BearcatLair.com - Syracuse on the rise

October 30, 2009

Scott Springer
BearcatLair.com Staff Writer

Brian Kelly leads his team Saturday against yet another Big East squad that has witnessed a great shift in their fortunes. Just as Louisville had been an "elite team" over the last 10 years, Syracuse also has had great tradition in football.

Then, they fired the successor to Dick MacPherson (arguably the 'Cuse's most popular coach in recent memory). While Paul Pasqualoni didn't win a national championship, you can hardly say a 107-59-1 career record was a failure.

Direct from the www.suathletics.com site, I give you this: "Syracuse played in two Bowl Championship Series outings, three New Year's Day contests, the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl, 2001 Insight.com Bowl and 1996 Liberty Bowl during Pasqualoni's tenure."

Then, call it what you want, he was let go.

Needless to say, his replacement from the NFL, Greg Robinson, didn't fare so well. He's gone too (replaced by another guy with NFL credentials, Doug Marrone). While Marrone has already won as many games as Robinson did with the Orange last year, he has his work cut out for him.

UC now leads this series 5-4, having won the last four (with each one becoming less and less competitive). Mark Dantonio won two and Brian Kelly's won two. Prior to that, your only UC win over Syracuse (and the only one against Paul Pasqualoni) was the win at Nippert Stadium nine years ago that ended with Jason Mammarelli connecting on a 45-yard field goal to end the game and give the Bearcats a 12-10 victory.

That was considered a major upset at the time, even though Rick Minter's men had knocked off #9 Wisconsin the year before. Now, if UC would only beat Syracuse 12-10, it would be considered a major disappointment and would result in a drop in the mystical BCS standings. Conversely, if Syracuse were to boot a 45-yarder to beat UC 12-10 at home Saturday, the drinks would be flowing downtown at the Dinosaur BBQ ( 'Cuse grads Dan Hoard and Tommy Gelehrter can attest to this).

Here is a little background for you if you don't appreciate the recent accomplishments of Bearcat football and if you don't understand how the mighty can fall.

History lesson in place, we get Commander Kelly's thoughts on this Big East contest as he returns for his second visit to the Carrier Dome. (For the record, Ben Mauk had a rather explosive game there two years ago as the Bearcats rolled 52-31.)

"This is the first time that I've watched film and seen some similarities of our team in the first year in terms of the way they played hard for four quarters," said Kelly of the Orange. "Everyone has really been focused on Syracuse's quarterback situation and (Greg) Paulus. I think he did a really good job in adding some maturity and stability to their offense. (However) it really is Delone Carter, to me, who really is their offensive weapon."

Carter ran for a season-high 170 yards against Akron last weekend and three touchdowns (and he's from nearby Copley,OH). Carter's had injury issues the last two seasons after running for 713 yards as a freshman in '06.

"He carries the ball 20-30 times a game," said Kelly. "He's an outstanding back. He does not have the top-end speed of Ryan Mathews (Fresno State). (But) he's probably as physical or more physical between the tackles. You can't arm tackle him. You try to arm tackle him and he's going to take you three-four-five more yards."

Then you add in Biletnikoff semi-finalist Mike Williams (held out vs. Akron due for disciplinary reasons) and you see the Syracuse offense has some talent.

"Two big play weapons on the offensive side of the ball, along with Paulus," agreed Kelly. "Up front (they're) very disruptive defensively. Scott Shafer, their new defensive coordinator came in from Michigan and brought a new defensive scheme. (He) pressures quite a bit, probably in the neighborhood of 50% of the time, they're bringing some form of pressure."

Facing that pressure this week will be the same guy that faced it last week, Zach Collaros. That should be reassuring to Bearcat fans as Collaros picked apart Louisville passing and ripped apart USF running in back-to-back weeks. As mentioned during his radio show Thursday night, you should only see Tony Pike in this game in an emergency situation.

At this point, it's increasingly obvious that Brian Kelly knows quarterbacks. No matter who gets the call, they produce. Before last season, Pike and Collaros were afterthoughts, now you can buy a #15 jersey and weigh-in on Tony Pike's Heisman chances, and Collaros already has people looking forward to next year.

Likewise, Kelly has admiration for the opposing quarterbacks. He's liked what he's seen from Tom Savage of Rutgers, he's big on the future of Miami's Zac Dysert and one can only imagine what kind of offense Kelly could build around USF's B.J. Daniels. This week, his eyes are on the former Duke PG Greg Paulus.

Just as Kelly took advantage of an NCAA rule to get Ben Mauk from Wake Forest to UC, Syracuse used another rule to get another year of eligibility for a signal-caller who hadn't had shoulder pads on in over four years.

Paulus has thrown for nine touchdowns in seven games. While that doesn't get him in on the Heisman conversation, Kelly is amazed that Paulus is having the success that he is.

"It's football, he's getting banged by big bodies," said Kelly of Paulus' transition from hardwood to 'hard knocks'. "They land hard on you at the quarterback position. I would say it's probably getting out of bed in the morning, it's probably the physical now that is probably the more difficult element for him in his body not being able to have the coat of armor that you need to play the game of football."

Despite not being slammed to the turf for a number of years, Paulus' background and backbone developed by Coach K on the Duke basketball floor has served him well. Heck, four losses are about all he's used to in college athletics.

"He's got that winner's mentality," said Kelly. "He's got that on the sideline, that body language. You can see there's a spring in everybody's step. He makes players around him better. Maybe there are better players around him on the offensive side of the ball now with Mike Williams and Carter, but clearly he was that driving force and you can see what a smart move that was to get their program moving."

While early on, Paulus was pass happy (46 throws for two TDs, but five INTs vs. USF) the Orange now are trying to control Paulus' freelancing. They've also integrated sophomore Ryan Nassib into the equation of late, who some consider a better passer and runner.

"They were asking him (Paulus) to do a lot early on," said Kelly. "They've kind of scaled that back a little bit. They're really trying to pound the football. They rushed for over 250 yards (vs. Akron). You can see there's a little bit of a change and Mike Williams is a guy where you don't have to do a lot of heavy lifting to get him the ball-you just throw it up to him-he's that kind of receiver."

In addition to better offensive talent this year, Syracuse also benefits from a "kind" schedule. Most teams don't get to play eight home games (UC has six). Moreover, it's almost unheard of for a program to play SIX of those games in a row!

"We'd run out of beer, we wouldn't be able to," joked Kelly of the prospect of playing six-in-a-row at Nippert. "There would be no beer left in Cincinnati."

Actually, as I recall, the Carrier Dome is another one of the few institutions that sells beer at their home games. Judging by the fan reaction I've heard in my last couple trips there ('05 and '07) the Orange supporters usually are in need of a frothy brew by the second half.

Cincinnati NEWS

[More]

Latest Headlines:

Resources:

Font Size:

FEATURED PRODUCT