Into The Lion's Den

There would have been better weekends than this one for Syracuse to head into Penn State and take on the Nittany Lions.  Ideally, Maine or Akron would have been the perfect way for the Orange to rebound from last week's stomach punch and keep the momentum going.  But as a wise man once said, what is...is.

It's going to take everything they've got and a whole crapton of luck for the Orange to win this Saturday.  Dan Kelley sees hope for the Orange in an unlikely place...the passing game.

They’ll need to take a couple more shots down field than they did against Minnesota because Penn State will likely be keying in on the Orange’s short passing game.

One thing working for Paulus is that Penn State’s young secondary has not yet faced an elite receiver like Mike Williams this season. If Williams can get free, he could be the deep threat Syracuse will need to score some points.

The Orange won't be looking to the recent past as any source of help, according to Tyler Dunne of the D.O.  The game film from last year would only be a grim reminder of just how outmatched and outgunned the Orange were.

That piece of game film is an artifact now. Cornerback Kevyn Scott said the team didn't even watch the film of Syracuse's loss to PSU last year. It's taboo. It's the Greg Robinson era. Plucking any nugget from the past would be unhealthy.

"We don't want to crack out that film," Scott said. "We'll leave that in the past."

One player who is all about moving forward from last week is Jim McKenzie.  The center's bad snap put the Orange in a hole and influenced how the rest of the game played out. 

"That was just completely my fault," said McKenzie on Wednesday. "It was a mistake I made. I held the ball too long and it just got away from me. I take full responsibility for the mistake. Just going to move past it and get ready for this week."

Over and over and over on Wednesday, McKenzie called it a mistake and took responsibility. He took no comfort in that the play was a train wreck from the moment the offense gathered on the sideline.

Gee, I wonder why he had to say it over and over and over...

You don't have to badger Jim about something like that. - Ryan Bartholomew.

You tell'm, Ryan.

Iron Brandon Sharpe has a breakout game last week and he'll look to keep it going against Penn State.  He spoke to Donnie about his decision to come to Syracuse over Louisville and how he's so glad he did.  He even recalled the bitter conversation he had with Coach Kragthorpe when he had to decommit from the Cardinals:

"I had to do my own research. Once I talked to the coaches, yeah, this feels like home. (Kragthorpe) didn't take it like it ... he just said ... once I took my visit, he was like, yeah, we already gave away your scholarship. Bye. He just said they had to keep on going. I had to keep going on, too."

Funny, I'd think Kraggers was used to this by now.

Donnie also mentions there are currently no discussions ongoing about the next SU-Penn State series.  Penn State might want to get us now before we're good again...just sayin'.