tokillagamecock® - Associate AD [835 pts / 96%]
posted 1 hour ago
I was in band in 2014. Before the Tiger Band halftime show, I was standing on the Cuse sideline as we waiting to take the field, about 5 minutes before the 2nd quarter ended.
Those Cuse coaches were telling their players to fake injuries. I physically heard Scott Schafer tell one of their safeties "if they get into the red zone, go down, fake a cramp, whatever, but GO DOWN".
Sure enough, we drove towards the Hill endzone, attempted a pass into the endzone, and the Cuse Free Safety went down just as he was instructed.
I also saw lots of Syracuse players coming over the bench to fight the band. They were getting in our faces, a lineman took a swing at one of the drum majors. They were trash talking, throwing stuff at Clemson fans, flipping off the crowds, etc. and the coaches were right alongside encouraging their players, their S&C coach was telling the Cuse players to "light them up and kick their ###", and he was referring to Cuse players starting fights with Clemson fans. Yup, one of their assistant coaches was encouraging his players to swing at Clemson fans and jaw at them. Schafer and the DLine coach were telling the Cuse DLineman to "hit Stoudts injured shoulder, take him off the roster", as in "hit Stoudt so hard that we re injure his shoulder and end his career".
I was shocked to witness this in person, and there are dozen of other Tiger Band members that saw this too.
I know there is a new coach, Dino Babers, but there are still players and assistant coaches on that squad that were there under Schafer. That thug culture is still alive and well at Syracuse, believe me.
The bottom line is that Syracuse is nothing but a bunch of thugs. They act like thugs, they practice like thugs, they play like thugs, and their coaches encourage them to act like thugs on the field because they know that's the only chance they have at winning. Its sad. I cant stand that program and it sucks that we lost to them, but I am very happy our program and coaches don't encourage that type of culture. Its sad.