Syracuse Minnesota from 1996

[OttoMets]

He hurt his knee in practice that Tuesday I believe. Tried to play, and did some, but he was hurt and not effective. Not the same Spot.

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That's for sure - we missed him. Hope he's doing well these days; he never regained that sophomore year level of play.

 

[OttoMets]

I think your right about that 97 Oklahoma game, I remember them lining up for the field goal thinking theres zero chance this goes and sure enough we didnt even get the ball past the line of scrimmage.

Seemed that they couldn't stop Spotwood that day, but we couldn't stop their big running back. And the ABC crew kept talking about how our guys couldn't handle the heat and would fade in the second half.

That was when Oklahoma had really fallen on hard times; I think it was their first win or non-conference win or something like that in over a year. They went nuts after our field goal missed.

 

[Eric15]

That was when Oklahoma had really fallen on hard times; I think it was their first win or non-conference win or something like that in over a year. They went nuts after our field goal missed.

Kind of ironic that the current college football powerhouses were extremely mediocre in the mid to late 90s... e.g. Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, USC, Texas, Oregon...

 

[JeremyCuse]

Seemed that they couldn't stop Spotwood that day, but we couldn't stop their big running back. And the ABC crew kept talking about how our guys couldn't handle the heat and would fade in the second half.

That was when Oklahoma had really fallen on hard times; I think it was their first win or non-conference win or something like that in over a year. They went nuts after our field goal missed.

Yup I remember Oklahoma was really down during that time and that they were really struggling to win any sort of big game. Unfortunately you could tell after the first quarter that this was gonna be one of those typical SU games where we let an inferior opp hang around and hang around and in the end it burned us. I remember spotwood and someone else having a big day through the air for us. That field goal still pisses me off, we couldnt even get the dame thing in the air, of course if the roles were reversed im sure the OK kicker would have nailed that thing.

 

[Chip]

Came down to a 50+ yd FG for the win.

Not only the two fumble returns, but 3 bad McNabb Ints. One was the play after a real bad drop in the endzone.

Early 1996, we were developing the WR's, having lost 2 starters after 1995, one of which was an NFL superstar with a carwash and gunfighting addiction.

Led to some of McNabb's early struggles. The fumbles were unfortunate. Playing a very good (and one game in) UNC team in the opener didn't help either.

That team got it together quickly the following week, crushing VT and going on a great run that unfortunately ended with what looked like a choke job against a beatable Miami team. That was up there with most deflating Dome days. Was our game to get into the BCS, and we dug the hole too deep. Ended up playing Ho Hum Houston in the Liberty bowl and running the ball 95% of the time to make sure we just got out of there with a mistake free win.

Rollercoaster of a season.

 

[OttoMets]

Early 1996, we were developing the WR's, having lost 2 starters after 1995, one of which was an NFL superstar with a carwash and gunfighting addiction.

Led to some of McNabb's early struggles. The fumbles were unfortunate. Playing a very good (and one game in) UNC team in the opener didn't help either.

That team got it together quickly the following week, crushing VT and going on a great run that unfortunately ended with what looked like a choke job against a beatable Miami team. That was up there with most deflating Dome days. Was our game to get into the BCS, and we dug the hole too deep. Ended up playing Ho Hum Houston in the Liberty bowl and running the ball 95% of the time to make sure we just got out of there with a mistake free win.

Rollercoaster of a season.

The roster turnover in 1996 certainly didn't help, and I remember being frustrated that UNC had a game to work the bugs out and we didn't. Still, a pretty good Syracuse team didn't do a lot to help itself in either of those games. Fumbles, missed field goals, a ridiculous number of penalties, and a defense that can't get a fourth-quarter stop. Sounds very familiar.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/08/sports/unc-deflates-syracuse-in-dome.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm

I remember that Mike Brown punt block well; that seemed to be the touchdown that had gotten us right back into the game. Not to be.

 

[JeremyCuse]

The roster turnover in 1996 certainly didn't help, and I remember being frustrated that UNC had a game to work the bugs out and we didn't. Still, a pretty good Syracuse team didn't do a lot to help itself in either of those games. Fumbles, missed field goals, a ridiculous number of penalties, and a defense that can't get a fourth-quarter stop. Sounds very familiar.

.

Spot on about sounding familiar, to many games the past decade have been lost like that including a couple down the stretch last year. I hope we can get the penalty situation under control this year, it was ridiculous last year. Luckily with a healthy Krautman I think were in good shape field goal wise.

 

[Chip]

The roster turnover in 1996 certainly didn't help, and I remember being frustrated that UNC had a game to work the bugs out and we didn't. Still, a pretty good Syracuse team didn't do a lot to help itself in either of those games. Fumbles, missed field goals, a ridiculous number of penalties, and a defense that can't get a fourth-quarter stop. Sounds very familiar.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/08/sports/unc-deflates-syracuse-in-dome.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm

I remember that Mike Brown punt block well; that seemed to be the touchdown that had gotten us right back into the game. Not to be.

Reading that article was not fun. That personal foul call when Jim Turner was crossing the end zone was a complete momentum killer and such a strange call.

I just realized (probably realized it before as well) that Clemson lost their final game of 1995 by a score of 42-0, and their opening game of 1996 by a score of 45-0. Fun times in South Carolina. I made the trip to Jacksonville, and remember how confident/cocky their fans were before that Gator Bowl.

 

[TexanMark]

He hurt his knee in practice that Tuesday I believe. Tried to play, and did some, but he was hurt and not effective. Not the same Spot.

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Spot was never the same after that and neither was the Internet. I had a man crush on Bee's before that fateful practice then my insider dreams of knowledge were shattered forever.

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

Yeah it was P's fault that Minnesota returned to fumbles for TDs.

At least one of those fumbles would have been overturned with today's replay ability. That was just about the most frustrating piece of crap game I've ever roadtripped for ... argh.