First of all, congratulations to Syracuse on their 3-0 start. I do not know all that much about the northern ACC teams and Syracuse football (At the risk of giving my age away I certainly remember Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and Jim Brown). I see where you guys have a great schedule this year with teams like Clemson, Florida State, Virginia and LSU on it.
I am headed up for the game on Thursday and will be staying with my wife and another couple at Turning Stone casino. The four of us made the trip of a few years back to West Virginia, but flew in and out the same day so did not get to see much of the area. I get to NYC a good bit but have seen little of upstate NY, having been to Buffalo once for a short business trip. Ant recommendations on places to go or restaurants to try? I think we will probably rent a car and might play a round of golf at the casino course. The girls want to see Niagra Falls but I don't know how doable that is. We are headed back on Sunday.
I can answer most questions anyone has about LSU football. The formula most teams that have beaten LSU in the past couple of years use is very basic. Bring a safety or two up into the box to stop the run and make LSU beat you with the pass. LSU has a young and talented qb, but he did not throw much in the first two games and missed a few throws badly in the Auburn game. LSU actually has two or three receivers who will play in the NFL, but cannot seem to get the ball to them. LSU has been fortunate thus far that even against eight man fronts they have run the ball well. Fournette is drawing comparisons to a lot of great college backs and is a load. Guice is a freshman running back who is very good as well. Stopping LSU is not rocket science. I would commit as much as I could to stopping the run and take my chances with LSU's passing game.
LSU's defense is still a bit of a mystery, both Auburn and Mississippi State moved the ball well against LSU in the second half. There is a lot of speed on the defense everywhere. They play a 4-2-5 base defense and all five defensive back starters I think will probably get drafted. LSU is thin depth wise with their front seven and do not rotate defensive linemen as much as they did in the past. You could see the front seven run out of gas in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State. LSU fans are excited but not sure if their 2-0 start is because LSU is improved or that Mississippi State and Auburn are just not that good.
We are really looking forward to seeing a new area and enjoying the cooler weather. We make a couple away games a year and for the most part the fans at other venues have been great. I think maybe the roughest crowd we ran into, which was a bit surprising, was at West Virginia. I still liked it better than going to Tuscaloosa. Auburn and Ole Miss have great venues for college football.
Let me know if you have any suggestions for places to go and food to eat. We prefer the local haunts to the tourist places, and definitely like trying out local cuisine, so please do not send us to a Cajun restaurant. Lol. Hoping for a good football game Saturday. Orange is not my favorite color, but Syracuse orange is way better than Tennessee's neon orange or Texas burnt orange. I guess when your team is purple and gold though(a mardi gras story is behind that), you can't be too critical of any shade of orange. Laissez les bon temps rouler.
