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On Your Radio Dial
How To Grow An Orange: Now On Amazon
by Sean Keeley on Sep 3, 2010 2:27 PM EDT
1 comment
If you've been waiting for a good reason to buy the How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way To Brainwash Your Child Into Becoming A Syracuse Fan
If e-book is still your thing, you can pick up a much cheaper version over at Barnes & Noble's site, but you won't be able to get the paperback version there...yet.
As always, thank you to everyone who has purchased the book and I hope you enjoy it.
Oh and let me go ahead and do this for you before you post it in the comments. Your move, jackalope.
Zip-Zap-Rap: Getting To Know Akron
by Sean Keeley on Sep 3, 2010 12:32 PM EDT
4 comments
Matt over at our MAC blog The Hustle Belt was kind enough to answer some questions about this Akron squad the Orange will be facing off against tomorrow. Check out his answers and then get back to your #BeatAkron attack on Twitter.
The general consensus seems to be that Akron is going to be on the bottom of the MAC this season. Can you confirm?
Last place is really up for grabs. Akron, Miami, Eastern Michigan, Ball State. It's really anyone's race to the bottom. I predict Akron to finish 4-8, tied for last in the MAC East.
Rob Ianello...right guy for the job or in over his head?
Hey, he was the head coach at Notre Dame! Okay … it was an interim position until Brian Kelly was hired. But consider: the last Irish WR coach to take a job at a MAC school was Urban Meyer.
He's gonna have a tough go at it for the same reason Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio, Miami, and Kent State struggle to stay on top: the geographical clusterfork. They're all fighting for in-state recruit leftovers that haven't chosen Ohio State or Cincinnati.
Akron features Mitch Browning and Derrick Jackson on their coaching staff, two guys who know Syracuse fairly well. How much of an impact does that play in the game?
Depends. Did Syracuse forget to remove Browning and Jackson from the e-mailing list where they share playbook secrets? If not ... I don't know if it'll be a huge factor, even through both of their first games will be against the very school that fired them. But it does speak to the larger truth about this game: this is probably bigger for Akron than it is for Syracuse. Wouldn't you say?
Syracuse Daily Links - Gametime
by Sean Keeley on Sep 3, 2010 11:54 AM EDT
6 comments
Uni Watch: Welcome to the biggest college football preview in stripes, patches and piping history - ESPN
Syracuse seems to roll out a new design just about every season. This year's version features a serious downsizing of the shoulder stripes, along with the addition of a two-tone collar and contrasting sleeve cuffs.
Three Idiots on Sports: Official Idiotic Predictions - Syracuse v. Akron
I see the Zips coming out strong, playing with a lot of emotion and giving SU a real game, for a half. I see the Orange offense struggling to get in sync early and at the half we're tied at 7. In the second half the Orange defense starts really beating up the zips and the offense pounds it down Akron's throat for 3 second half TDs. Lichty ads a FG and Akron scores a late garbage time TD.
Nassib ready for 1st QB start - GreenwichTime
"I feel like I'm a veteran now," said Nassib, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound finance major from West Chester, Pa. "I'm still kind of young, but I've been through a lot, seen a lot, and I took it upon myself to help bring the younger kids along. We are pretty young in some spots."
Orange::44: 2010 Big East Prospectus Part 8: Syracuse
Syracuse begins their 2010 campaign under 2nd year head coach Doug Marrone with one very specific goal; get to a bowl game. Seems simple enough, but for a Syracuse team that has not headed to a bowl since 2004 and has not had a winning season since 2001 that is easier said than done.
HAWKS: Hawks Sign Etan Thomas
The Atlanta Hawks have signed free agent center Etan Thomas, according to Executive Vice President/General Manager Rick Sund. Per team policy, terms were not disclosed.
Orange::44: 2010 Big East Prospectus Part 7: West Virginia
Bill Stewart, who seems more like a happy grandfather than a football coach, sits on his third season at the helm of West Virginia. And he has another solid team. QB Jarrett Brown is gone and sophomore Geno Smith is now under center.
Politi: Ten years is long enough to expect Big East title from Greg Schiano, Rutgers | NJ.com
Nothing will happen to Schiano if Rutgers doesn’t this year. But 10 years is long enough to expect one.
Bud Poloquin raids Rick Pitino's closet for his Syracuse-Akron prediction:
| Bud Poliquin: Who’s Gonna Win Saturday? |
Syracuse vs. Akron: The Day Before Tomorrow
by Sean Keeley on Sep 3, 2010 11:20 AM EDT
5 comments
One day. That's all that stands between you and watching the Orange play an actual football game (Plus, the whole ESPN3 thing...). The final news and nuggets are trickling in, let's sort them out.
Ever think about maybe coaching football one day? Doug Marrone probably has a file on you. J. Edgar Marrone keeps files on every coordinator this side of the Pacific so that he can be prepared to beat them wherever they are:
"I’ve been keeping folders on coordinators since 1996. We keep folders on coordinators so when they change teams we know exactly what they do. I think it is hard to change if you’re a coordinator, your style, your system, what you want to run. You bank on that and that is what you’re playing, percentages."
Doug Marrone scares me sometimes. And I like it.
Cornerback Kevyn Scott and linebacker Ryan Gillum are officially out for the Akron game. Both have spent most of the last few weeks on the sidelines so it's not a huge shock.
Gillum, a junior, was listed as having an upper body issue, and Scott, a junior, was listed as having a lower body issue on the non-detailed reports.
Well at least they're spreading out the regional body issues.
The heart and soul of the Syracuse defense, and possibly the entire team, are the linebackers. Namely, Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue. The Bone-masters are ready to take their game to something called "another level."
"I think there has to be another level," Hogue (72 tackles, 16 TFL, 9.5 sacks) said. "Last year was my first year of playing linebacker at this level. Derrell had two or three defenses here before. For him to learn this defense was like learning all over again, so it’s hard to play as fast. Now with this defense and what we know we can play faster."
"If you watch film you see a lot of missed tackles and times when we did a lot of wrong things," Smith (82 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 6.5 sacks) said. "There is another level."
Hogue is excited for the season and desperately wants a bowl game or some kind of championship to hang his hat on. The man's got plenty of fingers, they need some rings.
The Big East Is What Everyone Else Thought They Were
by Sean Keeley on Sep 3, 2010 10:51 AM EDT
17 comments
That noise you heard this morning? That was UConn, Cincy and West Virginia collectively licking their lips after Big East favorite Pitt lost to Utah in an OT thriller in the season-opener.
In retrospect, how did we not see Pitt losing this game? So much hype for so much Wannstache. It was practically predestined to happen. Pitt Blather tries to look at the game from a glass half-full perspective but spends most of their time looking at it glass half-empty.
Here’s the deal in college football. This isn’t the NFL. There is no playoff. If you want to play on the national stage, you have to win. You have to win all of the time.
Maybe that allows justification of the fact that aside from Notre Dame in 2008, Pitt has not won a non-conference game where they were the underdog. Right now Pitt is a decent to good team, but not much more than that.
Personally, I prefer Cardiac Hill's response to the game the most.
Rutgers hosted Norfolk State last night and although the final score was 31-0, it took a while to get there. The Knights led only 6-0 at the half before the offense finally woke up in the second. A pattern is emerging with Rutgers football, one of early-season lags and missteps. Schiano usually finds a way to right the ship but if the program really wants to take itself to the next level, they need to be a complete team the entire season.
With Pitt's loss, that means the chances are good the Big East will not have a team in the Top 20 of any poll. West Virginia is the only ranked team and they sit on the cusp. Not to mention that Pitt just lost to a MWC team and the implications that sends to the nation. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
The Big East has a chance to redeem itself tomorrow. Syracuse travels to Akron, West Virginia hosts Coastal Carolina, Louisville hosts hated rival Kentucky, Cincy travels to Fresno State and South Florida hosts Stony Brook. And of course there's the big one, UConn at Michigian. If the Huskies can win, it will erase the pain of the Pitt loss and catapult them into the rankings. If they lose, the Big East continues to be what everyone else thinks we are.
#BeatAkron
Learn it, live it, love it. For the newbies, add your #BeatAkron thoughts on Twitter and I'll compile the day's Best-Ofs later on.
Disney/ABC, ESPN and Time Warner Cable Sign Long-Term, Wide-Ranging Agreement
The only thing that matters is...will TWC be able to show ESPN3's broadcast of Syracuse-Akron on Saturday. According to someone in the know, all TWC subscribers will have ESPN3 access by end of day Friday. So...almost there.
TNIAAM On Your Radio Dial
by Sean Keeley on Sep 2, 2010 6:58 PM EDT
2 comments
I'm not quite sure how sitting here all day photoshopping together photos of Doug Marrone and Lost while referring to our backup QB as "Ridiculously Good-Looking Charley Loeb" qualifies me to talk in an expert capacity about SU football on the radio.
And yet...here we are.
I stopped by On The Block today to talk shop with Brent Axe. You can listen to the chat here, topics include Akron predictions, whether or not a bowl is possible for SU and how angry Glaude will be when he hears the way Brent describes TNIAAM.
Friday, I'll be on Matt Mc's Sport Fix's Syracuse Football Extravaganza (my name for it, not his). I'll be talking SU football and so will Orange44's Brian Harrison and Three Idiot on Sport's Andrew. It's a perfect storm of Syracuse blogging expertise, which is to say...there will be fart jokes. Oh yes, there will be fart jokes. Listen live on 1410AM in Watertown or catch the podcast on the site.
On Saturday, I'm swinging by Z89 to chat with The Saturday Morning Quarterbacks at 11:30 AM. It's going to be an ongoing appearance during the season so if I'm horrible, don't give up on me. I've got 14 weeks to nail this whole "talking out loud" thing down. You can listen live at 89.1 FM in Syracuse.
Finally on Sunday I'll be back on Z89 at 11:15am to talk to chat with Paul Gallant and Zach Waldman on the Call It A Wrap program. God willing, we'll be talking about Syracuse's decimation of Akron the day before. Listen live at 89.1 FM in the Syracuse area.
And that's it. I promise to stay off your radio dial for at least four days. I swear.
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Orange Football Schedule
| @ Akron | Sat 09/04 | 6:00 PM EDT |
@
Washington
|
Sat 09/11 | 7:00 PM EDT |
| Maine | Sat 09/18 | 7:15 PM EDT |
| Colgate | Sat 09/25 | 3:30 PM EDT |
| @ South Florida | Sat 10/09 | TBA |
| Pittsburgh | Sat 10/16 | TBA |
|
@
West Virginia
|
Sat 10/23 | TBA |
| @ Cincinnati | Sat 10/30 | TBA |
|
Louisville
|
Sat 11/06 | TBA |
|
@
Rutgers
|
Sat 11/13 | TBA |
|
Connecticut
|
Sat 11/20 | TBA |
|
Boston College
|
Sat 11/27 | TBA |
Big East Conference Standings
(updated 9.3.2010 at 4:16 AM EDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| South Florida Bulls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Syracuse Orange
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Bearcats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Connecticut Huskies
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Louisville Cardinals
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
West Virginia Mountaineers
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Orange Basketball Schedule
Last 5 Games
| Butler | Thu 03/25 | L 59 - 63 |
|
Gonzaga
|
Sun 03/21 | W 87 - 65 |
| Vermont | Fri 03/19 | W 79 - 56 |
|
Georgetown
|
Thu 03/11 | L 84 - 91 |
|
@
Louisville
|
Sat 03/06 | L 68 - 78 |
Big East Conference Standings
(updated 4.3.2010 at 11:23 PM EDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Syracuse Orange
|
15 | 3 | 30 | 5 |
|
West Virginia Mountaineers
|
13 | 5 | 31 | 6 |
|
Villanova Wildcats
|
13 | 5 | 25 | 8 |
| Pittsburgh Panthers | 13 | 5 | 25 | 9 |
|
Marquette Golden Eagles
|
11 | 7 | 22 | 12 |
|
Louisville Cardinals
|
11 | 7 | 20 | 13 |
|
Georgetown Hoyas
|
10 | 8 | 23 | 11 |
|
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
10 | 8 | 23 | 12 |
|
South Florida Bulls
|
9 | 9 | 20 | 13 |
|
Seton Hall Pirates
|
9 | 9 | 19 | 13 |
| Cincinnati Bearcats | 7 | 11 | 19 | 16 |
|
Connecticut Huskies
|
7 | 11 | 18 | 16 |
| St. John's Red Storm | 6 | 12 | 17 | 16 |
|
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
|
5 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
| Providence Friars | 4 | 14 | 12 | 19 |
| DePaul Blue Demons | 1 | 17 | 8 | 23 |
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
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