Pike has field day

The Syracuse Orange football team concluded their season on a sour note as they were mauled and clawed by Cinncinnati 30-10.

The game was never as close as the final score indicates.  The Bearcats already clinched the Big East BCS berth thanks to WV loss to Pitt on Friday.  If there was a reason to come out flat this was it.  However the Bearcats wasted little time in carving up SU’s defense like a Thanksgiving turkey.  Cincy’s Tony Pike engineered a 9-10 passing first drive that was as simple as pitch and catch.  SU’s defense was determined to not get beat deep and often dropped the entire secondary 10-15 yards off the ball.  It seemed the game plan was to bleed to death.   If it was, then mission accomplished.

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Anyone happen to see the Cincy fans throwing Oranges onto the field after they defeated Pittsburgh last week? Hm, I have a feeling it wasn’t in anticipation of facing the Orange this weekend…Lets hope the not only the fans overlook this game and Grob can grab a W in his final game as Syracuse Head Coach!

When: Saturday November 29th, 2008 - 12:00 PM Eastern

Where: Cincinnati, Ohio at Nippert Stadium

Capacity: 35,000 (we get about that at our basketball games…)

Television: ESPN Regional - ESPN Gameday - Will also be the Big East game of the week - check out Pacusefans thread for more TV listings.

The Spread: The line opened at Cincinnati -22 and sits at -22.5 at most books. The Over/Under is at 49.5.

Head Coaches: Cincinnati - Brian Kelly - 2nd season at Cincinnati (20-5 overall / coached 2006 Bowl Game) Syracuse- Greg Robinson - 4th and final season at Syracuse (10-36 overall.)

Last time they played: Last year Cincinnati smacked around the Orange in the Dome in an entertaining 52-31 victory. The all time series between the Orange and Bearcats is deadlocked at 4-4 with Cincinnati winning 4 of the last five meetings (three in a row.)

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SU passed its first true test of the year Monday night, beating Florida 89-83 in front of a sparse crowd at the CBE Classic in Kansas City. The high-scoring affair on both sides confirmed two theories I’ve had about this team for awhile: it can score at will, and the Orange aren’t quite there yet on the defensive end. Flynn, Devendorf and Onuaku combined for just nine points in the first half, but thanks to Paul Harris’ mid-range j and Andy Rautins’ long ball resurgence, SU not only led by three at the break, but tallied 41 points in doing so. Read the rest of this entry »

After three home contests, the Orange and Gators leave their comfy campus confines for Kansas City, Missouri, to take part in the final rounds of the de facto tournament known as the CBE Classic. SU and Florida will be joined by the Kansas Jayhawks and Washington Huskies; in all, three of the last six NCAA Tournament champions take to the court, with the Jayhawks holding a tremendous home court advantage, as Lawrence is an hour’s drive away. Read the rest of this entry »

Dantley to Davis caps improbable win for Orange

It was a most surreal afternoon at the hallowed ground where Touchdown Jesus spends it days watching over the home Fighting Irish.

I could only image what that statue must have thought while watching one of the more pedestrian match-ups on a day that saw games vie for varies trophies,  like the Olden Oaken Bucket or the River City Rivalry or The Game.

Well it sure wasn’t the prettiest football game I have ever watched.  Neither team really did much to prove that there should be a clear and decisive winner.   Syracuse had a pair of punts blocked.  Curtis Brinkley fumbled an early second half hand off that should have led to an easy game changing touchdown.   Ryan Howard continues to find fielding punts to be a challenge.  And Syracuse showed that it hasn’t practiced defending in the prevent formation.

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Will we see more man this year?

The Orange hoops team has gone out and made a big statement to Coach Jim Boeheim.  Let’s play some more man!  The Orange was able to make that statement by jumping out early in the first half and getting off to a comfortable lead and then not looking back.  There was a noticeable effort on the part of the starting 5 to get out and establish that this team can get a lead and keep it.

It just seems that this team is a bit more suited at this time to play man.  The wingspan of Flynn and Devo in the front of the 2-3 isn’t that long.  AO in the middle is not a huge shot blocking force.  But the overall atheleticsm of the team seems best for getting in shirts and harassing the opposition.  When Rick Jackson entered the game, he made his presence felt with a pair of rejections on one of Jonathan Jones’ forays into the paint.  A nice sign of the intensity displayed up and down the lineup.

The good: The first half had alot of nice ball movement by the Orange, not so much in the second half due to the fact that the game was in a cruise control mode for the most part.  There was an intent to move the ball quickly and look for good shots.  Twelve of the first thirteen hoops were assisted.  That is a nice thing to see.

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I for one am not very excited about this game…I just want to know who our next head coach is and look forward to 2009! Will the guys feel the same way though?

When: Saturday November 22nd, 2008 - 2:30 PM Eastern

Where: South Bend, Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium

Capacity: 80,795

Television: NBC

The Spread: The line opened at Notre Dame -19.5 but has since gone up to Notre Dame -20. The Over/Under is at 49 total points.

Head Coaches: Notre Dame - Charlie Weis - 4th season at Notre Dame (28-19 overall) Syracuse- Greg Robinson - 4th and final season at Syracuse (9-36 overall.)

Last time they played: In 2003 Syracuse stomped the Fighting Irish 38-12 thanks to 5 touchdown runs from Walter Reyes.

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Oakland is one confusing school. First off, it’s not Oakland, California, it’s Oakland, Michigan. Wait, Oakland is not a city in Michigan, it is the county in Michigan where the school is located. In fact, OU is located in Rochester, but not Rochester, New York. To boot, their lettering looks awfully similar to another OU, Oklahoma. Read the rest of this entry »

TFG: We thought before the season that this team has a few guys capable of completely taking over games, and we saw just that Tuesday night. Onuaku was the first to establish himself with some thunderous jams in the early going. I wouldn’t want to be a backboard in a Big East arena, because those things really started to give. It’s fun to think about the idea of AO becoming the first SU player to both shatter a backboard AND bring the entire structure down in his career (hey, a guy can dream). Read the rest of this entry »

It doesn’t get much better than this - two unranked, undefeated teams butting heads 17 years after the 15-seed Spiders upset the 2-seed Orangemen in the first round of the 1991 NCAA Tournament.

Ok, so maybe I’m stretching things, considering that SU has topped Richmond twice in convincing fashion since that debacle and this season is only one game old. I’ll also concede that I lack a little perspective since, as young lad, I was probably more concerned with finding my Ninja Turtle action figures than fathoming how Curtis Blair and Co. were able to tear up the zone in College Park (don’t worry, Raphael and Michelangelo were under the couch). Still, I have a good feeling that there are some SU fans who still don’t have closure. For all I know, even assistant coach Mike Hopkins, who played in that game, isn’t over it yet. You’ve gotta figure that if there’s one person on the SU bench who doesn’t want to lose to Richmond Tuesday night, it’s Hop.

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