The Upside | Syracusefan.com

The Upside

SWC75

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- We finally…finally beat NC State! TAKE THAT TORREY HOLT!!!!! (and the Buckey twins. And Ted Brown and “Dr. Lou”...etc.)


- We are putting up amazing rushing numbers, 323 yards last week and 362 yards this week. We got only 74 yards passing each week but Nebraska and Oklahoma used to win national championships with those numbers.


- We are developing a reputation for being a very “physical” team on both sides of the ball. Our offensive line is really starting the kick the defenders out of the way and wear the other team down, (and the Wolfpack were supposed to be a good defensive team) and our defenders are knocking people on their backsides. When we got good back in the 80’s we got a reputation for physical toughness before we got a reputation for being good. We may be doing that again. It’s a good thing when you introduce yourself to a new conference to also introduce them to a style of play they may not be used to.


- We were never behind in this game but it had the look of a game we’d find a way to lose through much of it. Then we got serious and went to our strengths, (the running game and the front seven on defense) and scored, got a stop and scored again to salt the game away. The fourth quarter was ours. There have been other games and other SU teams that wouldn’t have done that.


- We know Jerome Smith is a bull, (he had 19 carries for 140 yards and a score), but a lot of people have been down on Prince-Tyson Gulley, who also had a big game, (132 yards on 9 carries and touchdown). We have two good backs. I just wish we would use them together, so the defense wouldn’t know which of them would get the ball.


- Terrell Hunt is struggling with his passing but he is a fine running quarterback, not speedy but nifty and tough, (11 carries for 92 yards and a score). He at least gives us some versatility, even in the one back look that is so inexplicably popular these days.


- Some defenders had huge games and it was the defense that kept control of this game while the offense sputtered through most of it. Robert Welch looked like the end who was the ACC defensive player of the week after the Penn State game. Then he got hurt and hasn’t been a factor until today. He had 5 tackles, 2 for a loss and one sack.


- Jason Bromley is #96 but he’s starting to look more and more like ol’ #97, Art Jones. He’s just a bull in a china shop in the middle of the line. He had four tackles, one for a loss.


- Josh Kirkland leveled a potential receiver on a key third down in the fourth quarter, (and timed it just right).


- Durrell Eskridge had a monster game with 13 tackles and an interception.


- Marquis Spruill had 10 tackles, 2 ½ for a loss and a sack from his middle linebacker position.

- Cam Lynch was our leading tackler with 14 and seemed to spend half his time in the NC State backfield. Too bad Georgia or Georgia Tech doesn't have a guy like that.

- I hear people complain about Riley Dixon because he doesn’t always punt for a long distance. That’s because he’s our first punter in memory that knows how to place the ball. It’s not how far the punt goes in the air. It’s where the ball is when the other team takes possession of it. With our ground game we are go0ing to have a lot of possession that end near midfield and a lot of punts where we want to pin the other team down near the goal line and in Dixon we have a guy who can do it. When need him to boom it, he can uncork a 74 yarder like he did last week. He’s a big asset to the team.


- We are 3-3 and 1-1 in the conference with three more “winnables” vs. Georgia Tech, (who isn’t looking so good vs. BYU as I type this), Wake Forest and Maryland coming up. We could actually clinch a bowl game and go into our remaining “non-winnable” (Florida State with a 4-1 conference record. Pretty good stuff in Scott Shafer’s first year.


- Coach Mac used to say that wins against Division 1 opponents are golden and we need to appreciate each one of them. Wins against conference opponents- especially on the road- shine even brighter. We can compete in the ACC.


3-3 with 6 (or 7) to be


LET’S GO ORANGE!
 
Last edited:
Can you use your question this week on why Rome and PTG are not in the same backfield more often?
 
Can you use your question this week on why Rome and PTG are not in the same backfield more often?

Hard to complain about 362 yards rushing so I think i'll ask what we can do to get the passing attack going.
 
I think Dixon may become an nfl draft pick in time ...
 

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