Once again the Orange are out of bowl contention early. Although the Orange wont be planning on a 13th game this season - hopefully the Seniors can find a way to grab a win in their last game ever at the Carrier Dome.

When: Saturday November 15th, 2008 - 7:00 PM Eastern

Where: Syracuse, New York at the Carrier Dome

Capacity: 50,000

Television: ESPNU

The Spread: The line opened at Connecticut -9.5 and currently sits around -10. The Over/Under for Saturdays game is 47.

Rivalry info: Syracuse is 2-2 against the Huskies. Syracuse’s 20-14 win over the Huskies in 2006 was HC Greg Robinsons first Big East victory.

Head Coaches: Connecticut - Randy Edsall - 10th season at Connecticut (56-58 overall) Syracuse- Greg Robinson - 4th season at Syracuse (9-35 overall.)

Last time they played: In 2007, #24 ranked Connecticut beat the Orange in Storrs convincingly 30-7.

LVO’s Five things to look for this Saturday:

1) With a bowl appearance out of the question, the countdown to extinction is officially on for all fans.  Following the close of this game, I fully expect to have an announcement made regarding Greg Robinson’s status.  This is the last home game for seniors so there shouldn’t be anything standing in the way from making this decision.

2) How competitive will we be?  This will be a big game for the seniors, but how long we can keep this game competitive will go along way towards determining what type of quarterback shuffling we see.  A close game keeps Dantley squarely under center.  A game that gets out of hand could see Andrew Robinson get more than mop up time.  Expecting to see David Legree, no matter how eager he seems to be, is too much to ask from this administration.

3) How far down the bench are we going?  I know we talked about the quarterbacks in item #2, but the same can be said for other positions.   Brinkley has been the main workhorse at RB, and for the most part he has deserved it.  But Doug Hogue has been productive the last two games, Antwon Bailey looked good in spot duty versus Louisville and where the hell is Delone Carter?  It would be nice to see a little more rotation at RB.

4) A lot of running plays.  In order for Syracuse to win, ball control will again be a key element.  For UConn a team ranked 101 in overall passing, the game begins and ends with Donald Brown.  If the Huskies can throw the ball around, I expect to see a mass exodus of fans or just flat out calling for GRob’s head on the spot.  Randy Edsall is a fairly conservative coach.  I think he’ll run the draw on every 3rd down and demand that we stop it.

5) Interested fans.  The air has long been let out of this season.  Finding enough people that give a damn about Saturday’s game will be a challenge.  I know there must be some die hards out there.  Stand up and make yourself heard!  The rest have put away the eye black and have gone squarely to the hardwood, where redemption is near.

Syracuse’s Offense vs Connecticut’s Defense:After a string of strong offensive performances to start off the Big East - Curtis Brinkley and the Orange offense were stopped dead in their tracks last weekend at Rutgers. To get rolling again the Orange are going to have to get it done against one of the top Defenses in all of the Big East. The Huskies rank 26th in the nation overall and have been very tight against the pass yielding only 184 yards per game in the air. The Orange are expected to play two Quarterbacks against UConn in Cameron Dantley and Andrew Robinson - but what is that really going to accomplish? Dantley has a tweaked ankle (and looked horrible last weekend) and Andrew Robinson has yet to really get going in the few opportunities he’s been given this year. If you’re going to shake things up then why not give either David Legree or even Cody Catalina a shot? There is nothing to lose and if your 1st and 2nd string guys have nothing to show then its time for the other guys to show what they can do in live game situations. With Connecticut’s strong pass D and the cluster and confusion at QB I doubt the Orange are going to be able to get much of anything going in the air. That means, once again - the Orange are going to have to rely strictly on Curtis Brinkley for the majority of their production (since GRob wont play Hogue or Carter.) Brinkley has ran great this season and has given us everything we could have asked for. But without any help Brinkley just isnt going to be enough to beat the Huskies. I hope he has a big day and ends his career strong - the guy has guts and deserves the looks hes sure to receive from the League in April.

Connecticut’s Offense (aka Donald Brown) vs Syracuse’s Defense: Without QB Tyler Lorenzen (foot) the Connecticut offense is one of the most one dimensional offenses in college football (although there’s word he could suit up.) I guess that doesn’t really matter when you have the nations leading rusher in your backfield. Donald Brown has been on a tear this season racking up 1,412 yards (154 per game) and 15 touchdowns for the Huskies this season. Whether or not Lorenzen plays or not will not matter. The Orange have been somewhat decent as the year has rolled on against the run but with a back like Brown he’s sure to catch a few breaks and put together a big game. If the Orange can find a way to bottle Brown then we might have a shot in this one - but with what have we seen in 9 games this season that makes us think we can put a stop to the nations leading rusher? Hopefully Arthur Jones brings his ‘07 game.

Why Syracuse will win: Brinkley goes out in style and puts the Orange on his back in his final appearance in the Carrier Dome. Brinkley and Donald Brown put on a show on the ground but the gutsy senior is able to out duel the nations leading rusher leading the Orange to victory.

Why Connecticut will win: Donald Brown. If he can continue the pace hes ran at all season he should have no problem against the Orange. Brown controls the pace of the game and breaks off a few long TD scampers and Connecticut stays alive in the BE Title hunt.

Syracuse player to watch: RB Curtis Brinkley - 966 yards rushing - 5 rushing TD’s - 11 receptions for 71 yards.  Boonah was denied his six straight 100 yard game thanks to a Rutgers D that keyed on him early and often and the rest of the offense’s inability to do anything.  Expect UConn’s defense to try and accomplish the same thing this week.  Even still, Brinkley will crack the 1000 yard barrier this week.

Connecticut player to watch: RB Donald Brown - 1406 yards rushing - 15 TD’s - 19 receptions for 113 yards.  Brown is the engine that makes the UConn offense go.  He is 8th in the nation in rushing and first overall in the Big East.  It will be no secret that he will be asked to shoulder the offensive load.

Lvilleorange Prediction: After about half of the first quarter, I was looking pretty good on my upset prediction.  But in typical SU fashion, the only thing that was upsetting was the mess in my toilet after the final gun sounded.  I’ve officially drank the last glass of kool-aid this season.  UConn will name the score, 38-13.

Reyes39 Prediction: Brinkley 31 UConn 30 - Really love how Boonah has bounced back this year and throughout his stay. Hope he finishes his career in Orange at the Carrier Dome on a high note.

-Stats thanks to collegefootballdatabase and ncaa.org

-Curtis Brinkley photo thanks to Frank Ordonez of the Post Standard

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 2:15 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.