Syracuse - Are they good?

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PlymouthGopherFan

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I know it is still 5 months away, but I was thinking about the opener....on the road. It would great to come home to the Bank 1-0 to start the year. Is Syarcuse any good? Does anyone have the story with that program? Are the spread team or a pro style or what?
 


Having not watched Syracuse at all, this is the information I've gathered:

-they have a new coach, Doug Marrone, who was the OC for the Saints, so I would suppose they are going to do a Pro style offense.

-the Orange were 3-9 last year, and 0-2 vs the Big Ten. They did defeat Louisville and Notre Dame, so take that as you may

-Gopher Dline coach Tim Cross coached there before coming here, but may not know too much about them since Greg Robinson (now DC at Michigan) was fired

-Syracuse's DC is the former Michigan DC Scott Shafer, who held us to 6 points last year(given Michigan likely has more talent than Syracuse does)

-Their OC Rob Spence was the OC at Clemson with Tommy Bowden. I'm not sure how good Clemson's unit was last year, but I think they underachieved

I'm sure there's more than this, but hopefully this is a start. I really hope we pull out a win in the Carrier dome.
 

PlymouthGopherFan said:
I know it is still 5 months away, but I was thinking about the opener....on the road. It would great to come home to the Bank 1-0 to start the year. Is Syarcuse any good? Does anyone have the story with that program? Are the spread team or a pro style or what?
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they are horrible. just ask Penn State who they play last year and spank the lively crap out of Syracuse.
 

PlayHosea said:
They're terrible. Better win. Handily.
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Ain't no major college FB team terrible. Call our 1-11 team two years ago terrible? Not. Lots of close games. This is not a pushover vs. Syracuse.
 


i am praying that paulus plays QB for them, i want the gophs to have first crack at that bit%$
 

They were formally a solid program year in and year out, but the last handful of years they have been atrocious. But the first game of the season with a new coach things can be very unpredictable. Yes, we should beat them up, but I wouldnt guarantee a 1-0 start to the year. We will have to play a solid game on both sides of the ball, otherwise it might go down to the wire.

Not that it has anything to do with this upcoming matchup, but who remembers the last time we played the Cuse in the dome. Gophers won 35-33 over Donovan McNabb and the nationally ranked Orangemen, led by two fumble return touchdowns by freshman Tyrone Carter.
 

UptownMaroon&Gold said:
They were formally a solid program year in and year out, but the last handful of years they have been atrocious. But the first game of the season with a new coach things can be very unpredictable. Yes, we should beat them up, but I wouldnt guarantee a 1-0 start to the year. We will have to play a solid game on both sides of the ball, otherwise it might go down to the wire.

Not that it has anything to do with this upcoming matchup, but who remembers the last time we played the Cuse in the dome. Gophers won 35-33 over Donovan McNabb and the nationally ranked Orangemen, led by two fumble return touchdowns by freshman Tyrone Carter.
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Hopefully Michal Carter can have 2 fumble return TDS!!!!
 

Dr.Don said:
Ain't no major college FB team terrible. Call our 1-11 team two years ago terrible? Not. Lots of close games. This is not a pushover vs. Syracuse.
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Yes, the team was terrible 2 years ago. Don't give me that "they're better than their record" b.s. Wins and losses are all that matter. You lose 11 times, you're terrible.
 



was it last year or the year before they should have beat iowa early in the year and blew it?
 

We should beat them by a minimum 2 td's

I'm saying this from a talent and experience perspective. They have zero experince returning at QB, a new coach with zero HC experience, a new Kicker, a depleted offensive line, a d-line that just lost a key member to departure, and another 6 players that have left to boot. In general new coaches don't fare very well in their openers and given all of the above I think it would be incredible if Syracuse could pull things together in this amount of time given what they are working with. The X factor for the Gophers is that we are also going to be implementing a new offense. You would think though with the experience that is returning in key positions we should be alright. I would expect the Gophs to favored by about 10 in this one, and I would take the Gophs:clap:
 

2006 they lost to Iowa in the Carrier Dome , 20-13, but had numerous chances to win that game. 2007 they lost 35-0 at Kinnick.
 




UptownMaroon&Gold said:
They were formally a solid program year in and year out, but the last handful of years they have been atrocious. But the first game of the season with a new coach things can be very unpredictable. Yes, we should beat them up, but I wouldnt guarantee a 1-0 start to the year. We will have to play a solid game on both sides of the ball, otherwise it might go down to the wire.

Not that it has anything to do with this upcoming matchup, but who remembers the last time we played the Cuse in the dome. Gophers won 35-33 over Donovan McNabb and the nationally ranked Orangemen, led by two fumble return touchdowns by freshman Tyrone Carter.
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Agree. We are in no position to be overconfident. As stated above, how they come out of the gate with a new coach is anybody's guess. For that matter how any team will play in their first game of the season is unpredictable.
 

I guess I hope Paulus goes to Syracuse over Michigan, just because it would make the Gophers game in the Carrier dome more noteworthy, and actually get mentioned by Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit. That is assuming Paulus would actually come in and be a starter.
 

GoldenGuts said:
was it last year or the year before they should have beat iowa early in the year and blew it?
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Syracuse loss in double overtime to 14th ranked Iowa in the 2006 Carrier Dome opener 20-13 and beat the Illini the next week in Champaign. The next year Iowa went for blood and drubbed the Orangemen 35-0.

As toward going into the little dome with a "this-ought-to-be-cake" attitude, I pray that Brewster can bury the record books for last year and focus on the fact that this school had a bowl streak in the '90's comparable to the early part of this Gopher decade, and the alumni are just as full of expectations in western NY as they are in Gopher Nation. While it has been a long time since the Orange crushed Clemson 41-0 in the '95 Gator bowl, I say this shapes to be a good game, with the advantages of a noisy home facility and excitment of a new regime in Syracuse's favor. Lets hope that the transition of power in Syracuse goes as smoothly as the most recent in Minneapolis ;)

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