AC
C
The Orange go as 6'2" 229 lb., Ryan Nassib takes them. He is the starting Senior Quarterback and he has been basically the harbinger both good and bad of what they can do. He has completed 124 of 192 passes for 1294 yards with 11 touchdowns against 4 interceptions. He has lead the Orange to a 4 and 2 mark with a come from behind victory over Wake Forest in the Dome opener. What he has done particularly well is spread the wealth to his many receivers. 6'2" 202 lb., WR Alec Lemon is his favorite target having 31 passes completed to him for an average catch of 10.4 yards and 3 touchdowns. Next on the target list is 6'1" 175 lb., WR Van Chew who has caught the ball 20 times for an average of 15 yards per catch and also has hauled in 3 touchdowns. But it isn't just the WR's that get all of the attention as is the case with most Doug Marone teams the TE is utilized. So Nassib has found Nick Provo 22 times for an average of 12 yards per catch with 2 touchdowns. Finally, the fourth receiver to get real attention from Nassib is 5'10" 185 lb, WR Dorian Graham, who has caught 13 passes for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns. (Needless to say the Coach Casteel will have much to focus on this week in terms of secondary assignments.)
The Orange also have a running attack which is headed up and pretty much solely produced by Senior RB 5' 7" 201 lb, Antwon Bailey. He has accounted for 124 carries for 553 yards and 5 touchdowns over the course of this season. The only other player to score a rushing touchdown on the team is Ryan Nassib. The Orange offensive line is the type that can punch you in the mouth and Dough Marone has them pretty much in tune to do positive things on that side of the ball. And when they are called upon to kick field goals or extra points their kicker Ross Krautman has prove to be reliable inside the 40 yard line. He has tallied nine field goals and 17 of 18 extra attempts. If the Orange only had to play offense this game could get interesting. However, they are going to be called upon to play defense. This is not an area where they have excelled at all this entire season.
While admittedly lucky, in terms of actual results in games, this Defense gave up 29 points to Wake, in a game that Wake had in control until their QB went down with an injury; gave up 14 to Rhode Island in a squeaker winner for the Orange; gave up 38 to USC; gave up 30 to Toledo in a game where a phantom field goal was the winner; gave up 19 to Rutgers and finally gave up 34 points to Tulane. The point to this is that this defense is giving up an average of 27.33 points per game and thus, not very stingy. (WVU is scoring in the neighborhood of 40 points per game as such should likely be able to win in a shootout.) The Defensive Coordinator for Syracuse is Scott Shafer. He gives a little insight into his way of thinking in this quote," "Scheme is overrated, I've always believed that. What's not overrated is getting your kids to play with great effort, great attitude and great enthusiasm. Those are things we can control on a daily basis, and that will be my primary goal. . . . The philosophy of our defense is attack-oriented, attack and react. We want to be a defense this is multiple, that is always putting pressure and forcing the hand of the offense. We want to be a penetrating defense. If you're going to (ask) what our objectives are? The one thing we want to do is stop the run, force them to throw the ball on first down, create negative plays on first down . . . and get ourselves in position to force them to throw the ball. Get them one-dimensional. We don't want to be a defense that sits back. We want to be a defense that creates turnovers and scores touchdowns." I guess the best response I can give to that is good luck with that Scott. (Admittedly, I am a scheme first kind of guy and I believe the Jimmy's and Joe's can be coached up.) The attacking style he wishes to implement against Geno and the boys will require a little more than a hat on a hat and thus I see this Orange Defensive Unit doing what it has done well all year. Give up some more points.
My Prediction for this game WVU 49 Syracuse 17. The Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy be making its way back to its rightful home in Morgantown,WV.
Da Geek
4 comments:
Great write up geek. This is historically different from the past few years when Def was Syracuse's strength. I watched the Rutgers game. It was hard hitting but full of turnovers and big mistakes on both sides. With that in mind, protect the ball and we win.
I don't see their offense being able to keep up.
I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this write-up. I have never seen someone
with a prediction more wrong than what you made. You were off by 58 points! Incredible! Man,
when you drink the WVU kool aid, you take it from a fire hose at full power. Actually, I had to
double check because I thought you did call the score - for Syracuse. We did peg 49 on you.
How you scored 23 with that dink and dunk offense is beyond me. I have never seen a team wilt
like WVU. How is it possible to be as soft as WVU and still call yourself a football team? In
any event, we owe you because of your personal attack levied in this write-up. How dare you
call our coach “Dough” Marone. You think it is funny to poke fun by calling Coach Marone
“dough?” Well, the last laugh was on you because we posted this all over the locker room and
our team was ready to run through a brick wall to show you that our coach was not “dough.”
Good God, who does that? Seriously? I still can’t get over the fact that in your write-up you
called us “lucky.” If we are lucky, what does that make WVU? You should have lost to
Maryland. You got blown out by LSU. If Norfolk had the same number of scholarships as you,
they would have won. How about us being “lucky” now? Also, Coach Shafer says thanks for
the good luck wish from your write-up. Although with your gimmicky offense, we did not need
much luck to stop it. Just punch WVU in the mouth, you give up. Simple really. Well, I will
end with one last thought, “the Ben Schwartzwaler Trophy (will) be making its way back to its
rightful home in Syracuse, NY.” That was your quote (with the added “will,” because you forgot
it) from your write-up, I just changed it so it is more accurate.
By the way, I sure hope Greg likes my write-up, because it is a little more spot on than the error
filled (spelling, grammar, and substance) one that you put together.
Orangefan
Orangefan, your team won and won big. Ryan had thegame of his life. Yes I did almost call the score in the reverse. You have painstakingly and with benefit of hindsite picked apart me obviously wrong prediction for the outcome. I noticed that you didn't comment on hear prior to the game. Where is your blog address? Where are your bold predictions about Code football? Why hide your insights from cyberspace? Or is it you are only emboldened after the fact? Enjoy your win. And I have no problem admitting my prediction fell short. You shall see that this blog and my Eers shall persist past Friday. Let us see where your beloved Orange are come Bowl Bid time.
Oh and thanks for reading.
Da Geek
Umm, no Orangefan. Actually, I really didn't like it.
"Dough" Marone, that's funny. I'll have to remember that one.
The Orange played well, enjoy it.
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