The Orange finally get out of the Dome and hit the road to try and secure Marrone’s first signature victory against the Pitt Panthers.  It will be real interesting this week to see how the team responds to yet another spat of suspensions and the final exit of Mike Williams.  Read along with LVilleOrange and Reyes39 to know all you need for this Saturdays game.

When: November 7th, 2009 – 12:00 PM

Where: Pittsburgh, PA at Heinz Field

Capacity: 65,000

Television: ESPNU

Pittsburgh Reading Material (via pacusefan): Pittsburgh Reading Material

The Spread: The line opened at Pitt -18.0 but has quickly risen to Pitt -21.5

Rivalry info: This will be the sixty-fifth meeting between these schools.  Pittsburgh owns a 31-30-3 advantage in the series and has won the last four and last 6 out of 7 against the Orange.  Syracuse is 677-477-49 all time. Pittsburgh is 661-477-41 all time.

Coaches: Pittsburgh -Dave Wannstedt – 5th season at Pittsburgh (32-24 overall.) Syracuse- Doug Marrone – 1st season at Syracuse (3-5 overall.)

Syracuse Offense vs Pittsburgh Defense: As if it wasn’t going to be hard enough, the Orange will have to face Pitt without their best weapon.  You should know by now the heart and soul of the Orange offense in Mike Williams has decided to leave the team. Starting RT Andrew Tiller as well as 2nd string RB Antwon Bailey have also been suspended for this weekends contest. Mix that with a bit of a Quarterback controversy and things do not at all look good for the Orange this weekend. Syracuse was able churn out yards and secure a win when Williams was suspended two weeks ago – but it will be twice as hard to do so against a defensive unit that is twice as tough as Akron. Halfway into Big East play and the Panthers have only allowed an average of 15.5 points per game.  Match that to Syracuse’s 13.3 points per game in BE play average and it’s not hard to predict the outcome. The Pitt Panthers rank in the top 25 nationally in nearly every defensive category….25th overall, 19th against the run, 9th in tackles for loss, and 1st in sacks. Mick Williams has been a force on the DL tallying 11 total tackles for loss and Greg Romeus has been impressive as well with 6 sacks on the year.The Orange have struggled to run the ball all season and the same can be expected against the Panthers. With Bailey out Carter should receive a bulk of the carries and Collier and maybe even Jones may take a few.

It seems the only semi-weakness for the Panthers is through the air where they rank 52nd giving up 212 yards a game. Which brings up the Quarterback issue. Marrone has stuck by Paulus but its obvious that Syracuse fans are ready to see what Nassib can do under center full time. Nassib has sparkled in his few opportunities but it’s still been too small of a sample to give him the pass. It can be said that a lot of Nassibs success can be credited to Paulus setting the table for him. We’ll never really know unless Nassib is named starter. Either way – life as an Orange quarterback just became much tougher with the loss of Mike Williams. Sales did well in Williams’ absence against Akron but disappeared against Cincinnati.  Donte Davis had one of his better games of the season with 5 receptions for 51 yards against Cincy but has been largely inconsistent on the year. Same can be said for all Orange receivers. The Orange won’t have the playmaking ability of Williams but Davis and Sales have the talent to back up some of his production.

Pittsburgh Offense vs Syracuse Defense: I know if I asked you to say the first thing that comes to mind when you say Pitt’s offense, you will say Dion Lewis.  And why not?  The frosh is fourth in the nation is rushing.  What you may not know is that Pitt is actually very balanced offensively.  They have rushed for 1600+ yards and have passed for over 1700 yards.  Bill Stull was a question mark at the start of the season, so much of one that the Panther fans wanted to see Tito Sunseri step in. No one is saying that now.  Stull has passed for 16 TDs against only 4 INTs and has been named as a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien award.  Jonathan Baldwin is the top target with nearly 700 yards but just 4 TDs.  TE Dorin Dickinson has come out of nowhere to snag 9 TDs and 332 yards of receiving.  The Panthers are on a collision course for the BE title.  But Dave Wannestadt isn’t taking the Orange lightly:

“Last year we were down by 11 in the fourth quarter. The year before, it was tied 10-10 halfway through the fourth quarter.

“It’s a conference game, and it’s Pitt-Syracuse. And we better be ready to play better than we have.”

Defensively, this is a great opportunity for the Syracuse defense to make a statement.  Art Jones has been tossing around opposing linemen for weeks.  Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue have really found a rhythm together at LB.  Max Suter has really played tough and physical run support.  All of these guys will be challenged this week by Pitt’s interior and DionLewis’ speed.  The Orange shouldn’t be intimated at this point as they have faced every top team in the conference now and Penn St.  Going on the road may be the perfect panacea for a team that needs to come together in the face of adversity.  Coach Doug Marrone is a character guy and we will see how the character of this team really is after all the turmoil this week.  Supposedly the players had one of their more spirited practices this week.  They will need that sort of energy to limit Pitt offensively.  I expect a real slugfest this week and the usual spirit and passion from the defensive side of the ball.

Why Syracuse will win: The Orange rally and win one for coach. This week has had to be the toughest Marrone has endured since he took over Syracuse. Pitt overlooks the Orange preparing for their big showdown against the Irish next Saturday at prime time.

Why Pittsburgh will win: The Panthers cram the ball down our throats.  The Orange fail to rally as a team and struggle on offense.  Mick Williams and Greg Romeus spend most of the day in the Orange backfield as Paulus continues to struggle with ball security.

Syracuse player to watch: TE Cody Catalina. Catalina has seen a few more balls his way recently and caught his first touchdown pass against Cincy. He was targeted on a deep pass against Akron that was in his hands but was unable to pull it in for the touchdown. With Williams out the Orange are going to have to find some new weapons.

Pittsburgh player to watch: On offense, Dion Lewis has made Pitt Nation forget about LaSean McCoy.  Lewis has over thousand yards and 11 TDs.  Defensively, Mick Williams has been as valuable as Art Jones has for the Orange.

LVO prediction: Panthers 28 Syracuse 14

Reyes39 prediction: Pittsburgh 35 Syracuse 17

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 6:45 pm 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.