Top 5 of the Last 50: SU Quarterbacks

[Yeti]

I won’t stand for this.

Dungey is in the top 5 no matter what and I won’t be convinced otherwise. The QB that brought Cuse football back to the national discussion. And he had “moments”.

The Clemson win.

Coming out against a ranked NC State when everyone was talking about him getting benched and throwing dime after dime for 400.

The Virginia leap, the Miami knee, running over a bc defender for a touchdown, throwing an interception and then stripping the defender that picked him.

A lot of people like to compare shrader and Dungey and I get it. I listen when they say Shrader gave himself for the team and Shrader was just as much a warrior as Dungey. They’re wrong though. And watching even the bad games from Dungey should prove that. (Nothing against Shrader, he was fun to watch)

Absolutely carried his head coach.


To be perfectly honest he’s ahead of McCord by a bit. He played 4 years here, saddled by multiple sub-par head coaches and atrocious offensive lines and still made Syracuse exciting. Also CMU.

 

[tipphill]

Todd Philcox was our starter just his last year here in 1988 leading SU to a 10-2 record, a win in the Hall of Fame bowl vs LSU and was in the NFL for 9 years. He should be included somehow too.

Cincinnati Bengals (1989–1990) Cleveland Browns (1991–1993) Cincinnati Bengals (1994) Miami Dolphins (1995)* Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1995) Jacksonville Jaguars (1996) San Diego Chargers (1997) New England Patriots (1998)

* Offseason and/or practice squad member only

[th]
NFL Career history

[/th]​

well done!!!!!

 

[sufandu]

I still find it kind of shocking that he finished as the #4 in rushing touchdowns for his Syracuse career.

Or that both #3 and #4 are QBs. I think it says a lot about the era we've been in and the diminished roles of RBs. We probably have Tim Tebow to thank for that.

 

[ECE '76]

The bar is really high for top QBs at SU.

 

[ECE '76]

Some nice video to watch in the offseason...

 

[wiseman3]

Can anyone give a quick overview of Graves? He was before my time so all I'm looking at is stats, they don't jump off the page for me. Obviously he was great if everyone is saying that...is it a combo of the era plus what our offense was geared towards back then? Seems like lots of INTs

 

[sufandu]

The bar is really high for top QBs at SU.

I have to believe he'd be an NFL QB in today's game.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Can anyone give a quick overview of Graves? He was before my time so all I'm looking at is stats, they don't jump off the page for me. Obviously he was great if everyone is saying that...is it a combo of the era plus what our offense was geared towards back then? Seems like lots of INTs

Graves was like McNabb and McPherson - dual threat QBs. Graves was a bit skinnier than the other two. He didn't run for a ton of yards, but got in the end zone fairly often. I recall his runs being more in the option game.

Back then, we went down the field more often with our passing, and he had some good receivers - Quadry Ismael, Shelby Hill, Rob Carpenter and Marvin Harrison for a year. Chris Gedney was his TE, and was an All American caliber player.

He did hit a good percentage of his passes for the era, although he had too many interceptions.

 

[cayugacuse]

Some nice video to watch in the offseason...

Thanks for the videos ECE '76. Brought back great memories!

 

[MGraves5]

Can anyone give a quick overview of Graves? He was before my time so all I'm looking at is stats, they don't jump off the page for me. Obviously he was great if everyone is saying that...is it a combo of the era plus what our offense was geared towards back then? Seems like lots of INTs

I believe he was the MVP of 3 bowl games. Unfortunately didn't make a bowl his senior year, when they started ranked in the top 10 to begin the season.

 

[sufandu]

Can anyone give a quick overview of Graves? He was before my time so all I'm looking at is stats, they don't jump off the page for me. Obviously he was great if everyone is saying that...is it a combo of the era plus what our offense was geared towards back then? Seems like lots of INTs

The era lead to more interceptions and sacks. Fewer WRs in the pattern and fewer short routes. There wasn't a dump off option on every passing play and the passing game wasn't used as an extension of the running game like it is now. We never used shotgun at that point. And the throw away once outside the pocket rule hadn't been enacted yet, so you couldn't just chuck it out of bounds to avoid a sack. You had to get it close to an eligible receiver or eat it, so that led to taking more chances downfield. (I actually wish we'd go back to that. Defenders don't get rewarded for a good pass rush like they should)

Graves was elusive and tough. He had a stronger arm than I think he got credit for. Great on the option. I don't know how many times he delivered a perfect pitch just as a defender blasted him.

When we were recruiting McNabb, it was reported that McNabb's coach described him as a bigger stronger faster Marvin Graves.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I believe he was the MVP of 3 bowl games. Unfortunately didn't make a bowl his senior year, when they started ranked in the top 10 to begin the season.

Love for the first sentence, sad for the second one.

 

[wfschrec]

I think McCord probably had more options. Some of that is probably a result of the design of the offense too. McNabb had Johnson after Harrison, who ended up a second round pick, and Spotwood was stud before his injury, but not a lot of depth after that. The offense didn't really have check down options built into it, so that made McNabb have to hold the ball more and gave him fewer options to unload it in the face of a rush or good downfield coverage. Most of our passing was downfield with the running game setting everything up. I would love to see McNabb in modern offenses that would've featured his running more instead of mostly treating it as an escape hatch.

I thought Jim Turner was great and at TE you had Roland Williams an NFL guy along with Sinceno so its not like the cupboard was bare.

 

[sufandu]

I thought Jim Turner was great and at TE you had Roland Williams an NFL guy along with Sinceno so its not like the cupboard was bare.

I forgot about Turner. He was solid and was a good deep threat. Williams was a more traditional TE that wasn't much of a receiving threat. He caught 27 passes over the course of three years.

 

[SU2NASA]

Marvin Graves is the greatest quarterback in Syracuse Orangemen football history. Anyone that disagrees is free to be wrong.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Marvin Graves is the greatest quarterback in Syracuse Orangemen football history. Anyone that disagrees is free to be wrong.

Yeah, he would have been if he and his teammates didn't mess the bed his senior year. They were too cocky, didn't work as hard in the offseason. That's what I recall.

 

[sufandu]

Yeah, he would have been if he and his teammates didn't mess the bed his senior year. They were too cocky, didn't work as hard in the offseason. That's what I recall.

We also lost a lot from the '92 team, especially on defense. If I remember right, that's when we started trying to increase our speed on D by moving safeties to LB and LB to DE. I think Nate Hemsley played LB at 195 lbs that year. Some guys needed time to grow into the position. I think that was the year WVU set a record for rushing yards in the Dome with something like 450. And it wasn't easy replacing playmakers like Gedney and Ismail. Hill and Harrison were a nice pair at WR, but there wasn't much behind them. Richardson never quite lived up to being a 44 and was a downgrade from Walker.