SWC75
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Now, we move onto November, which as Coach Mac used say, is what “they’ll remember”. Unfortunately, they have been bad memories in recent years. Since we joined the ACC, our records in games played after October 31st is 13-34 after being 43-45 going into November.
Saturday November 2, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. Virginia Tech
TV: TBA
We had an amazing rivalry against the Hokies when both teams were in the Big East. They would clobber us in Blacksburg and we would beat them in the Dome, (although it was usually close).
In Blacksburg: 24-45, 7-31, 3-31, 0-62, 22-14, 7-51 = 63-234, 10.5-39 per game
In Syracuse: 28-9, 28-20, 52-21, 28-26, 14-22, 50-42 = 200-140, 33-23 per game
Ironic that our one victory in Blacksburg and their one victory in Syracuse, (in consecutive years) were by the same score. Since we joined the ACC, (we wound up in different divisions), we’ve played them three times. We won here in 2016, 31-17, in a game that produced a viral video:
In 2021, in a game I’ll never forget, when we rallied for a couple of late scores, on a long pass from Shrader to Alford where Garrett got flattened the moment he got the ball off.
Syracuse's Damien Alford Saves The Day | ACC Must See Moment
Last year, in Blacksburg, it seemed like old times. Dino made the mistake of saying that “This is where our schedule levels off”, (in their house), We got leveled by a maturing Tech team, 10-38, and now they are predicted to be one of best teams in the league. But we have them in the Dome, our house.
They went 7-6 last year and clobbered an 11-2 Tulane team in the Military Bowl 41-20. The key was when QB Kyron Drones, a Baylor transfer, took over in game three and gave them an “offensive identity” with his runs and long throws. He had some accuracy issues, (166/285, 58.5%) but that was probably because he was throwing deep, (those 65-70% ratings are the product of all the short passes that dominate modern passing offense). He averaged only 7.3 yards per attempt but 12.6 per completion. The big news is that he was accurate enough to throw for 17TDs vs. just 3 interceptions. He had as many carries as completions and, (166) and ran for 818 yards and 5 touchdowns, which helped free running back Bhayshul Tuten for 863 yards on 173 carries (5.0) and 10 TDs. Athlon: “Tech averaged 60 rushing yards per game before Drones became the starter and 213.4 after.” Ali Jennings, who transferred from Old Dominion, where, in two years he caught 116 balls for 2,025 yards and 14TDs, was injured in game 2 and never returned until now. He’ll join “a veteran trio of Da’Quan Felton Jaylin Lane Stephen Grosnell that combined for 101 catches, 1,553 yards 17TDs” last year. All 5 interior offensive linemen return but they “still need to establish themselves as more than just a functional offensive line”. (Lindy’s) How about a rock band?
The defense finished in the top 20 nationally and #4 against the pass. Athlon: “Dorian Strong and Mansoor Delane form arguably the best cornerback tandem in the ACC”. Up front, they recorded 39 sacks, led by Antwaun Powell with 9.5. They’ve brought in a bunch of transfers to shore up the middle of their defense, which had problems with the run.
Their special teams will remind people of the Frank Beamer era, with a kicker, (John Love – did his coach name him?) who was 22 for 24 on field goals, a punter, (Peter Moore, named for how far his kicks go), who hit 43.1 and top ten kick (Tuten 28.9 and 2TDs), and punt (Tucker Holloway (12.9) returners.
Scoring 29.5 #54 vs. 23.9 #50
Rushing 189.8 #22 vs. 148.0 #57
Passing 201.7 #95 vs. 168.8 #4
Total 391.5 #58 vs. 316.8 #20
Turnover margin: +1 #61
Saturday November 9, Time: TBA Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Ma vs. Boston College
TV: TBA
Boston College went 7-6 last year but it’s hard to look at those stats below and see why. They were out-scored by 45 points and had one of the worst passing attacks and rushing defenses in the country. What they did have is Thomas Castellanos, who ran for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns – as a quarterback. His passing was not exceptional: 189/330 (57.8), 2,248 yards (6.8/a, 11.9/c), for 15TDs and 14 int, but it kept the defenses off-balance. Still, an opposing coach told Athlon, “a lot of people believe that (former coach Jeff) Hafley’s move (to Green Bay to become their defensive coordinator), was to get out of there before they fell under .500 and he got fired”.
The man BC hired to replace Hafley was Bill O’Brien, the man who got Penn State going again after the Paterno disaster and who coached the Houston Texans in the NFL before becoming offensive coordinator for first Nick Saban at Alabama and then Bill Belichick with the Patriots. In turn, O’Brien hired his old friend Doug Marrone to be something called ‘Senior Analyst for Football Strategy/Research’. Sounds like a dream job to me. O’Brien has vowed to “make this team more like the Boston College teams of old – physical and tough”. (Athlon)
Getting Castellanos to stay was big. So was getting running back Kye Robichaux, who ran for 780 yards and 8 scores. Transfer Treshaun Ward rushed for 643 yards (5.2) 5TDs for Kansas State last year. Tight end Kamari Morales is North Carolina’s all-time leader in tight end receptions with 67 for 761 yards in 4+ years in Chapel Hill. WR Lewis Bond (52r 646y 7TDs last year) “has displayed great chemistry with Castellanos”, per Athlon. They also said that “Jaedn Skeete, (12/188/7), is growing into an ACC caliber wideout”. 6-5 Jerand Bradley, (92/1274/10 in 2+ years), is “a big, physical receiver out of Texas Tech”.
The defense “underperformed last year”, per Athlon. New DC Tim Lewis “expects a more chaotic and disruptive group” this year. (I think you want chaos in the other team, actually.) DE Donovan Ezeiruaka had 8 sacks two years ago and has to return to that form. Kam Arnold had 66 tackles from the MIKE position. They went to the portal for their defensive backfield: Ryan Turner and Cameron Martinez from Ohio State, (can’t the Buckeyes hold on to anybody?) and Bryquice Brown from Georgia State.
Liam Connor kicked 11 of 14 field goals. Sam Candotti only averaged 38.1yards on hit punts but the opposition returned only 9 of 51 of them for just 58 yards. O’Brien brought in Vanderbilt return specialist Jayden McGowan, who has returned 35 kick-offs for 845 yards, (24.1) and a touchdown. He only returned one punt for 5 yards.
Scoring 24.8 #80 vs. 28.3 #83
Rushing 198.8 #13 vs. 187.9 #118
Passing 182.5 #108 vs. 197.2 #26
Total 381.2 #68 vs. 385.1 #70
Turnover margin: -2 #78
Saturday November 16, Time: TBA Cal Memorial Stadium Berkeley Ca vs. California
TV: TBA
The decline of the Schwartzwalder Era was a slow and gradual thing. It was mostly about old and inadequate facilities and the coming of two-platoon, unlimited substitution football. We didn’t move on while our rivals, especially Penn State, did. But those of us who lived through that period remember one day seemed to end our era of being considered a national power. It was an era where games between the strongest teams were tight, defensive struggles. Large margins of victory were only possible against over-matched opponents. On October 26, 1968 SU travelled to Berkeley to take on the Golden Bears of California.
We’d beaten them the year before in Archbold, 20-14, thanks to one of Larry Csonka’s greatest games, (204 yards, 3TDs). Larry was in the pros now but SU was doing just fine, thank you. After an opening 10-14 loss at Michigan State, we beat Maryland 32-14, UCLA 20-7 and Pittsburgh 50-17, all in Archbold Stadium. The UCLA game was clinched when the Bruins scored to make it 13-7 and tried an onside kick that Bill Maddox of SU scooped up and ran in for a score. I remember being bummed that Penn State Ted Kwalick did the same thing to Army and he got the front page of Sports Illustrated who pretended that that was the first time that had ever happened. But a #10 national ranking in both polls was consolation.
California was #11 in the AP Poll and #13 in UPI. They saw the game as a chance to break into the top ten. The Bears had opened by upsetting Michigan 21-7, beaten a bad Colorado team 10-0, blown out San Jose State 46-0, lost to a decent Army team 7-10 and dominated UCLA 39-15. Both teams had 13 first downs. Cal out-gained us 260-184. It all came down to turnovers. They had 3 of them. We had 9 of them. It was 0-17 after one quarter, 0-27 at the half and 0-37 going into the fourth quarter. The game ended with a 45 yard pick-6 to make it 0-43. The crowd stormed the field, even though there was more than 7 minutes left in the game. Both coaches agreed to end the contest at that point. It was the last SU football game that didn’t go 60 minutes until the 2022 Wagner game. We were Wagner.
It never felt like we were a national power after that, just another team trying to win more games than they lost. The Orange pounded Holy Cross the next week 47-0 and there was some talk that the fact that that was a larger score would make the SU players feel better but I doubt it did so. We crushed bad William and Mary (0-31 – the old couple tried their best) and Navy (6-44) teams to get to 6-2 but the season ended with losses at West Virginia and Penn State to drop us to 6-4. We outscored our opposition 252-154 but all anyone could think about was that 0-43 game. After that it was 5-5, 6-4, 5-5-1, 5-6 and, finally 2-9. The 0-43 game wan’ts the cause of that but that’s when the machine broke.
This will be our first game against California since that 1968 disaster. Hopefully, the results will be better. If they are, it will mean a lot to old fans like me and little to the younger ones, (unless they have read the above account).
Last year, Cal was 6-7, just like us. Like so many of our opponents, they found just the QB they needed last year. Fernando Mendoza took over in week 6 and the Bears averaged 41 points a game the rest of the way. Still, they lost his first four games – and the won his last three before losing to Texas Tech in the Independence Bowl, 14-34. He completed 63% for 1,708 yards, (6.3/a, 11.2/c), 14TDs and 10 int. Unlike some of our other opposing QBs but like Kyle McCord, he’s a pocket passer, rushing for only 92 yards. Cal opened with North Texas last year, whose QB, Chandler Rogers passed for 3,382 yards and 29 touchdowns. He’s now here to give Mendoza some competition. They will be throwing to Trond Grizzell, a grizzled old junior who caught 39 balls for 590 yards and 6TDs last year, Notre Dame transfer Tobias Meriweather (14/284-20.3!/2) and Utah transfer Mikey Matthews (29/261/0). But their big weapon will be running back Jaydn Ott, who ran for 1,315 yards in 246 carries (5.3) and 12TDs and also caught 25 passes for 169 yards and 2 scores.
Their great weakness is their defense, especially their pass defense. They gave up 30 passing touchdowns last year and finished #128 of 130 teams in giving up passing yards and #111 in points. But they did have 28 takeovers. They didn’t have much of a pass rush, so we know teams threw a lot of passes against them. Linebacker Cade Uluave was the Pac 12 defensive rookie of the year and Craig Woodson was second team all-Pac12 as a safety.
Ryan Coe has made 48 of 61 field goals for three different schools and is now at a fourth. Punter Lachlan Wilson came from Tulsa to punt for 44.5 yards a shot.
Scoring 30.2 #47 vs. 32.8 #111
Rushing 172.8 #45 vs. 133.4 #35
Passing 218.2 #71 vs. 280.7 #128
Total 390.9 #61 vs. 414.1 #102
Turnover margin: 0 #66
Saturday November 23, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. Connecticut
TV: TBA
Here comes another old friend, fallen on hard times in recent years. They rose from the FCS level at the beginning of the century and had some success, including beating us several times. But not being picked up by the ACC killed their football program, although they would have been a huge asset for basketball. I’ve heard Boston College vetoed it, although I don’t know why the ACC would have granted the Eagles such power. Since then, they’ve basically been trying to compete in FBS with what amounts to an FCS program. (Rumors are they are headed for the Big 12.) Last year they were 3-9. We last played them in 2022 we beat them 48-22 in their own place. Now they are in our place.
Maine transfer Joe Fagnano started at QB last year, got hurt and gave way to TaQuan Roberson who then entered the portal. Fagnano completed 51% of his passes for 173 yards in two games. He threw no touchdown passes and one interception while running for 32 yards. Brett Buckman caught 46 passes for 488 yards and 2TDs. Their other top receivers also hit the portal. They have brought in transfers Skyler Bell, (69/755/6 in 2+ years) from Wisconsin and TJ Sheffield, (118/1209/11 in 4 years), from Purdue, although why they transferred from those schools to Connecticut, I don’t know. (Money may have been involved.) Cam Edwards and Victor Ross combined for 1,168 yards rushing and 7TDs. “Figuring out the offensive line is critical”, per Lindy’s.
They gave up 30 points a game on defense. Their defensive line, (they run a 3-3-5), Price Yates, Jelani Stafford and Dal’Mont Gourdine combined for 27.5TFLs. They lost star linebacker Jackson Mitchell but have experience in the secondary with Rante Jones, (72 tackles) at safety.
Indiana transfer Chris Freeman kicked 10 of 14 field goals, including a 50 yarder and had 48% touchbacks on his kickoffs. JUCO transfer Nathaniel Wallace-Dilling averaged 40.1 per punt. He’ll have to do better than that to hold off Sacramento State transfer Connor Stutz, who averaged 45.6.
Scoring 19.1 #118 vs. 29.8 #96
Rushing 138.6 #89 vs. 147.7 #55
Passing 190.3 #102 vs. 258.8 #118
Total 328.9 #95 vs. 406.5 #95
Turnover margin: -4 #95
Saturday November 30, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. U of Miami
TV: TBA
The ACC has been waiting for years for Florida State and the University of Miami to return to greatness. Put them together with Clemson and now the conference can claim 11 of the last 41 national championships, (12 if you count Notre Dame – and recall that Georgia Tech got a share of the 1990 title). The SEC has 18 in that time but the Big Ten 9, (counting their current teams). We’re big time baby! And the Noles and Canes could help us close that gap. Last year the Seminoles came all the way back to 13-0, (forget the opt-out plagued bowl game). This might be the year for a big move by the Hurricanes.
Washington State transfer Cam Ward completed 65.5% of his passes for 6,963 yards and 48TDs in the last two years. They also brought in Albany’s QB, Reese Poffenbarger, (Poffenbarger?) who threw for 3,603 yards and 36TDs last year. (Hmmmm…didn’t FSU get a guy from Albany?) They’ll love throwing to Xavier Restrepo (85/1092/6). Miami also got the highest rated running back in the portal, Oregon State’s Damien Martinez, who ran for 1,185 yards and 9TDs for the Beavers last year. “He gives the Canes a bell-cow to pair with Ward.” (Athlon) The O-line is anchored by freshman All-American Francis Mauigoa and NFL prospect Jalen Rivers, the two tackles.
Francis’s older brother, Francisco Mauigoa, is a tremendous MIKE, with 18TFLs, 7.5 sacks 2 forced fumbles and an interception. Rueben Bain Jr. was freshman All-American at defensive end. Cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. made 88 tackles. The Canes are bringing in a slew transfers to put around them, including Michale Powell who had three interceptions for Washington last year. And lineman CJ Clark from NC State.
Kicker Andre Borregales was semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award. His older brother Jose won that award in 2020 for Miami. He hit 22 of 26 field goals, including a 5 yarder. Aussie punter Dylan Joyce averaged 43.8, including a 60 yarder. Restepo “is a sure-handed kick returner” per Lindy’s.
Scoring 31.5 #38 vs. 22.8 #42
Rushing 173.2 #44 vs. 105.6 #11
Passing 258.0 #42 vs. 216.0 #55
Total 431.2 #31 vs. 321.6 #24
Turnover margin: -4 #94
There’s always a lot of optimism, (or at least relief) when we get a new coaching staff. But coaches who come here have found that lifting this program to the heights is pretty heavy lifting. Those, smiling, confident faces have often wound up looking like this:
weight lifter's faces - Bing
I think we’ll have a more talented, deeper, better coached team but those who think we’ll have a weak schedule that will make it easy to have a better record maybe disappointed. We’re still in the deep end of the pool. But there’s no mid-season gauntlet as there was last year and the schedule isn’t exactly back-loaded, despite Miami – and we’ll know by then if they are really ‘back’.
In baseball they say you’re going to win 60 games and you’re going to lose 80 games. Your season depended on what you do in the other 42. The schedule has four games we should be an underdog in: The Techs, NC State and Miami. It has four games against non-power conference teams we are supposed to win. It has four toss-up games that could decide what this season is: Stanford, Cal, Pitt and BC. We need to beat the non-power conference teams and win at least 3 of the toss-ups, then pull off an upset of one the top tier schools to reach 8-4. We can do better than that but we can do worse, too.
Game Week 1 is upon us so here we go!
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Saturday November 2, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. Virginia Tech
TV: TBA
We had an amazing rivalry against the Hokies when both teams were in the Big East. They would clobber us in Blacksburg and we would beat them in the Dome, (although it was usually close).
In Blacksburg: 24-45, 7-31, 3-31, 0-62, 22-14, 7-51 = 63-234, 10.5-39 per game
In Syracuse: 28-9, 28-20, 52-21, 28-26, 14-22, 50-42 = 200-140, 33-23 per game
Ironic that our one victory in Blacksburg and their one victory in Syracuse, (in consecutive years) were by the same score. Since we joined the ACC, (we wound up in different divisions), we’ve played them three times. We won here in 2016, 31-17, in a game that produced a viral video:
In 2021, in a game I’ll never forget, when we rallied for a couple of late scores, on a long pass from Shrader to Alford where Garrett got flattened the moment he got the ball off.
Syracuse's Damien Alford Saves The Day | ACC Must See Moment
Last year, in Blacksburg, it seemed like old times. Dino made the mistake of saying that “This is where our schedule levels off”, (in their house), We got leveled by a maturing Tech team, 10-38, and now they are predicted to be one of best teams in the league. But we have them in the Dome, our house.
They went 7-6 last year and clobbered an 11-2 Tulane team in the Military Bowl 41-20. The key was when QB Kyron Drones, a Baylor transfer, took over in game three and gave them an “offensive identity” with his runs and long throws. He had some accuracy issues, (166/285, 58.5%) but that was probably because he was throwing deep, (those 65-70% ratings are the product of all the short passes that dominate modern passing offense). He averaged only 7.3 yards per attempt but 12.6 per completion. The big news is that he was accurate enough to throw for 17TDs vs. just 3 interceptions. He had as many carries as completions and, (166) and ran for 818 yards and 5 touchdowns, which helped free running back Bhayshul Tuten for 863 yards on 173 carries (5.0) and 10 TDs. Athlon: “Tech averaged 60 rushing yards per game before Drones became the starter and 213.4 after.” Ali Jennings, who transferred from Old Dominion, where, in two years he caught 116 balls for 2,025 yards and 14TDs, was injured in game 2 and never returned until now. He’ll join “a veteran trio of Da’Quan Felton Jaylin Lane Stephen Grosnell that combined for 101 catches, 1,553 yards 17TDs” last year. All 5 interior offensive linemen return but they “still need to establish themselves as more than just a functional offensive line”. (Lindy’s) How about a rock band?
The defense finished in the top 20 nationally and #4 against the pass. Athlon: “Dorian Strong and Mansoor Delane form arguably the best cornerback tandem in the ACC”. Up front, they recorded 39 sacks, led by Antwaun Powell with 9.5. They’ve brought in a bunch of transfers to shore up the middle of their defense, which had problems with the run.
Their special teams will remind people of the Frank Beamer era, with a kicker, (John Love – did his coach name him?) who was 22 for 24 on field goals, a punter, (Peter Moore, named for how far his kicks go), who hit 43.1 and top ten kick (Tuten 28.9 and 2TDs), and punt (Tucker Holloway (12.9) returners.
Scoring 29.5 #54 vs. 23.9 #50
Rushing 189.8 #22 vs. 148.0 #57
Passing 201.7 #95 vs. 168.8 #4
Total 391.5 #58 vs. 316.8 #20
Turnover margin: +1 #61
Saturday November 9, Time: TBA Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Ma vs. Boston College
TV: TBA
Boston College went 7-6 last year but it’s hard to look at those stats below and see why. They were out-scored by 45 points and had one of the worst passing attacks and rushing defenses in the country. What they did have is Thomas Castellanos, who ran for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns – as a quarterback. His passing was not exceptional: 189/330 (57.8), 2,248 yards (6.8/a, 11.9/c), for 15TDs and 14 int, but it kept the defenses off-balance. Still, an opposing coach told Athlon, “a lot of people believe that (former coach Jeff) Hafley’s move (to Green Bay to become their defensive coordinator), was to get out of there before they fell under .500 and he got fired”.
The man BC hired to replace Hafley was Bill O’Brien, the man who got Penn State going again after the Paterno disaster and who coached the Houston Texans in the NFL before becoming offensive coordinator for first Nick Saban at Alabama and then Bill Belichick with the Patriots. In turn, O’Brien hired his old friend Doug Marrone to be something called ‘Senior Analyst for Football Strategy/Research’. Sounds like a dream job to me. O’Brien has vowed to “make this team more like the Boston College teams of old – physical and tough”. (Athlon)
Getting Castellanos to stay was big. So was getting running back Kye Robichaux, who ran for 780 yards and 8 scores. Transfer Treshaun Ward rushed for 643 yards (5.2) 5TDs for Kansas State last year. Tight end Kamari Morales is North Carolina’s all-time leader in tight end receptions with 67 for 761 yards in 4+ years in Chapel Hill. WR Lewis Bond (52r 646y 7TDs last year) “has displayed great chemistry with Castellanos”, per Athlon. They also said that “Jaedn Skeete, (12/188/7), is growing into an ACC caliber wideout”. 6-5 Jerand Bradley, (92/1274/10 in 2+ years), is “a big, physical receiver out of Texas Tech”.
The defense “underperformed last year”, per Athlon. New DC Tim Lewis “expects a more chaotic and disruptive group” this year. (I think you want chaos in the other team, actually.) DE Donovan Ezeiruaka had 8 sacks two years ago and has to return to that form. Kam Arnold had 66 tackles from the MIKE position. They went to the portal for their defensive backfield: Ryan Turner and Cameron Martinez from Ohio State, (can’t the Buckeyes hold on to anybody?) and Bryquice Brown from Georgia State.
Liam Connor kicked 11 of 14 field goals. Sam Candotti only averaged 38.1yards on hit punts but the opposition returned only 9 of 51 of them for just 58 yards. O’Brien brought in Vanderbilt return specialist Jayden McGowan, who has returned 35 kick-offs for 845 yards, (24.1) and a touchdown. He only returned one punt for 5 yards.
Scoring 24.8 #80 vs. 28.3 #83
Rushing 198.8 #13 vs. 187.9 #118
Passing 182.5 #108 vs. 197.2 #26
Total 381.2 #68 vs. 385.1 #70
Turnover margin: -2 #78
Saturday November 16, Time: TBA Cal Memorial Stadium Berkeley Ca vs. California
TV: TBA
The decline of the Schwartzwalder Era was a slow and gradual thing. It was mostly about old and inadequate facilities and the coming of two-platoon, unlimited substitution football. We didn’t move on while our rivals, especially Penn State, did. But those of us who lived through that period remember one day seemed to end our era of being considered a national power. It was an era where games between the strongest teams were tight, defensive struggles. Large margins of victory were only possible against over-matched opponents. On October 26, 1968 SU travelled to Berkeley to take on the Golden Bears of California.
We’d beaten them the year before in Archbold, 20-14, thanks to one of Larry Csonka’s greatest games, (204 yards, 3TDs). Larry was in the pros now but SU was doing just fine, thank you. After an opening 10-14 loss at Michigan State, we beat Maryland 32-14, UCLA 20-7 and Pittsburgh 50-17, all in Archbold Stadium. The UCLA game was clinched when the Bruins scored to make it 13-7 and tried an onside kick that Bill Maddox of SU scooped up and ran in for a score. I remember being bummed that Penn State Ted Kwalick did the same thing to Army and he got the front page of Sports Illustrated who pretended that that was the first time that had ever happened. But a #10 national ranking in both polls was consolation.
California was #11 in the AP Poll and #13 in UPI. They saw the game as a chance to break into the top ten. The Bears had opened by upsetting Michigan 21-7, beaten a bad Colorado team 10-0, blown out San Jose State 46-0, lost to a decent Army team 7-10 and dominated UCLA 39-15. Both teams had 13 first downs. Cal out-gained us 260-184. It all came down to turnovers. They had 3 of them. We had 9 of them. It was 0-17 after one quarter, 0-27 at the half and 0-37 going into the fourth quarter. The game ended with a 45 yard pick-6 to make it 0-43. The crowd stormed the field, even though there was more than 7 minutes left in the game. Both coaches agreed to end the contest at that point. It was the last SU football game that didn’t go 60 minutes until the 2022 Wagner game. We were Wagner.
It never felt like we were a national power after that, just another team trying to win more games than they lost. The Orange pounded Holy Cross the next week 47-0 and there was some talk that the fact that that was a larger score would make the SU players feel better but I doubt it did so. We crushed bad William and Mary (0-31 – the old couple tried their best) and Navy (6-44) teams to get to 6-2 but the season ended with losses at West Virginia and Penn State to drop us to 6-4. We outscored our opposition 252-154 but all anyone could think about was that 0-43 game. After that it was 5-5, 6-4, 5-5-1, 5-6 and, finally 2-9. The 0-43 game wan’ts the cause of that but that’s when the machine broke.
This will be our first game against California since that 1968 disaster. Hopefully, the results will be better. If they are, it will mean a lot to old fans like me and little to the younger ones, (unless they have read the above account).
Last year, Cal was 6-7, just like us. Like so many of our opponents, they found just the QB they needed last year. Fernando Mendoza took over in week 6 and the Bears averaged 41 points a game the rest of the way. Still, they lost his first four games – and the won his last three before losing to Texas Tech in the Independence Bowl, 14-34. He completed 63% for 1,708 yards, (6.3/a, 11.2/c), 14TDs and 10 int. Unlike some of our other opposing QBs but like Kyle McCord, he’s a pocket passer, rushing for only 92 yards. Cal opened with North Texas last year, whose QB, Chandler Rogers passed for 3,382 yards and 29 touchdowns. He’s now here to give Mendoza some competition. They will be throwing to Trond Grizzell, a grizzled old junior who caught 39 balls for 590 yards and 6TDs last year, Notre Dame transfer Tobias Meriweather (14/284-20.3!/2) and Utah transfer Mikey Matthews (29/261/0). But their big weapon will be running back Jaydn Ott, who ran for 1,315 yards in 246 carries (5.3) and 12TDs and also caught 25 passes for 169 yards and 2 scores.
Their great weakness is their defense, especially their pass defense. They gave up 30 passing touchdowns last year and finished #128 of 130 teams in giving up passing yards and #111 in points. But they did have 28 takeovers. They didn’t have much of a pass rush, so we know teams threw a lot of passes against them. Linebacker Cade Uluave was the Pac 12 defensive rookie of the year and Craig Woodson was second team all-Pac12 as a safety.
Ryan Coe has made 48 of 61 field goals for three different schools and is now at a fourth. Punter Lachlan Wilson came from Tulsa to punt for 44.5 yards a shot.
Scoring 30.2 #47 vs. 32.8 #111
Rushing 172.8 #45 vs. 133.4 #35
Passing 218.2 #71 vs. 280.7 #128
Total 390.9 #61 vs. 414.1 #102
Turnover margin: 0 #66
Saturday November 23, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. Connecticut
TV: TBA
Here comes another old friend, fallen on hard times in recent years. They rose from the FCS level at the beginning of the century and had some success, including beating us several times. But not being picked up by the ACC killed their football program, although they would have been a huge asset for basketball. I’ve heard Boston College vetoed it, although I don’t know why the ACC would have granted the Eagles such power. Since then, they’ve basically been trying to compete in FBS with what amounts to an FCS program. (Rumors are they are headed for the Big 12.) Last year they were 3-9. We last played them in 2022 we beat them 48-22 in their own place. Now they are in our place.
Maine transfer Joe Fagnano started at QB last year, got hurt and gave way to TaQuan Roberson who then entered the portal. Fagnano completed 51% of his passes for 173 yards in two games. He threw no touchdown passes and one interception while running for 32 yards. Brett Buckman caught 46 passes for 488 yards and 2TDs. Their other top receivers also hit the portal. They have brought in transfers Skyler Bell, (69/755/6 in 2+ years) from Wisconsin and TJ Sheffield, (118/1209/11 in 4 years), from Purdue, although why they transferred from those schools to Connecticut, I don’t know. (Money may have been involved.) Cam Edwards and Victor Ross combined for 1,168 yards rushing and 7TDs. “Figuring out the offensive line is critical”, per Lindy’s.
They gave up 30 points a game on defense. Their defensive line, (they run a 3-3-5), Price Yates, Jelani Stafford and Dal’Mont Gourdine combined for 27.5TFLs. They lost star linebacker Jackson Mitchell but have experience in the secondary with Rante Jones, (72 tackles) at safety.
Indiana transfer Chris Freeman kicked 10 of 14 field goals, including a 50 yarder and had 48% touchbacks on his kickoffs. JUCO transfer Nathaniel Wallace-Dilling averaged 40.1 per punt. He’ll have to do better than that to hold off Sacramento State transfer Connor Stutz, who averaged 45.6.
Scoring 19.1 #118 vs. 29.8 #96
Rushing 138.6 #89 vs. 147.7 #55
Passing 190.3 #102 vs. 258.8 #118
Total 328.9 #95 vs. 406.5 #95
Turnover margin: -4 #95
Saturday November 30, Time: TBA JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse NY vs. U of Miami
TV: TBA
The ACC has been waiting for years for Florida State and the University of Miami to return to greatness. Put them together with Clemson and now the conference can claim 11 of the last 41 national championships, (12 if you count Notre Dame – and recall that Georgia Tech got a share of the 1990 title). The SEC has 18 in that time but the Big Ten 9, (counting their current teams). We’re big time baby! And the Noles and Canes could help us close that gap. Last year the Seminoles came all the way back to 13-0, (forget the opt-out plagued bowl game). This might be the year for a big move by the Hurricanes.
Washington State transfer Cam Ward completed 65.5% of his passes for 6,963 yards and 48TDs in the last two years. They also brought in Albany’s QB, Reese Poffenbarger, (Poffenbarger?) who threw for 3,603 yards and 36TDs last year. (Hmmmm…didn’t FSU get a guy from Albany?) They’ll love throwing to Xavier Restrepo (85/1092/6). Miami also got the highest rated running back in the portal, Oregon State’s Damien Martinez, who ran for 1,185 yards and 9TDs for the Beavers last year. “He gives the Canes a bell-cow to pair with Ward.” (Athlon) The O-line is anchored by freshman All-American Francis Mauigoa and NFL prospect Jalen Rivers, the two tackles.
Francis’s older brother, Francisco Mauigoa, is a tremendous MIKE, with 18TFLs, 7.5 sacks 2 forced fumbles and an interception. Rueben Bain Jr. was freshman All-American at defensive end. Cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. made 88 tackles. The Canes are bringing in a slew transfers to put around them, including Michale Powell who had three interceptions for Washington last year. And lineman CJ Clark from NC State.
Kicker Andre Borregales was semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award. His older brother Jose won that award in 2020 for Miami. He hit 22 of 26 field goals, including a 5 yarder. Aussie punter Dylan Joyce averaged 43.8, including a 60 yarder. Restepo “is a sure-handed kick returner” per Lindy’s.
Scoring 31.5 #38 vs. 22.8 #42
Rushing 173.2 #44 vs. 105.6 #11
Passing 258.0 #42 vs. 216.0 #55
Total 431.2 #31 vs. 321.6 #24
Turnover margin: -4 #94
There’s always a lot of optimism, (or at least relief) when we get a new coaching staff. But coaches who come here have found that lifting this program to the heights is pretty heavy lifting. Those, smiling, confident faces have often wound up looking like this:
weight lifter's faces - Bing
I think we’ll have a more talented, deeper, better coached team but those who think we’ll have a weak schedule that will make it easy to have a better record maybe disappointed. We’re still in the deep end of the pool. But there’s no mid-season gauntlet as there was last year and the schedule isn’t exactly back-loaded, despite Miami – and we’ll know by then if they are really ‘back’.
In baseball they say you’re going to win 60 games and you’re going to lose 80 games. Your season depended on what you do in the other 42. The schedule has four games we should be an underdog in: The Techs, NC State and Miami. It has four games against non-power conference teams we are supposed to win. It has four toss-up games that could decide what this season is: Stanford, Cal, Pitt and BC. We need to beat the non-power conference teams and win at least 3 of the toss-ups, then pull off an upset of one the top tier schools to reach 8-4. We can do better than that but we can do worse, too.
Game Week 1 is upon us so here we go!
Leaving Drydock (REMASTERED) | Star Trek: The Motion Picture
After 18 months of complete retrofit, the Enterprise launches with Admiral Kirk onboard to pursue an object of extremely destructive power that makes its way...
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