opponents up and jumped from 5-6 to 11-0. In turn, the success of that season plus the still-new Carrier Dome led to the recruiting that gave us 15 straight winning season from 1987-2001. Only four major colleges had a winning season in every one of those years. The others were Michigan, Nebraska and Florida State: pretty good company.
But we got complacent and allowed things to slip until we had the worst four years in our history during the Greg Robinson Era, going 10-37. Doug Marrone came in an got us back on our feet. He did the same thing Maloney tried to do and MacPherson succeeded in doing. He put his best athletes on defense and, in his second year, delivered to Syracuse the first winning season the school had enjoyed in nine years and a victory in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl. Even winning a bowl in 2010 probably doesn’t mean as much as being in one meant in 1985 but Doug and his coaching staff were still able to use it and some upgraded facilities to improve the talent and depth of the team which has improved every year since the Marrone regime began. After some set-backs in 2011, we came back strong last year and won the Pinstripe again, ending the year with a 6-1 run that will propel us into the ACC era with some momentum, even if it was partially blunted by Marrone and much of his staff leaving for the NFL.
Last year actually resembled in 1987 in some ways. For the first time in years we had an impressive offense, gaining 476 yards a game, 17th in the country. The defense was less spectacular but still pretty good, 48th, (of 120) in the country. The key to the late run was a reorganization of the offensive line made possible by the return of Justin Pugh, the best offensive linemen we’ve had in years. His return allowed Sean Hickey to move to his natural right tackle position and replace Lou Alexander, who had been a revolving door. Rob Trudo was promoted to guard beside him, replacing Ivan Foy. With Mackey McPherson at center, Zach Chibane and guard and Pugh at left tackle, for the first time since the Cherry Bowl group we had a superior player at each spot and the offensive line became a real strength of the team. Ryan Nassib could pick teams apart just like Donnie McPherson did in the old days and his receivers, Alec Lemon, Marcus Sales and Beckett Wales, all had big years. The passing game stretched the defense out and that same line tore holes in it for Jerome Smith (1171 yards for the season) and Prince-Tyson Gulley (212 and MVP in the bowl game), to burst through. If Pugh and Trudo had been there from the beginning of the season, we might really have had the kind of breathorugh year we are looking for. We lost by a point to Northwestern hung in there with USC when they were still ranked #2, lost by a touchdown at Minnesota in a -4 turnover game and lost to Rutgers on a blocked field goal that was returned for a score for a 2-4 start. The biggest problem in that stretch was turnovers and special teams breakdowns. The turnovers were mostly blown up plays from the side of the line Alexander and Foy played on. The return of Pugh and the promotion of Trudo ended that.
If we had beaten Northwester, Minnesota and Rutgers, we’d have been 10-2 and out-right Big Champions, playing Florida in the Sugar Bowl, (where the Gators lost 23-33 to a Louisville team we’d whipped by 45-26). 11-2 isn’t 11-0 but it would have set us up for future success quite nicely. 8-5 with the coaching staff mostly gone puts us in a situation where we have more work to do to get respect.
But we got complacent and allowed things to slip until we had the worst four years in our history during the Greg Robinson Era, going 10-37. Doug Marrone came in an got us back on our feet. He did the same thing Maloney tried to do and MacPherson succeeded in doing. He put his best athletes on defense and, in his second year, delivered to Syracuse the first winning season the school had enjoyed in nine years and a victory in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl. Even winning a bowl in 2010 probably doesn’t mean as much as being in one meant in 1985 but Doug and his coaching staff were still able to use it and some upgraded facilities to improve the talent and depth of the team which has improved every year since the Marrone regime began. After some set-backs in 2011, we came back strong last year and won the Pinstripe again, ending the year with a 6-1 run that will propel us into the ACC era with some momentum, even if it was partially blunted by Marrone and much of his staff leaving for the NFL.
Last year actually resembled in 1987 in some ways. For the first time in years we had an impressive offense, gaining 476 yards a game, 17th in the country. The defense was less spectacular but still pretty good, 48th, (of 120) in the country. The key to the late run was a reorganization of the offensive line made possible by the return of Justin Pugh, the best offensive linemen we’ve had in years. His return allowed Sean Hickey to move to his natural right tackle position and replace Lou Alexander, who had been a revolving door. Rob Trudo was promoted to guard beside him, replacing Ivan Foy. With Mackey McPherson at center, Zach Chibane and guard and Pugh at left tackle, for the first time since the Cherry Bowl group we had a superior player at each spot and the offensive line became a real strength of the team. Ryan Nassib could pick teams apart just like Donnie McPherson did in the old days and his receivers, Alec Lemon, Marcus Sales and Beckett Wales, all had big years. The passing game stretched the defense out and that same line tore holes in it for Jerome Smith (1171 yards for the season) and Prince-Tyson Gulley (212 and MVP in the bowl game), to burst through. If Pugh and Trudo had been there from the beginning of the season, we might really have had the kind of breathorugh year we are looking for. We lost by a point to Northwestern hung in there with USC when they were still ranked #2, lost by a touchdown at Minnesota in a -4 turnover game and lost to Rutgers on a blocked field goal that was returned for a score for a 2-4 start. The biggest problem in that stretch was turnovers and special teams breakdowns. The turnovers were mostly blown up plays from the side of the line Alexander and Foy played on. The return of Pugh and the promotion of Trudo ended that.
If we had beaten Northwester, Minnesota and Rutgers, we’d have been 10-2 and out-right Big Champions, playing Florida in the Sugar Bowl, (where the Gators lost 23-33 to a Louisville team we’d whipped by 45-26). 11-2 isn’t 11-0 but it would have set us up for future success quite nicely. 8-5 with the coaching staff mostly gone puts us in a situation where we have more work to do to get respect.
