Hope everyone enjoyed the bye week! At least we didnt have anything to complain about (besides G-Rob not being fired.) Time to get back to buisness as we hit the road to face off against the Mountaineers. 

When: Saturday October 11th, 2008 – 12:00 PM Eastern

Where: Morgantown, West Virginia at Mountaineer Field

Capacity: 63,500

Television: ESPNU

The Spread: Opened at West Virginia -24. Currently sits at West Virginia -23.5. The Over/Under currently sits at 48.5.

Rivalry info: Syracuse owns a 30-25 overall advantage over the Mountaineers since they began play in 1945…but Syracuse has not been able to beat the Mountaineers in the last 6 years losing by an average of 34-11.

Coaches: West Virginia - Bill Stewart - 1st full season at West Virginia (4-2 overall.) Syracuse- Greg Robinson – 4th season at Syracuse (8-32 overall.)

Syracuse Offense ranked #110 vs West Virginia Defense ranked #35: To win this game the Orange are going to need everyone healthy and ready to go. Good thing is – Rahme let us know on Tuesday that Carter is going to be back agains the Mountaineers this Saturday. West Virginia has been pretty good against the run this year - only allowing just over 3 yards a carry thus far – but its arguable that the combination of Brinkley, Hogue, and a healthy Carter will be the best stable the Mountaineers have seen yet this year. The only way we’re going to beat the Mountaineers is by keeping Pat White off the field. Brinkley has obviously earned the majority of the carries – but its important for us to control the ball and churn a few long drives - which means always keeping fresh legs on the field. Robinson already burnt Baileys red-shirt, so theres no point in keeping him on the sidelines – but Robinson has to stop throwing these freshman to the dogs (like we saw with Graham in the Penn State game.) Ease Bailey into the game for a few carries in the 2nd-3rd quarter in non-pressure situations and let Boonah and Carter take a breather or extended halftime. West Virginia doesnt really present any big-time run stuffers especially since LB Reed Williams is out for the year and Johnny Dingle and Malik were lost to graduation, but expect the Mountaineers to stuff an extra man or two into the box and bring the pressure. Four of the Mountaineers 9 sacks on the season are from DB blitzes (3 from DB John Holmes.)

The offense did show a bit more imagination against Pittsburgh and it looked like Lobdell possibly might be close to breaking out of his shell. Browning finally opened things up a bit and challenged an opponent downfield and it seemed to work – both Chew and Davis caught long TD passes and showed great athleticism making pretty tough grabs inside the pylon. I, like modman97, hope Browning opens it up a bit more and tries to catch the Mountaineers off-guard a few times. What to we have to lose?

In the Mountaineers two losses – opponents were able to go a combined 45/62 for 422 yards 4 TD’s and an interception – showing the Mountaineers are susceptible to a good passing game. If Brinkley and Co are able to establish a ground game early and put us in good field position I believe Dantley can produce. It seems if our ground game starts to sputter…everyone else falls apart. Dantley is off target, guys are dropping passes, and the offense as a whole just seems rushed. Take some pressue off of Dantley and he seems to flow – not to mention he’s shown some great touch in and around the red-zone.

West Virginia Offense ranked T-#66 vs Syracuse Defense ranked #114: Thank god this is the last year we’ll have to deal with Pat White. In his time at West Virginia, White has piled up 356 rushing yards on 35 carries (10 yards a carry) and 6 total touchdowns (1 passing) against the Orange. Pat White was injured (head) last week for the second week in a row against Rutgers but is expected to start against the Orange this Saturday. Our only chance at beating White probably means we’ll have to knock him out of the game for the third straight week. Since Robinson rarely blitzes (or at least presents anything resembling a blitz) White will probably shred our Defense just like in years past. I expect White to actually do most of his damage in the air – since he can in fact throw the ball and can do so at will against our secondary. Theres really no point in risking your star QB who has had a few injury problems by making him run the ball when he can get the job done in the pocket. Whatever running that needs to be done will be taken care of by Sophomore speedburner Noel Devine. IMO Devine is one of the better backs on the East Coast and will be the face of the Mountaineer program over the next two years. The Mountaineer offense should have no problem getting on track and putting up the points – but I wouldnt be surprised to see backup QB Jarret Brown relief Pat White to avoid further injury.

Why Syracuse will win: The Defense steps up and actually makes this a low scoring affair holding the Mountaineers and injured Pat White in the 17-24 point range (WVU has only scored over 30 points in 1 game – against Villanova.) Brinkley and the Offense put together a few long scoring drives keeping the WVU offense off the field. Shadle knocks in the game winner to propel the Orange and Greg Robinson to their biggest victory in years.

Why West Virginia will win: White comes out hot like the past two years and ends the game in the first half. Brinkley is stuffed and the entire offense falls apart taking us out of the game early.

Syracuse player to watch: QB Cameron Dantley – 49/86 – 549 yards – 7 TD’s – 2 INT’s

Pittsburgh player to watch: RB Noel Devine – 80 carries – 468 yards – 1 TD- 14 rec 66 yards

Reyes39 Prediction: West Virginia 38 – Syracuse 21

-Stats thanks to ncaa.org and cfbdatawarehouse.com

-Curtis Brinkley photo from Frank Ordonez/The Post Standard

Don’t Forget! “The Express” hits theatres nationwide this Friday October 10th!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 3:03 am by Sean N. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.