I’ve been a bit lazy on trying to recap the Maine game.  Mainly, I think it’s because I ranted and raved while watching the game on the message board that I didn’t really want to reinvest energy on that flag filled, special teams disaster of a performance.  I also figured DM did enough of the bitching himself at half time that righted the ship and inevitably led to victory.  Of course, I would be wrong, that job was left to Delone Carter who summed it up best:

“We’re not going back to our old ways”.

That leads me to a bigger comment then.  What kind of coach is Doug Marrone?  I believe we all felt that a man with this much passion for his university would wear his emotions on his sleeve when it comes to coaching on the sideline.  However he hasn’t.  He is a calculating, thoughtful, non panicking coach who calmly leads his troops into battle.  And believe me his troops are stewing for a fight.

And really the battle is just beginning.  The program is taking on baby steps in the BE respect-o-meter.  Hey we are tied for 6th in the power rankings and exceeding expectations.  Not earthshaking, but SU has long left the Four Letter’s bottom-feeder category.  And like I said the battle is just beginning.  Since a real reckoning won’t happen until we get into the Big East season.  Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, but this time I think its a song.  So instead of trying to explain where the state of the Orange is at, I think I’ll let you listen.  So take it away: (lyrics here for those that want them).

Am I wrong?  In the coming weeks, we are about to find out.  One of us is going, one of us is going down!

Syracuse is looking to pick up where it left off this week as it faces the Maine Black Bears. Can the Orange gain its first back to back wins since 2006? Read on as Reyes39 and LvilleOrange get you up to speed on this week’s matchup.

When: Saturday September 36th, 2009 – 7:00 PM Eastern

Where: Syracuse, New York in the Carrier Dome

Capacity: 49,262

Television: Time Warner Sports

Tailgating information: TexanMarks Tailgate Guide

Northwestern Reading Material (via pacusefan): http://www.cuseorange.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10162

The Spread: No line.

Rivalry info: This will be the first meeting between these schools. Syracuse is 675-474-49 all time. Maine is 484-453-40 all time.

Coaches: Maine – Jack Cosgrove – 17th season at Maine (90-96 overall.) Syracuse- Doug Marrone – 1st season at Syracuse (1-2 overall.)

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Another week with some nice possibilities for the Big East to quiet the doubters.  I had my straight up streak halted by UConn and my ATS exposed as worthless – only those with unborn kids should risk those future education dollars.  Again, all lines used are provided here:

Last Week: 7-1    Year to date: 21-1 

ATS: 3-4                 Year to date: 8-7

Noon:

Rhode Island at Connecticut: No line.  Probably the most impressive team last week in the Big East.  They bounced back from that frustrating loss to NC by going back to what UConn has done best the last few years.  They pounded the football.  Their defense is one of the best in country and has played without Scott Lutrus.  Expect them to work on some things offensively this week.  Cody Endres hasn’t throw an INT since taking over at QB. Huskies win 38-7.

South Florida at Florida St: Line:  FSU -14; O/U 50.  Marquee game of the week for the Big East.  I’m sure that USF would love to have Matt Grothe for this one.  However, BJ Daniels was impressive in taking over last week.  FSU has been a bit up and down, but was very impressive in dismantling BYU last week.  The line seems like a big number for what should be an intense game.  I still like the Seminoles, justs not that much.  FSU 27-17.

Fresno St at Cincinnati: Line Cincy -16.5;O/U 61.5.  Impressive Cincy faces another tricky foe in Fresno.  The Bulldogs were able to hang with Boise St.  I expect to see more offensive fireworks this week out of Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard.  Fresno has hung with Wisconsin and Boise so I expect the same thing this week.  Bearcats 44-31.

3:30:

Rutgers at Maryland: Line RU -3;O/U 51.  I thought Rutgers was supposed to have the best Oline in the Big East?  Ask Tom Savage how that is working out after 3 sacks left him slightly concussed this week.  Maryland lost to Middle Tenn last week and survived James Madison, so this isn’t going to be a huge test for the Scarlet Knights.  The number is low and I expect they will do enough to win by a TD.  Scarlet Knights 24-17.

Pittsburgh at NC St: Line NC St -1;O/U 46.5;  Final game of the mini ACC-Big East Challenge this week.  Pitt comes in riding high after knocking out Navy and is still looking for national respect as it has been banging on the door of the Top 25 but hasn’t been able to move in.  A win this week will certainly help.  Bill Stull has quietly been making better decisions and that has helped the Panthers.  The Wolfpack hasn’t been tested since its opener to South Carolina.  QB Russell Wilson is the NCAA leader in consecutive passes without a pick.  He should get tested this week as his line may miss two starters and WR Owen Spencer will be out.  Statement game for the Panthers:  27-17.

7:00:

Maine at Syracuse: No Line.  The Orange grabbed their first win of the season last week.  Doug Marrone must help to avoid complacency with the FCS Black Bears in town.  The Orange hasn’t won consecutive games since 2006.  Another night game should mean a decent crowd.  No need to wait for the preview as I see an Orange win – 34-17.

Louisville at Utah: Line: Utes -14; O/U 51.  Cards must regroup after loss to Wildcats that have several players in tears afterword and caused Coach Kragthorpe to break out the biblical word for donkey serveral times in his post game presser.  The Utes were upended by Oregon last week and snapped a 17 game win streak.  RB Matt Asiata is nursing a sore shoulder and needs to be a factor for the Utes.  The Cards could pound the ball with Victor Anderson and Bilal Powell.  Still I see the Utes starting a new streak, although the Cards will keep it closer than expected.  Utes 31-24.

I don’t think I could have summed up this game any better than freshman kicker turned hero Ryan Lichtenstein.  But then again, in order to get over the proverbial hump, sometimes you have to slay the dragon more than once.  It sure seemed that way Saturday night.  The game had more twists and turns than any rollercoaster at Darien Lake.

It's good! (AP)

The Cuse looked like it was going to get the W in convincing fashion by racing out to score the first 17 points.  Northwestern then turned their high speed offense into overdrive and it seemed it was scoring as quickly as a barrel over the Niagara.

So many huge plays, so many moments.  For me, I was personally watching on delay on ESPN 360.  I was probably about 15 minutes behind the actual time.  With about 3 minutes left in the game, the actual game finished and my connection shut down.  I think I was going to have a coronary while I waited for the feed to sink up.  Should I “cheat” and see how it played out?  Luckily I got it back working and you couldn’t have scripted the ending any better.  Kafka could do anything wrong most of the night, except when we threw the kitchen sink at him, which was the only way the defense was going to make a play.  I credit Scott Shafer’s play calls to go after the QB, generating 5 sacks, numerous pressures and what ultimately led to the game changing pick by Max Suter.

Tons of helmet stickers to give out after a game like this so let’s just get to it after the jump

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The Big East starts to step up in class this week as there are a number of intriguing matchups against other decent BCS foes.  The conference needs a few W’s this week to avert the scorn of the sports writers across the nation.  I also predict that my undefeated run comes to an end this week.  Again, all lines used are provided here:

Last Week: 7-0    Year to date: 14-0  ATS: 5-3

Noon:

Louisville at Kentucky: Line – UK -14; O/U 47.  A game of interest in my neck of the woods.  Line opened at -10 and has moved more and more towards the Wildcats.  Each team comes into this game off of a bye week.  The Cardinals need a win in this series or the noose will grow tighter around Coach Kragthorpe.  Justin Burke needs to improve on his passing numbers from the Indiana St opener.  Randall Cobb could be in for a big day for the Cats.  Pick:  UK is too strong and too deep – 34-17.

5pm:

Florida International at Rutgers: Line – RU -15.5;O/U 52.5.  Another snooze fest for the Knights.  I would not expect much of a contest.  Pick:  Rutgers 45-14.

UConn at Baylor: Line – BU -10.5;O/U 45.5 – Huskies must bounce back from a demoralizing loss to NC where they blew a 10 pt 4th Q lead and lost on a holding penalty in the endzone for a safety.  It doesn’t get too easy this week with Baylor.  The Bears tamed Wake Forest in Week one and were on bye this last week.  If Witten and Co cannot sack the Bears speedy QB Robert Griffin, it could be a long day for UConn.  The Huskies really aren’t getting the “sweet life” out of QB duo of Zach and Cody, oops I didn’t just go Disney there did I – oh yes I did.  Take Baylor – 27-14.

6pm:

Navy at Pittsburgh: Line – Pitt -7.5;O/U 52.5.  The Panthers face the dangerous triple option attack of Navy in what could be an interesting game in Pittsburgh.  The Midshipmen gave THE Ohio State quite a scare in week one.  Pitt will need to contain QB Ricky Dobbs who is more dangerous with his legs than his arms since he has thrown only 21 times in two games.  The Panthers haven’t missed a beat with Dion Lewis running the nut and Dorin Dickinson has 4 receiving TDs already.  The Pick:  Pitt is just too well balanced for Navy, although it will be a fight for 3Qs – Pitt 34-24.

6:45pm:

Cincinnati at Oregon St: Line Cincy -1;O/U 55.5.  Huge credibility game for the BE.  Oregon St opened as a 2pt favorite but the line has shifted towards the Bearcats.  Cincy has rung up video game scores against Rutgers and SEMO St.  UC is the first ranked team not from the PAC 10 heading to Corvallis since 1977.  The Beavers are led by the Rodgers brothers – Jacquizz by ground and James via the air.  OSU did struggle some against UNLV last week.  This week we will know how good UC is or isn’t.  The Pick:  UC is good.  38-27.

7pm:

Charleston Southern at USF: No line.  Another FCS team for the Bulls this week.  I’ll cease with any real analysis here.  The Bulls continue to stampede.  45-10.

Northwestern at Syracuse: Line – NU -3; O/U 47.  Battle of two private universities in what is normally a public school playground.  Northwestern took last year’s game in Evanston 30-10.  NU got off to a good start vs Eastern Michigan but struggled in the 2nd half.  This is the Cuse’s final Big 10 game.  Pick will come tomorrow.

7:45pm:

West Virginia at Auburn: Line – AU -7.5;O/U 53.  The second BE vs SEC game this week.  This will be a tough test for the Mountaineers who looked impressive last week vs ECU.  Auburn ripped SEC foe Mississippi St last week.  The Tigers are lead by the running duo of Ben Tate and Ontarrio McCaleb, each running for an average of 130+ yards per game.  Throw in WR Darvin Adams’ 9 catches for 180 yards and it will be a tall order to tame the Tigers in their den.  WV could be without tackle Scooter Berry or MLB Reed Williams.  The Pick: Expect the scoreboard to light up, but Mountaineers end up just short.  Auburn 33 – 30.

Last week, the final version of the 2009-10 Orange basketball schedule was released. The non-conference schedule keeps up with the trend of the program’s staff peppering in a few challenges among the region’s blowout material. Those challenges include 2009 tournament teams in Cornell, Cal and either UNC or Ohio State in The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Memphis in January and a Florida Gators squad that fell just short of making The Big Dance. Moving on, while the level of Big East competition pales in comparison to last year, it isn’t without its challenges. That being said, the conference schedule starts out a little on the tepid side.

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Cuse knows where they are headed (via Frank Ordonez)

All signs point that after two games the Orange Football team is headed in the right direction.  Now comes the  tricky part.  What comes next?  Is it too quick to ask for victory?  Not if you listen to Dave Rahme.   To him it is either an A or an F.  And so far the Orange has drawn only failing grades.

Yet, there were plenty of quotes from Penn St players and JoePa himself, saying that things are looking up.  So again the question remains, can the Orange turn all this feel good into some Ws?  How soon?  Can we finally bag a team from the Big 10?

Northwestern comes in this week and if it is to happen there is really one side of the ball that needs to step  up its game and its the offense.

Brian Bennett has already taken to the time to point out that at this ridiculously early point in the season, the Orange ranks 111th on offense.

The reasons for the lack of production are really quite simple.  Installing a new offense is going to take time.  And we have been trying to iron out the kinks against some pretty good defenses.  I guarantee that our offense will get better with Maine, Akron, and yes most of the BE coming in the schedule.  Mike Williams has to start catching the ball, doesn’t he?  The Stallion continues to add wrinkles and Ryan Nassib is even getting the chance to fling the ball around some.  The Oline is still having some protection issues, but I was impressed with the lack of penalties against a pretty aggressive front 7 in PSU and on the road.

The Defense held PSU to under 100 yards on the ground and has posted yet another stop on 4th down.  I thought Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith had nice games and just missed getting some big sacks.  I think they will have success next week against a QB in Mike Kafka that hasn’t thrown a TD pass in either game for Northwestern despite it being against two lesser foes.

If you listen to Coach Marrone, he sounds like he is making sound decisions in his gameplanning.  Now all we need is for both sides to start executing.  This week starts a nice 6 game home stand.  With some improvement and execution, the Orange could win as many as 4 of these games.  If the offense stays stagnant it also could be just one win.  We know which way the team is headed, will it be enough to get a win?  I’d like to think so.

On to Week Two of the football season.  This week’s game features the Nittany Lions of Penn St versus the Cuse.  The game is the first road test for new Head Coach Doug Marrone.  Once again Reyes39 and LvilleOrange will get you up to speed on all the intangibles for this week’s tilt.

When: Saturday September 12th, 2009 – 12:00 PM Eastern

Where: State College, PA Beaver Stadium

Capacity: 107,282

Television: Big 10 Network

Tailgating information: TexanMarks Tailgate Guide

Penn State Reading Material: pacusefans Penn State Reading Material Thread

The Spread: Penn State -28.5 The Over/Under is 54.

Rivalry info: Penn State holds the alltime lead in this series at 41-23-5.  The last meeting between the two teams was last year’s 55-13 Penn State victory.  Syracuse is 674-473-49 all time.  Penn State is 802-349-43 all time.

Coaches: Penn State – Joe Paterno 43rd season (384-127-3 overall) Syracuse- Doug Marrone – 1st season at Syracuse (0-1 overall.)

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Time to throw out predictions for this week’s games.   A few interesting games this week on the docket.  Again, all lines used are provided here:

Last Week: 7-0    Year to date: 7-0

Saturday September 12th

Noon:

Syracuse (0-1) at Penn State (1-0): Line: PSU -28.5;O/U 54.  Penn St cruised in its opener over Akron.  Clark and Royster pretty much picked up where they left off.  More on them in this week’s preview.  First road test for Coach Marrone.  Pick will come with preview.

North Carolina (1-0) at Connecticut (1-0): Line: NC -4.5;O/U 46.  The ACC sure was humiliated in Week One, but NC was not one of those teams.  UConn sputtered with their new no huddle attack as Zach Frazer passed for a pedestrian 11-24 for 127 yards.  He did have 2 TDs but also 3 picks.  Todman and Dixon each eclipsed 100 yards rushing and will have to do that again.  DE Lindsey Witten was BE Defensive Player of the Week with 3 sacks and a safety. NC is ranked 21st and would be a nice win for the BE to get.  NC whipped UConn last year and this one could go in a similar fashion.  I’m taking the Heels, 27-13.

Pittsburgh (1-0) at Buffalo (1-0): Line:  Pitt – 10.5;O/U 49.  Pitt was solid in its opener last week.  Buffalo subdued UTEP.  The Panthers travel to Buffalo, but as long as they can continue to run the ball they should be in good shape.  Game will be closer than last week.  Take the Panthers 31-13.

3:30:
East Carolina (1-0) at West Virginia (1-0): Line: WV -6.5;O/U 44.5  Mountaineers should be in payback mode for last year’s beatdown at ECU.  The Pirates dominated in all phases in a 24-3 win.  ECU had its hands full with App St last week, winning only 29-24, while WV did enough to handle Liberty.  ECU has never won in Morgantown.  Expect that trend to continue – 28-17.

Howard (0-0) at Rutgers (0-1): No Line.  Rutgers’ sexy pick as BE champ may have turned into an ugly duckling after the Bearcat debacle.  I expect Tom Savage to get the controls in this snooze fest.  Rutgers bounces back 38-10.

7:30:

Southeast Missouri State (1-0) at Cincinnati (1-0): No line.  Southeast Missouri State rocked Quincy 72-3. Does that matter?  The Bearcats are off to a solid start in repeating as BE champs after they dismantled Rutgers.  Cincy will score whatever they want in this one – 45-14.

South Florida (1-0) at Western Kentucky (0-1): Line USF -24;O/U 48.  I could drive to this game if I wanted.  I don’t.  USF gets a nice cream puff for a road opener.  Not sure why the O/U is so low, maybe USF has to do all the scoring?  Take the Bulls – 48-6.