SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- Because We are SU! The purpose of an SU victory is to get our hopes up so that when we lose, it will hurt all the more. And this one would be excruciating.
- I heard two guys on the radio talking about what the final score of this game could be and one of them said 66-2, because Connecticut has the worst football program team in the country. I remember 8/31/97, sitting in the stand at the Dome before the NC State game. We’d just demolished Wisconsin in the kickoff classic and the last time I’d seen the Wolfpack they were humiliated by Virginia 14-62 in a 3-8 year in 1996. I thought: “This is going to be great. I can sit here and relax and we can name the score!” Princess Di sure was pretty…
- Yes, Connecticut was 1-11 last year and 31-90 over 11 consecutive losing seasons. But this is the age of the open transfer portal and new Coach Jim Mora has brought in a busload of transfers from more successful programs looking for playing time to terraform this team. The went out to Utah State to play the defending Mountain West champions and the Huskie jumped to a 14-0 lead, (how well would that go over in orange Nation?). the Aggie had a huge second quarter to take a 24-14 halftime lead but the Huskies shut them down for most of the second half, creeping to within 20-14 with two field goals before State scored the clincher to win 31-20. Frankly, I’d take that score right now. Just win, baby! They are not that 1-11 team. (They also aren’t Wagner, an FCS team that went 0-12 last year- that one WILL be a walk-over.)
- UCONN takes great delight in beating Syracuse in any sport, as they did 5 times in 6 games in this one from 2005-2010. Their fans are hungry for the good ole’ days and we will hear from them.
- Dino in openers: 6-1. Dino in game #2, (despite “growth” from games 1 to 2): 1-5. The win is against Wagner. The losses are the 28-62 Lamar Jackson debacle, the “cigar” game, (in Scott Shafer’s mouth) to Middle Tennessee, the Maryland disaster, 10-21 at Pitt and last year’s Rutgers game after which Dino changed quarterbacks. Other dismal second games after promising openers:
1956: We open with a 26-12 road win over #7 Maryland then lose 7-14 to at #10 Pittsburgh
(our only regular season loss)
1958: We open with a 24-14 home win over Boston College, then lose 13-14 at Holy Cross, also our only regular season loss.
1963: We open with another home Boston College win, 32-21, then travel to Kansas, (we aren’t in Syracuse anymore, Otto) and get shut out by the Jayhawks 0-10.
1965: They open with a 14-7 win at Navy, then come home to lost 0-24 to a U of Miami team that would finish 5-4-1.
1969: After beating Iowa State 14-13 at home, we’re back in Kansas, Otto and again get shut out by the Jayhawks 0-13.
1974: Frank Maloney opens up by beating Oregon State 23-15, then loses to Kent State 14-20.
1982: We open up by crushing Rutgers in the Meadowlands 31-8 behind our new quarterback, Steve Peach. A Peach is leading the Orange! Then we lost at home to Temple 18-23, the first of six straight defeats.
1988: We beat Temple 31-21, our 13th consecutive regular season victory. We march into Ohio Stadium full of confidence and march would with 9-26 loss to a Buckeye team that wound up 4-6-1.
1995: We upset #20 North Carolina in their own place and find ourselves a QB- fella by the name of McNabb. Then we come home to lost to East Carolina 24-27. We can beat North Carolina but not East Carolina.
1997: Syracuse 34- Wisconsin 0. Syracuse 31 North Carolina State 32 in overtime after freshman Dee Brown tried to win the game by waving the ball at that invisible ‘plane of the goal line”, thus producing an invisible victory.
2000: We open by crushing Buffalo 63-7 and then can’t crush Cincinnati 10-12. (I remember a controversy over a Coach P decision at the end of that game but don’t recall the details. What would Coach Smith think?)
2003: We win a wild one over North Carolina 49-47 then lose a tamer one to Louisville 20-30.
2010: Everything is all right at Akron, 29-3 but not at Washington 20-41.
- Louisville isn’t exactly representing at Central Florida, down 7-14 in the 3rd. The announcers just said that they “haven’t found the spark they were looking for”.
- All teams have good players. Some of them have more good players than others. Connecticut has Nathan Carter, who is the nation’s second leading rusher with 313 yards in two games on 43 carries, (a 7.3 average). Safety Malik Dixon leads the country in tackles with 28. Linebacker Jackson Mitchell is third with 23.
- We have good players, too. Chris Elmore is one and so is Stefon Thompson. But they won’t be playing in this game, or any other this season. Several other SU players had to be helped off the field or at least the turf last week: Sean Tucker, Marlowe Wax, Duce Chestnut and Mikel Jones was limping. If we sustain injuries at that rate the rest of the year, this thing is going to fall apart - and fast.
- I heard two guys on the radio talking about what the final score of this game could be and one of them said 66-2, because Connecticut has the worst football program team in the country. I remember 8/31/97, sitting in the stand at the Dome before the NC State game. We’d just demolished Wisconsin in the kickoff classic and the last time I’d seen the Wolfpack they were humiliated by Virginia 14-62 in a 3-8 year in 1996. I thought: “This is going to be great. I can sit here and relax and we can name the score!” Princess Di sure was pretty…
- Yes, Connecticut was 1-11 last year and 31-90 over 11 consecutive losing seasons. But this is the age of the open transfer portal and new Coach Jim Mora has brought in a busload of transfers from more successful programs looking for playing time to terraform this team. The went out to Utah State to play the defending Mountain West champions and the Huskie jumped to a 14-0 lead, (how well would that go over in orange Nation?). the Aggie had a huge second quarter to take a 24-14 halftime lead but the Huskies shut them down for most of the second half, creeping to within 20-14 with two field goals before State scored the clincher to win 31-20. Frankly, I’d take that score right now. Just win, baby! They are not that 1-11 team. (They also aren’t Wagner, an FCS team that went 0-12 last year- that one WILL be a walk-over.)
- UCONN takes great delight in beating Syracuse in any sport, as they did 5 times in 6 games in this one from 2005-2010. Their fans are hungry for the good ole’ days and we will hear from them.
- Dino in openers: 6-1. Dino in game #2, (despite “growth” from games 1 to 2): 1-5. The win is against Wagner. The losses are the 28-62 Lamar Jackson debacle, the “cigar” game, (in Scott Shafer’s mouth) to Middle Tennessee, the Maryland disaster, 10-21 at Pitt and last year’s Rutgers game after which Dino changed quarterbacks. Other dismal second games after promising openers:
1956: We open with a 26-12 road win over #7 Maryland then lose 7-14 to at #10 Pittsburgh
(our only regular season loss)
1958: We open with a 24-14 home win over Boston College, then lose 13-14 at Holy Cross, also our only regular season loss.
1963: We open with another home Boston College win, 32-21, then travel to Kansas, (we aren’t in Syracuse anymore, Otto) and get shut out by the Jayhawks 0-10.
1965: They open with a 14-7 win at Navy, then come home to lost 0-24 to a U of Miami team that would finish 5-4-1.
1969: After beating Iowa State 14-13 at home, we’re back in Kansas, Otto and again get shut out by the Jayhawks 0-13.
1974: Frank Maloney opens up by beating Oregon State 23-15, then loses to Kent State 14-20.
1982: We open up by crushing Rutgers in the Meadowlands 31-8 behind our new quarterback, Steve Peach. A Peach is leading the Orange! Then we lost at home to Temple 18-23, the first of six straight defeats.
1988: We beat Temple 31-21, our 13th consecutive regular season victory. We march into Ohio Stadium full of confidence and march would with 9-26 loss to a Buckeye team that wound up 4-6-1.
1995: We upset #20 North Carolina in their own place and find ourselves a QB- fella by the name of McNabb. Then we come home to lost to East Carolina 24-27. We can beat North Carolina but not East Carolina.
1997: Syracuse 34- Wisconsin 0. Syracuse 31 North Carolina State 32 in overtime after freshman Dee Brown tried to win the game by waving the ball at that invisible ‘plane of the goal line”, thus producing an invisible victory.
2000: We open by crushing Buffalo 63-7 and then can’t crush Cincinnati 10-12. (I remember a controversy over a Coach P decision at the end of that game but don’t recall the details. What would Coach Smith think?)
2003: We win a wild one over North Carolina 49-47 then lose a tamer one to Louisville 20-30.
2010: Everything is all right at Akron, 29-3 but not at Washington 20-41.
- Louisville isn’t exactly representing at Central Florida, down 7-14 in the 3rd. The announcers just said that they “haven’t found the spark they were looking for”.
- All teams have good players. Some of them have more good players than others. Connecticut has Nathan Carter, who is the nation’s second leading rusher with 313 yards in two games on 43 carries, (a 7.3 average). Safety Malik Dixon leads the country in tackles with 28. Linebacker Jackson Mitchell is third with 23.
- We have good players, too. Chris Elmore is one and so is Stefon Thompson. But they won’t be playing in this game, or any other this season. Several other SU players had to be helped off the field or at least the turf last week: Sean Tucker, Marlowe Wax, Duce Chestnut and Mikel Jones was limping. If we sustain injuries at that rate the rest of the year, this thing is going to fall apart - and fast.