Tuesday, August 31, 2010

5 Keys for SU to get back to a bowl

Why five keys? Clearly you haven't been paying attention. Or you're new; in which case, welcome. So here's the deal: it's going to be incredibly difficult for Syracuse to reach seven wins and qualify for a bowl berth. Everything is going to have to fall into place, meaning failure in any one of these five areas will probably leave them watching bowl games from home.

1. Get after the quarterback
Syracuse's run defense was the pleasant surprise of the '09 season. The pass defense, however, disappointed, giving up 235 yards per game and 24 TDs. SU's pass rush didn't do its defensive backs any favors, only recorded 3.5 sacks per game last year. Nine of those came in the Orange's most impressive performance of the year against Rutgers, leading to an 8 for 18 performance with just 104 yards and two INTs from the Scarlet Knights. If that could become the rule instead of the exception this year, the secondary will fare much better.
Key players - Doug Hogue and Chandler Jones
Hogue was a monster in that Rutgers game, recording 3.5 sacks, and Jones will have to emerge as the D-Line's top pass rushing threat.

2. A WR must emerge as a deep threat
The Orange only averaged 9.4 yards per catch last season when you erase Mike Williams' totals. Alec Lemon proved he could catch it with the best of them when he racked up nine grabs against UConn in the season finale, but without a deep threat, defenses will load up in the box. This will make life difficult for both the running and passing games.
Key player - Aaron Weaver
I have no idea if Weaver can be that guy in 2010. He may be the slowest guy on the team for all I know ... I've never seen him play. What I do know is that none of the guys from last year's roster can stretch the field, so I'll make Weaver the pick out of nothing but blind optimism for the unknown.

3. Play above their talent level
There's just no way Syracuse is more talanted than seven teams on its schedule this year. That means they will need to overachieve and create at least one or two true upsets to earn a bowl bid. They did it last year against Rutgers and Northwestern (don't laugh, they were a bowl team last year). This year, SU will probably need at least two (maybe three) wins against BC, Washington, Rutgers and USF.
Key player - Ryan Nassib
Remember what happens when your mediocre QB has a monster game? Think Louisville in '07 when Andrew Robinson led a huge upset for the Orange on the road. Maybe Nassib has one or two of these in him.

4. Can't miss layups
With that being said, SU simply cannot afford to give away any games against the easiest competition on the schedule. The Orange gave away games against Minnesota and Louisville last season that should have been W's, and that proved to be the difference between bowling and not. Plus, if Syracuse can run off three of their first four, it could build momentum to carry throughout the season. Must win against Akron, Louisville, Maine and Colgate.
Key player - Doug Marrone
It's up to HCDM to keep the Orange on task every week. This team is simply not good enough to look ahead past anyone.

5. Stay healthy
Here's a little secret: The SU starters are actually pretty good this year. There are a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately, there's a big drop off from the starters to the reserves. That means every injury will hurt that much more.
Key players - Linebackers
The LBs are probably the most talented group ... at the top. It's also probably the thinnest. An injury to Smith or Hogue could be devastating.

Glass-Half-Full Stat of the Week

3-8

Rich Rodriguez finished his first season at West Virginia with a 3-8 record. The Mountaineers finished 1-6 in the Big East, good for 7th place. The next year, RichRod and WVU put together nine wins, including a 6-1 conference mark, en route to an appearance in the Continental Tire Bowl. Keep that in mind when considering SU's chances coming off a 4-8 season.

Early Morning Links

Sean over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician does a much better job than me with the links, so you should probably make a habit of going to his site for those. I'm not going to try to immitate him too much (you know, besides making a similar name, layout and general idea of a blog), but I was up early this morning and saw these guys on the interwebs. Enjoy ... 

Best Case/Worst Case: Syracuse

Not surprisingly, the best and worst cases involve the Big Ten, Rutgers and Yankee Stadium.

Collier Back at Syracuse 

Don't be fooled ... he's still on the team, but won't be suiting up any time soon.

College Football Odds

15-1 odds to win the Big East seems surprisingly optimistic. I'll take it.

Rosner helps Orange get line on success 

Another profile on an offensive lineman. I think it's just about time to start the season now ... please. 


Rice commits to play for Syracuse lax 

It's always hard to tell if these recruits are actually any good. Gotta think 82 goals is worth something though.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Preseason Awards

The NCAA loves preseason awards. They give out All America nods during the preseason. They make a list of Heisman hopefuls. They even pick who the best team is before the season starts with a preseason poll. Frankly, I'm not sure why we even waste our time playing the games if we've already given out all the awards.

So, since I, like the NCAA, have all the answers before the season even begins, I feel confident in telling you EXACTLY what's going to happen this year. So here goes ...

Offensive MVP - Delone Carter
This one's pretty obvious. The only true playmaker on the offensive side, Carter has to be the man to carry the load literally and figuratively. As long as someone tells him the opposing team's linebackers threw a snowball at his car, SU's running game should be just fine.
-Runner up - Ryan Nassib
You'd hope the quarterback would be the most valuable player on a good team. It's just tough to tell what Nassib is capable of if the ball is in his hands in crunch time.

Defensive MVP - Derrell Smith
Another no-brainer for MVP, Smith is the unquestioned leader on the defense. He made tremendous leaps and bounds last season, and the expectations are high for the redshirt senior.
-Runner up - Doug Hogue
Hogue mirrored Smith in taking a big leap as a converted running back to linebacker. He has the speed, but can he add the strength to be a star?

Impact Frosh - Prince-Tyson Gulley
Looks like Marquis Spruill is the only freshman who will start, but Gulley looks to make the most impact, filling in for Averin Collier as a backup to Carter and Antwon Bailey and seeing time as a returner on special teams. Plus, that name is awesome.
-Runner up - Spruill
He's going to start ... that puts him ahead of everyone else.

Pleasant Surprise - Alec Lemon
There's not a lot of confidence in the SU receivers, and that's probably fair based on their production last year. But Lemon came on strong at the end of last season with nine catches and 140 yards in the finale against UConn. If he steps up, the entire offense will improve.
-Runner up - Mikhail Marinovich
The focus will be on Chandler Jones on the defensive line this season. That should give Marinovich more favorable matchups on the other end.

Biggest Letdown - Chandler Jones
Everyone's high on Art's brother, and I'm not saying he's a bust. It's just asking a lot for the junior to suddenly become Dwight Freeney or even his brother. He certainly has the skills and the pedigree, but at just 250 pounds, he might still have some growing to do.
-Runner up - Doug Hogue
Hogue could be defensive MVP (see above) or he could be a giant disappointment. Hogue's big numbers were boosted by one monster game against Rutgers which could have been the exception more than the rule.

Most Important Game - Rutgers
Tough call for this one, but SU has the chance to steal back the fertile New York/New Jersey recruiting ground by upending Rutgers on its own turf for its second-consecutive win against the Scarlet Knights. With a win over Louisville as well, Syracuse could finally escape from the Big East basement, too.
-Runner up - Boston College
Hopefully it's the game that seals a bowl win (hopeful), or at least a .500 season (possible). No matter what, it always feels good beating these guys.

As always, leave your comments below.

Welcome to The Joe Fields Era

Maybe you remember Joe Fields as a competent free safety; a solid player who racked up eight interceptions and almost 200 tackles in his last two seasons. He really wasn't bad ... I swear.

The truth is, most of us remember Joe Fields as something else. Upon arriving at SU in the fall of 2004, one of my first purchases was an Orange No. 5 jersey. Pretty standard. Many great Syracuse QBs had donned the Orange cinco: Donovan McNabb and Marvin Graves come to mind. But I wasn't buying No. 5 for either of them. My jersey was going to be for the NEXT great SU QB ... that's right ... Joe Fields.

Needless to say, this one didn't really go as planned for me. Fields played just 13 games at quarterback, many of those in relief of the uncomparable Perry Patterson. He completed just 22 of his 57 passes (38.6 percent) and piled up a train wreck TD/INT ratio of 1/6. His introduction to Division I athletics came as the losing quarterback in a 51-0 beatdown against Purdue on national television to open the '04 season - setting the tone for Coach P's final season at the helm.

So why name a blog after an underachieving QB? Because, the truth is, I always believed the Joe Fields Era was just around the corner. Even after 51-0. Even after Perry Patterson. And kind of even after he was intercepting passes on defense. The Joe Fields Era was going to bring SU back to the glory days, where they would compete for Big East dominance and make runs at national titles. And now, years after Fields left the Carrier Dome, I'm here to tell you that the Joe Fields Era is still coming.

We'll cover more than the history of Joe Fields in Syracuse Orange here at The Joe Fields Era. This blog will strive to be your one-stop shop for 'Cuse football, basketball and lacrosse. From now through memorial day (god-willing, lax fans), you can look forward to constant updates and analysis. We'll dissect the week's games and try to come up with ways to destroy all things Georgetown, UConn and BC, whenever possible.

This is sure to be a work in progress, so if you have any comments, recommendations or criticisms, feel free to leave them in the fan posts or e-mail me at brian.tahmosh@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by ... I hope it's as fun for you as it is for me.

-Brian