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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 94957, member: 289"] [I]The Build-up[/I] Syracuse had two weeks to prepare for this a game and, after the poor performance against Penn State, they needed it to try to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The defense received some credit for holding the Nittany Lions to 13 points considering they got no help at all from the anemic offense. Ben Schwartzwalder said “This will give us a chance to get our offense in high gear and also some of our wounded healthy. It also afford us a little time for experimentation.” Quarterbacks Mickey Rich and Eddie Albright were “smothered repeatedly before getting off their passes” and will have to be speeded up in their timing”. SU had gained only 94 yards vs. Penn State, their first game of under 100 yards since 1948, before Schwartzwalder took over. In fact the only game in which Ben’s team had failed to gain at least 200 yards was the 1951 Penn State game. Ben: “We feel now that the work we might have done in spring practice has been completed. The flaws in the play of untested men has been brought to light and we know what we must correct. We would, (sic), have plenty of blocking fundamental drills this week and in an effort to give our ball carriers some more help and to set up a better screen of protection for our passers.” Also, “several new faces may be given a crack at showing what they can do.” Ray Perkins and Bill Wetzel were expected to over their injuries for the next game, against Boston University. Under the lead line “Statistics sometimes tell queer tales”, the paper noted that Syracuse, after two games, was leading the nation in pass defense and 6th in total defense with 140 yards per game. Unfortunately they’d only gained 98 yards on 8 completions in 25 attempts. “Teams with good passing attacks should hit on almost 50% of their tries.” Ben was looking for his quarterbacks to throw more “short quick aerials” to give them a better chance of making completions. They were also focusing on “better ball-handling and fakery”. Rocky Pirro was working with the linemen to make their pull-outs “quicker and speedier” to improve the pass protection. Boston U. was fourth in total offense with 421 yards per game. SU had beaten Villanova and lost to Penn State. Boston U. had impressive wins over minor league opposition: Brandeis, (33-0) and Connecticut (41-13) but then did the same to Fordham (55-20). Buff Donelli had had to rebuild his line, which had only one starter returning. But his Winged Split T attack had rushed for 220 yards a game in 1953 and had an experienced quarterback in Tom Gastall, who had completed 18 of 30 passes for 292 yards and 3 scores, and fullback in Sam Pino, who had terrorized the Orange defense in 1950 and was just back from Korea. Their best all-around player was halfback Joe Terrasi, who led the team in receptions, interceptions and punt returns. The Terrier line averaged 203 pounds per man, about 9 pounds more than SU’s. They played their games in Braves Field, the former home of the Boston Braves, which the University had recently purchased and re-named “University Field“. There was actually a trophy for this game, called the “Bean Pot“, which SU had possessed since 1950. Ben Schwartzwalder was able to personally score BU’s 55-20 win over Fordham and came back with a sense of awe. “ We will have to show the best game this gang has ever played to win.” Ben was also worried because starting guard Joe Cappadonna fractured a thumb in practice and would miss about three weeks. Also the predictions that Bill Wetzel would finally be back were premature. He was found to have a fractured rib. Jack Slattery noted that “The blond fullback probably has put in more splint and plaster time than any Orange athlete in recent years. An article in the October 8th paper told about Ithaca’s Tommy Nugent, “the inventor of the ‘I’ formation, double quarterbacking and the typewriter huddle”, who was trying to turn Florida State, who had been an all-girls school nine years before, into a major football power. “Some profits are gloomy about Nugent’s long range chances for making a major classification school out of FSU…They point out he has no substantial backlog of male alumni to pay the costs of beefing up the squad.” Nugent had worked his way through Ithaca College and a big band singer and had once been an MC for Gypsy Rose Lee’s act, so he at least knew how to put on a show. (I wonder what “double quarterbacking” is.) Another Hurricane entered the picture at this point. Perhaps you’ve heard of it- Hurricane Hazel, which actually came up through New York State and retained it’s status as a hurricane. My mother remembers when one wall of it passed over and suddenly the sun was shining- in the eye of it. It was still a tropical storm when it hit Toronto. 95 people died in the US and 81 more in Canada, most of them drowning victims. It closed airports all over the northeast. The Orange had to go by train and were not able to arrive in Boston until 8:11PM the night before the game, thus severely limiting practice time. “Coach Ben Schwartzwalder was an unhappy man as he watched his bedraggled gridders check into the Hotel Kenmore just in time for bed check late tonight. Naturally, the final limbering up workout was cancelled and the Orangemen will get their first look at University Field, formerly Braves Field, when they step on the gridiron at 1PM, (Syracuse time) Saturday.” I wonder what time it was in Boston? [/QUOTE]

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