SWC75
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Saturday, 10/5/13 TBA vs. CLEMSON at the Carrier Dome TBA
The Tigers were a major national power in the 80’s, winning it all in ‘81. They slipped a bit after that but are building back up to that level and think this could be their breakthrough year. They were one of the best offensive teams in the country last year and should be at least as good this year. Quarterback Taij Boyd will be a Heisman candidate. Last year he passed for 3,896 yards and 36TDs vs. 13 interceptions and rushed for 514 yards for 10 more TDs. Sammy Watkins is a dynamic talent who missed three games due to a suspension but still caught 57 passes for 708 yards and 3 schools. The year before he was much more productive with 82 catches for 1219 yards and 12 scores. They will miss DeAndre Hopkins who had an even better season than Watkins the year before with 82 catches for 1405 yards and 18TDs and Andre Ellington who ran for 1081 yards. This is a team that puts up big numbers. They’ve got four starters back from the offensive line and whoever replaces Hopkins and Ellington will probably put up big numbers, too.
Their problem has been on defense. West Virginia crushed the Tigers 70-33 in the Orange Bowl two years ago and last year both Florida State and North Carolina State had over 450 yards and scored 49 and 48 points, respectively against them. But in the bowl game it was Tigers vs. Tigers and the Clemson version held mighty LSU to 219 yards total offense in a 25-24 victory that seemed, (to Clemson fans, anyway), to signal that they were ready to go for another national championship. They do lose five starters, three from the defensive backfield. Linebacker Spencer Shuey and safety Travis Banks will be the stars but they have every lineman back but one. Watkins is a dangerous kick returner and placekicker Chandler Catanzaro was 18 for 19 on field goals last year.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 191-156 yards 36th-67th
Passing: 322-240 yards 13th-73rd
Total: 513-396 yards 9th-63rd
Scoring: 41-25 points 6th-48th
Turnover Margin: +2
Saturday, 10/12/13 TBA at NORTH CAROLINA STATE TBA
If you are along-time Syracuse fan as I am. There’s probably no one the schedule you’d rather beat, even Penn State, Clemson or Florida State. We’ve beaten those schools before. We are 0-6 all-time vs. the Wolfpack. I remember the Buckey twins running all over the field against one of Ben Schwartzwalder’s last, sad teams. I recall two close losses later in the decade sandwiched around a 0-38 debacle at Archbold. But mostly I remember two seasons, 1997 and 1998 where we were thinking about national championships and Heisman trophies and the Pack bit us in the butt each time. After the second one I was so frustrated and angry I seriously wondered if being a fan was worth it any more. I don’t care how good or bad we or they are. I want to beat these guys!
They’ve been decent in recent years under Tom O’Brien with three straight winning seasons. But decent wasn’t enough for the Pack so they fired him and brought in Dave Doeren who had an excellent 23-4 record at Northern Illinois, whom he improbably led to the Orange Bowl last year, where they lost to Florida State 10-31 after keeping it close for three quarters.
He needs a new quarterback and will likely use Colorado State transfer Pete Thomas who had 18TDs but 22 interceptions in the 21 games he started there. He’s a big boy at 6-6, 234. They didn’t have much of a running game last year and have to replace the middle three spots in their offensive line. On defense they need to replace all their linebackers and three spots in the secondary. This team is consistently rated ahead of us in the things I’ve been reading but it’s hard to see why. Maybe they know about that 0-6 record we have against them.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 111-155 yards 108th-52nd
Passing: 310-250 yards 18th-83rd
Total: 421-405 yards 48th-68th
Scoring: 28-26 points 69th-52nd
Turnover Margin: -9
Saturday, 10/19/13 TBA at GEORGIA TECH TBA
Paul Johnson is one of the great offensive coaches in the country, using the “old fashioned” triple option with plenty of new wrinkles to light up scoreboards. Defending such an attack requires a lot of discipline and Scott Shafer’s aggressive defensive approach, (which I love) may not be a good match-up against this team.
Johnson is looking for a new quarterback but Vad Lee seems to have the skills to make this offense sing. He got a chance to show his skills against North Carolina last year and threw for 169 yards while running for 112. Johnson’s never had a passer as good as Lee and says he’ll mix some shotgun in with the bone this year. Lee’s competition is Justin Thomas “a speedster adept at slight of hand ballhandling on the option.” Their leading running backs, Zach Laskey and David Sims at fullback and Robert Godhigh and B. J. Bostic at halfback, return as well as all five starters in the line. Their receiving corps is described as “green”. That didn’t matter much in recent years but with Lee available this season, it might now.
The Jacket’s problem is stopping people. They gave up over 40 points six times last year. But they looked pretty good whipping Southern Cal 21-7 in their bowl game. Jeremiah Attaochu is a top sack man (10 last year), and is moving from linebacker to defensive end. Lack of penetration by the lineman was a big problem last year. Their strength is in the secondary The NFL has their eyes on Jemea Thomas and Louis Young and Isaiah Johnson is a “hard hitter”. Jamal Golden was among the top ten punt and kickoff returners in the country. They’ve had place-kicking problems and are looking for Harrison Bunker “one of the best high school kickers in the country” to solve them.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 311-144 yards 4th-41st
Passing: 130-230 yards 115th-58th
Total: 441-374 yards 35th-43rd
Scoring: 34-28 points 34th-65th
Turnover Margin: +4
Saturday, 11/2/13 TBA vs. WAKE FOREST at the Carrier Dome TBA
We’ve had some experience with the Demon Deacons in recent years, losing to their Orange Bowl team, 10-20 in 2006 and coming back from a 15 point deficit to win a 36-29 overtime game two years ago. Historically, they have been one of the worst major college teams:
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin...=1869&end=2012&rpct=30&min=5&se=on&by=Win+Pct
(they are #106). But Jim Grobe is probably the best coach they’ve ever had, going 73-74 in a dozen years, a very commendable record. But they’ve had losing seasons in the last four years. It’s hard to maintain success as a school that has never had any. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be a worthy opponent. Those four losers won 19 games.
Last year they couldn’t score, despite having a veteran quarterback in Tanner Price. Their line was porous and Price fell from 3000 yards and 20TDs to 2300 yards and 12 scores. Josh Harris led the team with 608 yards when he wasn’t hurt. Michael Campanaro is an excellent receiver with 79 catches for 763 yards and 6TDs.
Grobe calls his defensive line the deepest and most experienced he’s had. Nikita Whitlock, (5-11 260), is “a quick senior who wreaks havoc in the middle of the line” and Zach Thompson is “a high-energy defensive end”. Linebacker Justin Jackson led the team in tackles. The secondary struggled last year, largely due to the lack of a pass rush.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 101-166 yards 113th-68th
Passing: 201-267 yards 91st-100th
Total: 301-433 yards 117th-88th
Scoring: 19-32 points 114th-91st
Turnover Margin: +8
Saturday, 11/9/13 TBA at MARYLAND TBA
Syracuse played Maryland every year from 1965-1978 and 34 times in the school’s mutual history. It has been a competitive series , (SU is ahead 18-14-2) but like the Pittsburgh series it has featured alternate periods of dominance. We won 8 in a row from 1965-72, then went 0-8-1 before winning 5 of the last 6, losing only in the Cherry Bowl. Maryland is another ACC school we were looking forward to renewing our rivalry with. They have always been recruiting rivals and whoever dominated those battles dominated on the field. Unfortunately, they decided to bug out for the Big Ten, (where they have no natural rivals), so this year’s game will be the only one with the Terps. At least we won’t have to see those crash-test dummy uniforms they sometimes wear, (and hopefully not for this game).
Those uniforms are an obvious attempt to attract recruits in the way Oregon does. It’s “cool”. But it’s the players wearing the uniforms that win the games. And Maryland hasn’t had enough good ones in recent years. They’ve had a couple of 2-10 seasons and were 4-8 last year. But they might have been better if they hadn’t lost no less than four quarterbacks to injury. They wound up with a freshman linebacker, (I kid you not) playing quarterback for them the last four games. They’ll start again with last year’s initial starter, CJ Brown, (who didn’t make it out of fall practice before he tore an ACL), and see what happens. He was a dual threat as a runner and passer. They had an outstanding freshman wide-out in Stefon Diggs who caught 54 balls for 848 yards and 6TDs despite getting the defense’s full attention. He was also a dynamite kick returner, averaging 28.7 per kick-off and scoring on 100 and 99 yard jaunts. JUCO transfer Deon Long caught 25TD passes in junior college last year so defenses will have more to think about. Unfortunately their line was a mess last year and is a huge question mark this year.
They did have a good defense last year, (21st in the country) but lost a lot form that unit, especially up front where they lost 3 of 4 guys. Linebacker Cole Ferrand and corners Dexter McDougle and Jeremiah Johnson are the bets returnees. Their kicking game is shaky.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 103-129 yards 112th-26th
Passing: 182-208 yards 100th-30th
Total: 285-337 yards 120th-21st
Scoring: 20-27 points 107th-56th
Turnover Margin: -10
Saturday, 11/16/13 TBA at FLORIDA STATE TBA
Florida State set a record by being ranked in the Top 5 every year from 1987-2000. They won two national championships in that period, 1993 and 1999 and the only school that would have out-ranked them for the period was Miami, who seemed to find a way to beat them, (8 times in 10 years until probation hit the ‘Canes). Over that period, the ‘Noles won 89% of their games, (152-19-1), even better than Miami. Since then they’ve struggled to get back to that peak. It’s not the type of “struggle” Syracuse would be familiar with. Since 2001, they’ve only won 64% of their games, (94-52-0). The program lagged in Bobby Bowden’s dotage and now Coach Jimbo Fisher is trying to reinflate it into the perennial national championship contender they once were.
He might have done it already. The 1993 team outscored its opposition 536-129. The 1999 team beat their opponents by a combined 458-203. Last year they dominated by 550-206. National champion Alabama was 542-153. The ‘Noles lost by a point at NC State and got beat by 11 by Florida, knocking them out of any chance for a title game. If they are really “back”, they will be our most formidable opponent. When they came to the Carrier Dome to play us in 1989, I looked at their roster and 89 of their 103 players were from the state of Florida. They can recruit by car, or by foot. They have to replace some key players from last year’s team. But Florida State replaces players with guys you wish you had.
They lost E. J. Manuel, their quarterback, who is now with Doug Marrone in Buffalo. His likely replacement, Clint Trickett, transferred. James Winston was rated the #1 quarterback coming out of high school by some services. Their receiving corps is intact, with Rashad Greene being the biggest name. He caught 57 balls for 741 yards and 6TDs. They had three different backs run for over 600 yards Chris Thompson led with 687 yards, (including an 80 yarder) and a 7.5 average before he got hurt and gave way to power runner James Wilder Jr. (635/5.8) and shifty Devonta Freeman, (660/5.9). Together those three ran for 24 touchdowns. The line is “young but talented” and returns four starters.
The defense was amazing last year- single digit rankings in every category. They’ve got four new starters on the D-line but one is Mario Edwards, who was the top overall recruit in the country two years ago and played in 11 games last year. They also lost all but one linebacker but the returnee, Christian Jones, had 95 tackles and drew interest from the NFL but decided to come back. The experience is in the secondary, which will be “one of the best in the nation”. Lamarcus Joyner was an all-ACC safety.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 206-92 yards 24th-3rd
Passing: 265-162 yards 39th-1st
Total: 472-254 yards 19th-2nd
Scoring: 39-15 points 10th -6th
Turnover Margin: -6
Saturday, 11/23/13 TBA vs. PITTSBURGH at the Carrier Dome TBA
Pittsburgh took the jump with us into the ACC and a series that have been played since 1955 remains intact, an increasing rare thing in modern college football. The Panthers lead 31-34-3 but like Maryland that balance has been achieved through alternate periods of dominance between two regular recruiting rivals. Syracuse won 7 of 9 from 1964-1972, then lost 11 in a row, then went 16-1-1, including an 11 year streak of our own. Pitt then won 9 of 10 until we pulled out a 14-13 win in the Dome last year. SU is hopeful they’ve turned the series around again but that remains to be seen. Unfortunately we aren’t in the same division, so it may not be a “series” any more.
Two years ago, Pitt went through a comedy of errors, having three coaches in a matter of days. They fired Dave Wannstedt, hired Todd Graham of Tulsa, who stayed for one year, then hired Mike Haywood from Miami (Ohio), only to have him get arrested for felony domestic violence. They fired Haywood and brought in Paul Cryst from the Wisconsin staff. This sort of disruption was exactly what Syracuse needed to turn the tide in recruiting and turn things around vs. Pitt.
They’ve been 6-7 the last two years, both times going 6-6 and then losing bowl games. They have to replace quarterback Tino Sunseri and running back Ray Graham, their #2 all-time rusher. They thought they had a potential star in Russell Schell, the all-time leading high school rusher in the state of Pennsylvania, (a title once held by SU’s James Mungro), but he transferred to UCLA after red-shirting last year and never played a down for the Panthers. Sunseri will likely be replaced by well travelled quarterback Rom Savage, who transferred from Rutgers to Arizona and now back east to Pitt. They do have a top receiver in Devin Street, (73 catches for 975 yards and 5TDs). Cryst is rebuilding the offensive line but he’s the man to do it. He was the line coach at Wisconsin, which became famous for their O-ines while he was there.
The Panthers growled on defense last year and will be good again with 8 starters back. Tackle Aaron Donald was a two time All-Big East player. “The linebacking corps teems with athleticism”, led by “heavy hitting” middle linebacker Shane Gordon. LaFayette Pitts and K’Waun Williams “might be the best cornerback duo in the conference”. The Panthers held us to our lowest output of the season last year, just 305 yards, (we were under 400 in only one other game: Minnesota with 350). Matt Yoklic is a good punter, (41.8 yards per kick last year) but they are looking for a new placekicker.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 133-136 yards 92nd-31st
Passing: 257-184 yards 46th-20th
Total: 390-331 yards 71st-17th
Scoring:27-21 points 74th-23rd
Turnover Margin: +12
Saturday, 11/30/13 TBA vs. BOSTON COLLEGE at the Carrier Dome TBA
The Eagles are another old Big East foe with whom we will now renew our acquaintance. SU is ahead by more of a margin than Maryland and Pittsburgh, 27-18 but this series has actually been more back and forth than those rivalries, without the long stretches of dominance by one school or another. SU did win 7 of 8 from 1958 through 1967 and 10 of 12 from 1987-1998 but other than that no team has won more than 3 games in a row in the series. They are also in the opposite division from us. The Eagles got off to great start in the ACC, going 54-25 overall in the first six years and twice playing in the conference title game. The last of those teams whipped our 2010 Pinstripe champs, 7-16 in the Carrier Dome. But they’ve declined precipitously since, going 4-8 in 2011 and 2-10 in 2012. That resulted in the firing of Coach Frank Spaziani and his replacement by former SU assistant Steve Addazio, who had been the coach at Temple.
Addazio inherits Chase Rettig, who has “pro-style skills and a rocket arm”. Last year he passed for 3,065 yards and 17TDs with 13 interceptions. He also has his leading receiver Alex Amidon, who caught 78 passes for 1210 yards and 7 scores. Andre Williams is “an experienced and rugged downhill runner while Deuce Finch is “talented but fumble-prone”. The Eagles “have two quality guards and a serviceable center returning but must replace both tackles.”
Their defense has “a fragmented collection of returning starters who were inept at containing the run, defending the pass, harassing the quarterback or exiting the field on third down….The defensive line is devoid of an impact player who can stop the ball at the point of attack or get to the quarterback.” They are best off at linebacker where the outside men, Steele Divitto and Kevin Pierre-Louis are their best players. New coordinator Don Brown is fond of “applying pressure from unexpected places”.
The Eagles are strong in special teams. Nate Freese hit 18 of 20 field goals last year and Spiffy Evans averaged 25.3 yards on kick-off returns and 18.6 on punt returns.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 91-214 yards 115th-111th
Passing: 259-242 yards 45th-75th
Total: 350-456 yards 99th-100th
Scoring: 20-30 points 109th-74th
Turnover Margin: -5
The Tigers were a major national power in the 80’s, winning it all in ‘81. They slipped a bit after that but are building back up to that level and think this could be their breakthrough year. They were one of the best offensive teams in the country last year and should be at least as good this year. Quarterback Taij Boyd will be a Heisman candidate. Last year he passed for 3,896 yards and 36TDs vs. 13 interceptions and rushed for 514 yards for 10 more TDs. Sammy Watkins is a dynamic talent who missed three games due to a suspension but still caught 57 passes for 708 yards and 3 schools. The year before he was much more productive with 82 catches for 1219 yards and 12 scores. They will miss DeAndre Hopkins who had an even better season than Watkins the year before with 82 catches for 1405 yards and 18TDs and Andre Ellington who ran for 1081 yards. This is a team that puts up big numbers. They’ve got four starters back from the offensive line and whoever replaces Hopkins and Ellington will probably put up big numbers, too.
Their problem has been on defense. West Virginia crushed the Tigers 70-33 in the Orange Bowl two years ago and last year both Florida State and North Carolina State had over 450 yards and scored 49 and 48 points, respectively against them. But in the bowl game it was Tigers vs. Tigers and the Clemson version held mighty LSU to 219 yards total offense in a 25-24 victory that seemed, (to Clemson fans, anyway), to signal that they were ready to go for another national championship. They do lose five starters, three from the defensive backfield. Linebacker Spencer Shuey and safety Travis Banks will be the stars but they have every lineman back but one. Watkins is a dangerous kick returner and placekicker Chandler Catanzaro was 18 for 19 on field goals last year.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 191-156 yards 36th-67th
Passing: 322-240 yards 13th-73rd
Total: 513-396 yards 9th-63rd
Scoring: 41-25 points 6th-48th
Turnover Margin: +2
Saturday, 10/12/13 TBA at NORTH CAROLINA STATE TBA
If you are along-time Syracuse fan as I am. There’s probably no one the schedule you’d rather beat, even Penn State, Clemson or Florida State. We’ve beaten those schools before. We are 0-6 all-time vs. the Wolfpack. I remember the Buckey twins running all over the field against one of Ben Schwartzwalder’s last, sad teams. I recall two close losses later in the decade sandwiched around a 0-38 debacle at Archbold. But mostly I remember two seasons, 1997 and 1998 where we were thinking about national championships and Heisman trophies and the Pack bit us in the butt each time. After the second one I was so frustrated and angry I seriously wondered if being a fan was worth it any more. I don’t care how good or bad we or they are. I want to beat these guys!
They’ve been decent in recent years under Tom O’Brien with three straight winning seasons. But decent wasn’t enough for the Pack so they fired him and brought in Dave Doeren who had an excellent 23-4 record at Northern Illinois, whom he improbably led to the Orange Bowl last year, where they lost to Florida State 10-31 after keeping it close for three quarters.
He needs a new quarterback and will likely use Colorado State transfer Pete Thomas who had 18TDs but 22 interceptions in the 21 games he started there. He’s a big boy at 6-6, 234. They didn’t have much of a running game last year and have to replace the middle three spots in their offensive line. On defense they need to replace all their linebackers and three spots in the secondary. This team is consistently rated ahead of us in the things I’ve been reading but it’s hard to see why. Maybe they know about that 0-6 record we have against them.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 111-155 yards 108th-52nd
Passing: 310-250 yards 18th-83rd
Total: 421-405 yards 48th-68th
Scoring: 28-26 points 69th-52nd
Turnover Margin: -9
Saturday, 10/19/13 TBA at GEORGIA TECH TBA
Paul Johnson is one of the great offensive coaches in the country, using the “old fashioned” triple option with plenty of new wrinkles to light up scoreboards. Defending such an attack requires a lot of discipline and Scott Shafer’s aggressive defensive approach, (which I love) may not be a good match-up against this team.
Johnson is looking for a new quarterback but Vad Lee seems to have the skills to make this offense sing. He got a chance to show his skills against North Carolina last year and threw for 169 yards while running for 112. Johnson’s never had a passer as good as Lee and says he’ll mix some shotgun in with the bone this year. Lee’s competition is Justin Thomas “a speedster adept at slight of hand ballhandling on the option.” Their leading running backs, Zach Laskey and David Sims at fullback and Robert Godhigh and B. J. Bostic at halfback, return as well as all five starters in the line. Their receiving corps is described as “green”. That didn’t matter much in recent years but with Lee available this season, it might now.
The Jacket’s problem is stopping people. They gave up over 40 points six times last year. But they looked pretty good whipping Southern Cal 21-7 in their bowl game. Jeremiah Attaochu is a top sack man (10 last year), and is moving from linebacker to defensive end. Lack of penetration by the lineman was a big problem last year. Their strength is in the secondary The NFL has their eyes on Jemea Thomas and Louis Young and Isaiah Johnson is a “hard hitter”. Jamal Golden was among the top ten punt and kickoff returners in the country. They’ve had place-kicking problems and are looking for Harrison Bunker “one of the best high school kickers in the country” to solve them.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 311-144 yards 4th-41st
Passing: 130-230 yards 115th-58th
Total: 441-374 yards 35th-43rd
Scoring: 34-28 points 34th-65th
Turnover Margin: +4
Saturday, 11/2/13 TBA vs. WAKE FOREST at the Carrier Dome TBA
We’ve had some experience with the Demon Deacons in recent years, losing to their Orange Bowl team, 10-20 in 2006 and coming back from a 15 point deficit to win a 36-29 overtime game two years ago. Historically, they have been one of the worst major college teams:
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin...=1869&end=2012&rpct=30&min=5&se=on&by=Win+Pct
(they are #106). But Jim Grobe is probably the best coach they’ve ever had, going 73-74 in a dozen years, a very commendable record. But they’ve had losing seasons in the last four years. It’s hard to maintain success as a school that has never had any. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be a worthy opponent. Those four losers won 19 games.
Last year they couldn’t score, despite having a veteran quarterback in Tanner Price. Their line was porous and Price fell from 3000 yards and 20TDs to 2300 yards and 12 scores. Josh Harris led the team with 608 yards when he wasn’t hurt. Michael Campanaro is an excellent receiver with 79 catches for 763 yards and 6TDs.
Grobe calls his defensive line the deepest and most experienced he’s had. Nikita Whitlock, (5-11 260), is “a quick senior who wreaks havoc in the middle of the line” and Zach Thompson is “a high-energy defensive end”. Linebacker Justin Jackson led the team in tackles. The secondary struggled last year, largely due to the lack of a pass rush.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 101-166 yards 113th-68th
Passing: 201-267 yards 91st-100th
Total: 301-433 yards 117th-88th
Scoring: 19-32 points 114th-91st
Turnover Margin: +8
Saturday, 11/9/13 TBA at MARYLAND TBA
Syracuse played Maryland every year from 1965-1978 and 34 times in the school’s mutual history. It has been a competitive series , (SU is ahead 18-14-2) but like the Pittsburgh series it has featured alternate periods of dominance. We won 8 in a row from 1965-72, then went 0-8-1 before winning 5 of the last 6, losing only in the Cherry Bowl. Maryland is another ACC school we were looking forward to renewing our rivalry with. They have always been recruiting rivals and whoever dominated those battles dominated on the field. Unfortunately, they decided to bug out for the Big Ten, (where they have no natural rivals), so this year’s game will be the only one with the Terps. At least we won’t have to see those crash-test dummy uniforms they sometimes wear, (and hopefully not for this game).
Those uniforms are an obvious attempt to attract recruits in the way Oregon does. It’s “cool”. But it’s the players wearing the uniforms that win the games. And Maryland hasn’t had enough good ones in recent years. They’ve had a couple of 2-10 seasons and were 4-8 last year. But they might have been better if they hadn’t lost no less than four quarterbacks to injury. They wound up with a freshman linebacker, (I kid you not) playing quarterback for them the last four games. They’ll start again with last year’s initial starter, CJ Brown, (who didn’t make it out of fall practice before he tore an ACL), and see what happens. He was a dual threat as a runner and passer. They had an outstanding freshman wide-out in Stefon Diggs who caught 54 balls for 848 yards and 6TDs despite getting the defense’s full attention. He was also a dynamite kick returner, averaging 28.7 per kick-off and scoring on 100 and 99 yard jaunts. JUCO transfer Deon Long caught 25TD passes in junior college last year so defenses will have more to think about. Unfortunately their line was a mess last year and is a huge question mark this year.
They did have a good defense last year, (21st in the country) but lost a lot form that unit, especially up front where they lost 3 of 4 guys. Linebacker Cole Ferrand and corners Dexter McDougle and Jeremiah Johnson are the bets returnees. Their kicking game is shaky.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 103-129 yards 112th-26th
Passing: 182-208 yards 100th-30th
Total: 285-337 yards 120th-21st
Scoring: 20-27 points 107th-56th
Turnover Margin: -10
Saturday, 11/16/13 TBA at FLORIDA STATE TBA
Florida State set a record by being ranked in the Top 5 every year from 1987-2000. They won two national championships in that period, 1993 and 1999 and the only school that would have out-ranked them for the period was Miami, who seemed to find a way to beat them, (8 times in 10 years until probation hit the ‘Canes). Over that period, the ‘Noles won 89% of their games, (152-19-1), even better than Miami. Since then they’ve struggled to get back to that peak. It’s not the type of “struggle” Syracuse would be familiar with. Since 2001, they’ve only won 64% of their games, (94-52-0). The program lagged in Bobby Bowden’s dotage and now Coach Jimbo Fisher is trying to reinflate it into the perennial national championship contender they once were.
He might have done it already. The 1993 team outscored its opposition 536-129. The 1999 team beat their opponents by a combined 458-203. Last year they dominated by 550-206. National champion Alabama was 542-153. The ‘Noles lost by a point at NC State and got beat by 11 by Florida, knocking them out of any chance for a title game. If they are really “back”, they will be our most formidable opponent. When they came to the Carrier Dome to play us in 1989, I looked at their roster and 89 of their 103 players were from the state of Florida. They can recruit by car, or by foot. They have to replace some key players from last year’s team. But Florida State replaces players with guys you wish you had.
They lost E. J. Manuel, their quarterback, who is now with Doug Marrone in Buffalo. His likely replacement, Clint Trickett, transferred. James Winston was rated the #1 quarterback coming out of high school by some services. Their receiving corps is intact, with Rashad Greene being the biggest name. He caught 57 balls for 741 yards and 6TDs. They had three different backs run for over 600 yards Chris Thompson led with 687 yards, (including an 80 yarder) and a 7.5 average before he got hurt and gave way to power runner James Wilder Jr. (635/5.8) and shifty Devonta Freeman, (660/5.9). Together those three ran for 24 touchdowns. The line is “young but talented” and returns four starters.
The defense was amazing last year- single digit rankings in every category. They’ve got four new starters on the D-line but one is Mario Edwards, who was the top overall recruit in the country two years ago and played in 11 games last year. They also lost all but one linebacker but the returnee, Christian Jones, had 95 tackles and drew interest from the NFL but decided to come back. The experience is in the secondary, which will be “one of the best in the nation”. Lamarcus Joyner was an all-ACC safety.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 206-92 yards 24th-3rd
Passing: 265-162 yards 39th-1st
Total: 472-254 yards 19th-2nd
Scoring: 39-15 points 10th -6th
Turnover Margin: -6
Saturday, 11/23/13 TBA vs. PITTSBURGH at the Carrier Dome TBA
Pittsburgh took the jump with us into the ACC and a series that have been played since 1955 remains intact, an increasing rare thing in modern college football. The Panthers lead 31-34-3 but like Maryland that balance has been achieved through alternate periods of dominance between two regular recruiting rivals. Syracuse won 7 of 9 from 1964-1972, then lost 11 in a row, then went 16-1-1, including an 11 year streak of our own. Pitt then won 9 of 10 until we pulled out a 14-13 win in the Dome last year. SU is hopeful they’ve turned the series around again but that remains to be seen. Unfortunately we aren’t in the same division, so it may not be a “series” any more.
Two years ago, Pitt went through a comedy of errors, having three coaches in a matter of days. They fired Dave Wannstedt, hired Todd Graham of Tulsa, who stayed for one year, then hired Mike Haywood from Miami (Ohio), only to have him get arrested for felony domestic violence. They fired Haywood and brought in Paul Cryst from the Wisconsin staff. This sort of disruption was exactly what Syracuse needed to turn the tide in recruiting and turn things around vs. Pitt.
They’ve been 6-7 the last two years, both times going 6-6 and then losing bowl games. They have to replace quarterback Tino Sunseri and running back Ray Graham, their #2 all-time rusher. They thought they had a potential star in Russell Schell, the all-time leading high school rusher in the state of Pennsylvania, (a title once held by SU’s James Mungro), but he transferred to UCLA after red-shirting last year and never played a down for the Panthers. Sunseri will likely be replaced by well travelled quarterback Rom Savage, who transferred from Rutgers to Arizona and now back east to Pitt. They do have a top receiver in Devin Street, (73 catches for 975 yards and 5TDs). Cryst is rebuilding the offensive line but he’s the man to do it. He was the line coach at Wisconsin, which became famous for their O-ines while he was there.
The Panthers growled on defense last year and will be good again with 8 starters back. Tackle Aaron Donald was a two time All-Big East player. “The linebacking corps teems with athleticism”, led by “heavy hitting” middle linebacker Shane Gordon. LaFayette Pitts and K’Waun Williams “might be the best cornerback duo in the conference”. The Panthers held us to our lowest output of the season last year, just 305 yards, (we were under 400 in only one other game: Minnesota with 350). Matt Yoklic is a good punter, (41.8 yards per kick last year) but they are looking for a new placekicker.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 133-136 yards 92nd-31st
Passing: 257-184 yards 46th-20th
Total: 390-331 yards 71st-17th
Scoring:27-21 points 74th-23rd
Turnover Margin: +12
Saturday, 11/30/13 TBA vs. BOSTON COLLEGE at the Carrier Dome TBA
The Eagles are another old Big East foe with whom we will now renew our acquaintance. SU is ahead by more of a margin than Maryland and Pittsburgh, 27-18 but this series has actually been more back and forth than those rivalries, without the long stretches of dominance by one school or another. SU did win 7 of 8 from 1958 through 1967 and 10 of 12 from 1987-1998 but other than that no team has won more than 3 games in a row in the series. They are also in the opposite division from us. The Eagles got off to great start in the ACC, going 54-25 overall in the first six years and twice playing in the conference title game. The last of those teams whipped our 2010 Pinstripe champs, 7-16 in the Carrier Dome. But they’ve declined precipitously since, going 4-8 in 2011 and 2-10 in 2012. That resulted in the firing of Coach Frank Spaziani and his replacement by former SU assistant Steve Addazio, who had been the coach at Temple.
Addazio inherits Chase Rettig, who has “pro-style skills and a rocket arm”. Last year he passed for 3,065 yards and 17TDs with 13 interceptions. He also has his leading receiver Alex Amidon, who caught 78 passes for 1210 yards and 7 scores. Andre Williams is “an experienced and rugged downhill runner while Deuce Finch is “talented but fumble-prone”. The Eagles “have two quality guards and a serviceable center returning but must replace both tackles.”
Their defense has “a fragmented collection of returning starters who were inept at containing the run, defending the pass, harassing the quarterback or exiting the field on third down….The defensive line is devoid of an impact player who can stop the ball at the point of attack or get to the quarterback.” They are best off at linebacker where the outside men, Steele Divitto and Kevin Pierre-Louis are their best players. New coordinator Don Brown is fond of “applying pressure from unexpected places”.
The Eagles are strong in special teams. Nate Freese hit 18 of 20 field goals last year and Spiffy Evans averaged 25.3 yards on kick-off returns and 18.6 on punt returns.
Yards and National Rankings last year:
Rushing 91-214 yards 115th-111th
Passing: 259-242 yards 45th-75th
Total: 350-456 yards 99th-100th
Scoring: 20-30 points 109th-74th
Turnover Margin: -5
