Coming into the season, Syracuse was expected to run the
football and do it well. The Orange would ride its horses into the ACC to
establish the program’s credibility.
The team struggled at first, breaking the 200-yard rushing mark
only once (against Wagner) in its first four games. Other than that, the
rushing attack seemed stunted.
Now, after two games against Clemson and N.C. State, we see
the attack forming. In both instances, Syracuse took advantage of two average
run defenses—N.C. State is ranked 52nd in the nation in run defense and
Clemson is 64th.
This week’s opponent, Georgia Tech, serves as a very
interesting one; one that is similar to Syracuse.
Both teams rely heavily on running attacks that rank in the
top 25 of the nation (Georgia Tech is No. 6; Syracuse is No. 22), and both
teams boast a rush defense that ranks in the top 30 (Syracuse is 22nd; Georgia
Tech is 30th).
This game is likely to be run-heavy and something’s got to
give.
Jerome Smith, Prince-Tyson Gulley and Terrel Hunt rank
fourth, 11th and 18th in the ACC in rushing yards and Smith leads the league with
eight rushing touchdowns.
But for the run to remain effective, Hunt must step up his
passing performance.
Look at a comparison between two quarterbacks in a two-game
span:
Completion Percentage
Throwing Yards TD’s INT’s
Player A 54.6 468 1 4
Player B 41.6 126 0 5
Player A is Drew Allen during the first two games of the
season, against Penn. St. and Northwestern. Player B is Terrel Hunt in the last
two games, against Clemson and N.C. State.
Though it’s a small sample size, Hunt played poorly in
his last two starts and you could argue Allen’s first starts came against two tougher
defenses.
Allen was easy to criticize, being the new guy who stole the
starting spot. His reputation grew off speculation and talent. His downfalls
were lack of mobility behind shaky pass protection and his own inexperience.
Hunt earned the right to start and in his first two games,
looked like he might be the answer at quarterback. Wins are always encouraging,
but against the likes of Wagner and Tulane, they should be taken with a grain
of salt.
Hunt is dealing with the same inexperience bug that Allen
caught, but he has a longer leash to work with because head coach Scott Shafer took a
chance, endorsing him with the quarterback change.
But that shouldn’t be taken for granted by Hunt or the
fans.
This game is the game, and the rest of the schedule
won’t be any easier: playing away against previously-ranked Maryland and No. 5
Florida State and at home against a Boston College team that led No. 3 Clemson
last Saturday.
Playing well against a respectable Georgia Tech pass-defense
unit (ranked sixth in the ACC) would be a great accomplishment for Hunt.
He doesn't need to throw five touchdowns. He doesn't need to
pass for 400 yards.
All the team needs for him to do is play in the system.
Throw for 150 to 200 yards. Toss a touchdown or two. Try not to throw an interception
and don’t take unnecessary risks. Ride your horses to this victory and just
help hold the reins.
Terrel Hunt is a sophomore. He doesn't need to be a star,
much less a Heisman Trophy candidate. All he needs to do right now is show the
capability to play effectively against better teams and grow in the system he
plays in.
Coach Shafer had the faith to put the ball in his hands.
Now, Hunt needs to transfer that faith to the fans. He must prove that giving
him the starting position wasn’t a mistake. And all that
starts with this week’s game.
SYRACUSE, NY -- The Orange women's hockey team is heading to Providence, RI this weekend, looking to end a three game losing streak and get back to a winning formula in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference.
Last weekend Syracuse played a home-and-home series versus upstate New York rival Clarkson to begin conference play. On the road at Cheel Arena, the women's team were shut out 4-0. Being out shot 36 to 26, and gave up two back-breaking goals in the final period. The Golden Knights are now 5-0-0 and the Orange are 1-3-0.
One night earlier and 145 miles south on I-81, the teams faced off at Tennity Ice Pavilion for the Orange's home opener. Led by senior goaltender Kallie Billadeau, the women's squad played
an inspiring, fast-paced game. The Golden Knights came in ranked as the No. 3
team in the country, and provided an overwhelming offensive attack from the
opening face off.
A slap shot by Carly Mercer got Clarkson on the board early,
with 1:40 remaining in the first period. Mercer would add another goal in the
second period to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead with 20 minutes to play.
The score remained the same until midway through the third
period. Having a 5-on-3-man advantage, Nicole Renault, a sophomore from
Plymouth, Mass., scored a wrist shot for the Orange and cut the deficit to one.
Penalty killing played a big part into the Orange defense,
holding the opposition’s power play to 0-for-5, while going 1-for-5 themselves.
Billadeau, the Minnetonka, Minn. native did her best between
the pipes, saving 39 shots for the Orange. It was not enough, however, as
Clarkson would hold on to win 2-1.
Total shots taken was the real story, as the Golden Knights
fired off 41 to the Orange’s 18.
Clarkson improved to 4-0-0, while Syracuse fell to 1-2-0 on
the early season.
The Orange now travel to play Providence College for
back-to-back games this weekend. Friday the puck drops at 7 PM and Saturday at 3 PM.
They return home and face Boston College and Union College, respectively, the following weekend of October 25th and 26th. Home games are free to the public.
Follow @NewhouseSports on Twitter and Like our Facebook page for updates on SU Athletics and alumni events.
Players and coach talk about how they're preparing to make it happen
By Alicia Nieves (SYRACUSE, NY) Only four weeks into practice, each player on the Syracuse University Men's Lacrosse team, has his mind fixated on winning the 2014 championship.
"We don't really care who's starting as long as we get that championship," Junior goalie, Dominic Lamolinara, said. That was the sentiment from most players and Coach Desko on Media Day.
How is this year going to be different?
" I think the glaring one [issue last year] was face-offs,"Desko said, echoing what most anyone who watched the team in the 2013 NCAA title match."I thought everything else went well, in all aspects of the game. I thought we were efficient. We came out on top are most of our [games]. We had ten one-goal games last year."
Desko says the strategy this year is simple - work on face-offs. "[We've] done more face-offs this year already, then we've probably did all of last year."
Old players out/ new ones in
With players including Brian Megill, JoJo Marasco, and Luke Cometti gone, the team has big gaps to fill. Lamolinara said Megill was like another coach on the field, and with Megill gone he will have to step up, " and pick up the slack."
Coach Desko said he is tackling the challenge of bring in a bunch of younger players. "Younger players don't know the system yet," he said and most of fall practice will be an opportunity for them to get familiar with it, possibly solidifying a spot for them in the spring.
The research is there, it seems. Due diligence was done.
So why did I come away from watching Frontline’s “League of Denial: The NFL’s
Concussion Crisis” with the feeling that it is an exercise in gilding the lily?
Two things struck me repeatedly: the melodramatic and ominous music and the “in
a world…” narration by the estimable Will Lyman. It was as if I was
watching an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack. If any broadcast
organization could be expected to give the story to us straight it ought to be
PBS. Instead the production undermined itself by hammering home its points with
dramatic overkill.
The powerful story of former Steelers star Mike Webster
at the beginning draws us in. The words and pictures , especially the clip of
Webster trying and failing to answer a simple question and finally acknowledging
that he just can’t focus, make the point about his condition and its connection
to years of willful collisions in a collision sport. We’d have no trouble
feeling for him and the other players used as examples if their stories were
told without the added gimmicks. Have we sat down to watch a movie or a serious
piece of journalism?
And since when do the journalists appear in their own
investigative piece as sound bites? Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada are
producers of the program. Did they interview themselves? Each other? Would it
make more sense to have the narrator say what they say in their sound bites? I’m
picturing them saying, “We don’t want too much narration but we don’t have sound
from anybody else who was there or who says it well, so we’ll just say it
ourselves as if in an interview.” Who does that?
This is not to discount the substance of the report
which is that large numbers of football players have suffered terrible brain
injuries over the years and that the National Football League has gone to some
lengths to downplay and deny the truth of that. NFL execs and doctors don’t help
their case by stonewalling or by eventually settling with the Players’
Association but not admitting liability. (For what it’s worth, that’s standard
in many large legal settlements.)
While the effort to make the game safer now is ongoing,
it seems an excellent bet that football players at every level continue to
suffer brain injuries, hit-by-hit, game-by-game. Networks want to broadcast,
owners want to own, coaches want to coach, players want to play and fans want
the modern day gladiators to get after each other. We’re talking about massive
amounts of money. I haven’t heard of a movement toward the National Two-hand
Touch League where no blocking is allowed.
A wise news director told me decades ago that when you
do an investigative story you get the facts right and lay it out for the
audience to see and decide what, if anything should be done about it. Often what
gets done is little or nothing. Shock and sympathy don’t necessarily lead to
outrage and action.
If you have an important story and you have it nailed
down, tell it. If you have to add a musical score and a voice of doom narration
and if you have to interview yourselves to make the story work maybe you don’t
have enough confidence in the story itself. Fairly or not, it winds up coming
across as style over substance.
One Pirates' fan's journey from a life of losing to a playoff game in the Steel City
PITTSBURGH, Pa.
By Jordan Greer
"You probably don't even remember Sid Bream, do you?"
"I was a one year old when that happened... but I remember it clearly."
This was part of a conversation I had with a worker at a middle of nowhere New York state gas station at about 1 AM on Oct. 7. It seems like when I am wearing Pittsburgh Pirates gear the first thought that jumps to most peoples' minds is 1992. Atlanta Braves. Sid Bream. Game winning run. Last winning season.
That is usually the point where I have to leave the situation so I don't throw up out of pure anger on the other person. But why, this time, did I just smile and pay for my Twix bar?
I got on the road from Syracuse, New York at 9:30 AM on Oct. 6. I knew I had a five hour drive ahead of me to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and another five hours back to Syracuse to be ready for class the next day. But what's ten hours compared to a life of baseball disappointment?
My brother had called me to say he had a ticket for the Pirates game, and it was mine if I could make it down. It was his birthday. I think he wasn't clear on the whole he gets the gifts idea. The Pirates were in a Game 3 of the National League Division Series game in October at home. The whole idea sounded weird to me, but I didn't hesitate. "I'll be there."
The drive from Syracuse felt more like my drive from home. PNC Park was hundreds of miles away, but it might as well have been a short cab ride. I was pumped full of adrenaline, which wasn't terribly safe looking back. I probably drove for much of the trip like Vin Diesel.
I pulled into the parking lot across from the Clark Building around 3:30 PM. The building used to be a place where Clark candy bars were made when my dad worked there years ago. The third floor of the building now houses the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where I had worked the past few summers. I mostly did box scores for, among other things, the Pirates minor league affiliates.
I remember typing out Gerrit Cole's stats when he was coming up through the minors, hoping he didn't go the way of former first overall draft picks, like Bryan Bullington in 2002 and Kris Benson in 1996. That's not even mentioning one of my personal favorites, John Van Benschoten. He was drafted eighth overall in 2001 after he led the NCAA in home runs. But the Pirates converted him to pitcher. Stranger than fiction.
Things have changed. Neil Walker drafted in 2004, Andrew McCutchen in 2005, Pedro Alvarez in 2008 and Cole in 2011. All huge contributors on this year's playoff roster, with McCutchen possibly earning the National League MVP. That would be the first Pirates MVP since some guy named Barry Bonds in 1992, the guy who couldn't throw out Sid Freaking Bream. It all comes back to that.
I walked past the front entrance of PNC Park and went around the outside toward the Clemente Bridge to meet my brother. I saw my cousin at Dominic's bar. I saw an old friend on the street. There was a sea of black shirts and more people walking around Federal Street off the Bridge than I have seen my entire life.
It was October. The Buccos were in a playoff game. Did I mention that? It was a sellout. It was 80 degrees. Cats and dogs were living together. I couldn't stop thinking, "Is this really happening?"
The Buccos and the St. Louis Cardinals were all tied up one game apiece before this pivotal Game 3 in a best-of-five series. Franciso Liriano, a legitimately good offseason pickup (which has been rare the past two decades), took the mound for the Pirates against Joe Kelly for the Cards. "KEEEELLLLLYYYY" chants would rain down upon the pitcher throughout the game.
The energy in PNC Park was unbelievable. The excitement was palpable. You would have thought Liriano's first strike won the game. How could this be the same place I had gone to so many times before? Winning changes things a bit.
I would compare the crowd to someone who had been bullied. You take your shots, the insults, the shame. You lift weights and take boxing classes for 20 years waiting for your payback. Then, you finally come out in full force and insanity. Except now there are nearly 50-thousand people with you who had the same experience.
The Pirates started it off with a bang. McCutchen and Justin Morneau scored on a Marlon Byrd single in the bottom of the first. They weren't just happy to be here. They were "fighting to win a World Series" as McCutchen would say after the game.
St. Louis responded with two runs of their own in the fifth. A sacrifice fly by Russell Martin gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 edge, until Carlos Beltran came up clutch with a 409 foot solo shot in the eighth inning.
This is where all the sub .500 seasons had trained fans to get ready for it to fall apart. But the crowd was different. This team was different. This season was different. It wasn't "oh, here we go again." It was "alright, let's get another one."
In fact, they got two more. Alvarez and Martin both came up with big singles to give the Pirates a 5-3 lead. If PNC Park had a roof, it would have been blown off. There had to be some sort of world record broken for high fives. Pittsburgh Pirates Pandemonium.
Here is what was going on after the Alvarez single (Yes, that's my high pitched yell. Let's Go Bucs was said so many times I started to lose my voice)...
And here is the blurry reaction from my brother's phone to Martin's single...
Grilled Cheese Time. Pittsburgh closer and Baldwinsville, New York native Jason Grilli ran on to the field with Pearl Jam blasting behind him. He gave up a leadoff single but quickly got the ball back and went to work. Lineout, flyout, groundout, game over.
There was a sense of pure joy, euphoria, even relief. I honestly had thought many times that I would never see a winning baseball team in my life. If nothing else, I can always say I was there.
I'm attempting to go into a profession where you do your best to stay unbiased. That's important, but I think it's unrealistic to completely drop being a fan. I recognize I have invested a lot of time, money, energy and frustration into the Pirates, along with many others.
The Steelers and Penguins have been through their ups and downs, but both teams have won championships and put together great seasons during my lifetime. There was never a ton of risk involved in me, or anyone else, rooting for them.
The Pirates were never close to that. People hate the Steelers and Penguins. They pity the Pirates. I continued cheering for them through epic failures and "Operation Shutdown" and the recent collapses the previous two seasons. How many losses and "rebuilding years" can a fanbase take?
I thought of this season as the blackjack hand where the Buccos faithful went all in and finally won. The dealer busted this time. As Mike McDermott said in Rounders, "You can't lose what you don't put in the middle... but you can't win much either." This was the big payoff, the playoffs.
On the drive home, I stopped at that middle of nowhere New York state gas station. I walked inside the store to grab a drink and some candy to keep me going late at night. I went to pay.
The woman at the register was wearing a Braves hat. On this night, in this random location, I ran into a Braves fan. Again, it all comes back. She saw me in my Pirates hat, and we started a conversation until we got to the question I mentioned.
"You probably don't even remember Sid Bream, do you?"
"I was a one year old when that happened... but I remember it clearly."
She began laughing, which would normally have made me want to shove that Twix bar in my eye. But I laughed with her. It was alright.
The Pirates would lose Game 4 the next day and now face a win-or-go-home Game 5 tonight. The Braves fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in their series 3-1. I guess we won't see that Bream replay seven thousand times.
As I was heading back to my car, the cashier came outside to help another customer. We made eye contact. Right before I was about to shut the door, I heard her say, "Well, if we don't win it, I sure hope you guys do."
After all these years, all of the emotion, all of the losing, tonight's victory, I could only think of three words: "Yeah, me too."
Syracuse coach Scott Shafer asked Orange Nation to fill the
Carrier Dome when the third-ranked Clemson Tigers came to town on Saturday.
Syracuse fans delivered, packing over 48,000 people in to
the place. The team, however, failed to take advantage of crowd, falling to
Clemson, 49-14.
Clemson quarterback and Heisman-hopeful Tajh Boyd threw for 455
yards and five touchdowns, one of which was a 91-yard pass to wide receiver Sammy
Watkins with 40 seconds left in the third quarter. That was Boyd’s last play of
the game, taking all the wind out of Syracuse’s sails.
Shafer said he was happy to see the fan’s enthusiasm
throughout the game. But, he was upset his team could not reciprocate.
“To be honest with you: I think the fans did a better job
out there than we did today,” Shafer said after the game. “And we owe them
more, and we are going to give them more.
“And I just want to make sure that everyone understands that
I am so happy and proud of this community.”
Syracuse team captains (from left: Jay Bromley, Marquis Spruill,
Jerome Smith and Macky MacPherson) get ready for the coin toss.
For a fan base that thought the Orange had a shot to win,
the outcome seemed clear from the start. On the third play of the game, Boyd
threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Adam Humphries. Humphries had two touchdowns
and 118 yards in the game on only three receptions.
Syracuse cornerback Julian Whigham said the quick scores
confirmed what he knew about Clemson: it could score quickly.
“When they score fast—like, whoa—they are as good as we
thought they were,” Whigham said. “We just kept trying to play our game.
“That is on us. Come Sunday, [we will] improve when the film
comes around.”
Syracuse’s defense forced Boyd to throw two interceptions, his
first and second of the season. But, neither seemed to faze the Tiger
quarterback as he continued his aerial assault.
“We got beat by a dog-gone good football team today,” Shafer
said. “There is a reason they are top-three in the country, maybe higher.
Clemson cornerback Bashaud Breeland
celebrates after deflecting a pass.
“We just got to refocus and move forward to this North
Carolina State game.”
Syracuse quarterback Terrel Hunt threw for only 52 yards and no touchdowns. Hunt had thrown for three and four touchdowns, respectively, in his first two starts of the season.
“We just got to execute a lot better,” Hunt said. “I didn't
do my part today, I messed up, and it showed on the field today.
“Just as a whole, as a team, we weren’t together.”
Syracuse halfback Jerome Smith rushed for 125 yards,
including a 66-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. He led a rushing attack that ran for a total of 323 yards and accounted for both Syracuse scores.
The fans at least witnessed the unveiling of former Syracuse
quarterback Don McPherson’s jersey in the rafters of the Carrier Dome.
McPherson, who won both the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards during his
time at Syracuse, said this honor was not something he achieved alone.
Don McPherson (center, in tan sweater) poses for photos with
former teammates, coaches and his mother.
"How many Syracuse University players does it take to get a
jersey that high?” McPherson asked while surrounded on the field by his former
teammates. “All of them. These are the guys; this is the reason.”
Syracuse's next game will be against N.C. State in Raleigh,
N.C. The Orange doesn’t play in The Dome again until Nov. 2 against Wake
Forest.
Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer is in his 23rd year of
coaching. So when he said Clemson’s receiving corps are the best combination of wideouts he has seen in a long time, it carries some weight.
Speaking in the weekly installment of the ACC’s coaches’
teleconference, Shafer praised the group on Wednesday while talking about the upcoming game
against the third-ranked Clemson Tigers.
Shafer said dealing with potential Heisman-winning quarterback
Tajh Boyd is tough enough. But when you throw guys such as Sammy Watkins, Martavis
Bryant and Germone Hopper, you have a potent offensive attack.
“He’s one of the best quarterbacks I’ve seen in a long time
in college football,” Shafer said. “He can make all the throws, got a quick
release, and they have a great offensive coordinator who understands their
offense and taught kid really well how to play.”
Sammy Watkins is still the number-one option, with 355 yards
on the season. But Bryant, Hopper and Watkins are tied for the team lead in
touchdown receptions, with two apiece, for a Clemson team leading the nation in
red-zone efficiency.
That is a lot of responsibility for a Syracuse secondary
that most fans consider less than formidable.
Shafer is looking for senior cornerbacks
Ri’Shard Anderson and Keon Lyn to lead the defensive effort.
“Keon’s been there, and Ri’Shard’s been there,” Shafer said.
“They’ve gone against some of the best at times throughout their careers.
“Great challenge [for them]. We’ve just got to have a good
game plan to help them out a little bit here and there.”
The Syracuse defense currently ranks 48th in the nation in
total defense, 15 spots above Clemson. That said, the Orange’s defensive stats
have been padded by blowout victories against Wagner and Tulane.
Shafer was quick to point out that on the defensive side of
the ball, Clemson is underrated. Shafer says Syracuse’s run-oriented style
will have to prove its worth against them.
“You never know until you go in there and fight with
people,” Shaffer said. “I like our running backs, and the offensive line
continues to get better.
“I still believe, if we run the ball, we can play with
everybody.”
Jerome Smith, who six rushing
touchdowns lead the ACC, will carry the bulk of the rushing offense for Syracuse.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney
Dabo Swinney, Clemson’s head coach, says Smith could
create some problems for his defense.
“That running back, number 45(Smith), he’s a load,” Swinney said.
“He is a big, strong, physical back that you’re just going to tackle for four
quarters because he just keeps coming.”
Swinney is also impressed with the way quarterback Terrel Hunt has
played in the pocket and stays cool under pressure.
“They’ve given up only four sacks,” Swinney said. “Part of that
is a function of what they do in their passing game.”
“That ball is out quick. A lot of quick gain. A lot of
throws in rhythm. They’re not a big drop back, stand there, sit-in-the-pocket
type of deal.”
So far this season, Hunt has thrown for seven touchdowns and
rushed for two more. Eight of those touchdowns have come during the last two games.
Shafer said his sophomore quarterback needs to remember to
approach this game like he would any other.
“He needs to continue to throw the ball to the guys who are
open,” Shaffer said. He cites the fact that Hunt threw to 11 different
receivers in the Tulane game, and hopes he will continue to see the field.
“We don't want him to press, and we don't want him to turn
into anything more than a quarterback trying to be productive in this offensive
system,” Shafer said. “As long as he does that, we’ll have a shot.”
The kickoff time for the game is 3:30 p.m. This is the
homecoming game for Syracuse this season. In last year’s homecoming, the team
beat then ninth-ranked Louisville Cardinals, its last Big East regular-season
home game.
The game will be televised regionally on ABC and nationally on ESPN2. Newhouse alum Sean McDonough will be calling the game.
The team struggled at first, breaking the 200-yard rushing mark
only once (against Wagner) in its first four games. Other than that, the
rushing attack seemed stunted.
