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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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 »

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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