More photos Andy Lyons - Getty Images
Browse more photos
With a 6-2 record, 3-1 in the Big East, the Syracuse Orange are worthy of praise this season. Expected to stop near the rear of the league and win no more than 3-4 games, SU is one game away from a bowl bid and even has a nice shot at the Big East crown.
RB Delone Carter is on pace to give 1,000 yards on the year, Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue anchor the best SU defense in years and head coach Doug Marrone is a good prospect for national coach of the year.
But that's not fun to write. What IS fun to save is the like thing you've written every week for the preceding month, which is to caveat Syracuse's success with enough excuses and asterisks as to render their success a farce. Surely there is an account for the Orange's victories other than hard work, good coaching, discipline and the want to get a winner. Those all sound so boring.
"Congrats to Syracuse for their 6-2 start, however..."
In the pursuit of making everyone's life easier, here's a small cheat-sheet to assist you as you pen your passive-aggressive diatribe about SU football.
Akron (W, 29-3) - Despite the fact that there are two FCS teams on Syracuse's schedule, the Zips might really be the worst team of them all. The Zips are 0-9, a disc that includes a loss to FCS Gardner-Webb, 47-10 loss to Kentucky, 50-14 loss to Northern Illinois and 56-10 loss to Western Michigan.
Washington (L, 20-41) - Can you believe Syracuse lost to a team like the Huskies? The same team that has been outscored 85-14 in the final two weeks?
Maine (W, 38-14) - The first FCS opponent on the schedule, the Bears actually made a plot of it for a half. The Bears are 3-5 on the season, not exactly cream of the 1-AA crop.
Colgate (W, 42-7) - Another FCS opponent, the account should have been 80-7 if Syracuse was very good. The Raiders are 4-4 on the year, another mediocre selection.
South Florida (W, 13-9) - The Orange beat the Bulls, whoop-de-do. USF is an anemic offensive nightmare. They're 4-3 but almost of those wins are over cupcakes. This win shouldn't even count.
Pitt (L, 45-14) - See? Told you so.
West Virginia (W, 19-14) - Great, big deal. Did you see what West Virginia did against UConn on Friday? The Mountaineers are in net point in the conference right now. Says it all, really.
Cincinnati (W, 31-7) - Zach Collaros wasn't playing. If he was, the last tally would have been 431-7 Cincinnati.
In case all of that isn't enough for you, you can ever turn the Big East card. The Big East is terrible. And there's no better way to support that than to showcase Syracuse's success as the direct result. SU is responsible for the miserable outputs by all of the other Big East teams simply by existing. This is fact.
You're welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment