Syracuse vs. Washington Week: Goodbye Preconceived Notions

I was listening to Washing coach Steve Sarkasian's radio show today and I felt terrible for the guy.  The entire show consisted of the radio hosts lobbing passive-aggressive questions and concerns about the Huskies 23-17 loss to BYU this past weekend.  Question after question of "what happened there?" and "do you wish you could have done that differently?"  Sark handled it well, though I imagine if he has to do this again for a few more weeks we might be witness to the first live strangulation in radio history.

That said, I look forward to listening to the radio hosts pummel Sark with the same exact questions next week.  For the next six days, my sympathy for the man is nil.  For the next six days, I wish my new hometown team nothing but pain and suffering and the deflation of all their hopes and dreams.

I said the other day that this game has the chance to be a serious purge for the Syracuse football psyche.  The 42-17 season-opening loss that SU suffered in 2007 knocked the wind out of our collective sails and destroyed all of the hope and promise we expected the season ahead to hold. 

This weekend's game isn't a season opener, but it is Washington's home opener.  And a loss to "lowly" Syracuse, double-digit underdog, would have much of the same effect on them as it did on us three years ago.  This is supposed to be their year.  Their year to get back to a bowl.  Their year to put Jake Locker in the Heisman hunt.  Their year to have hope and promise. 

I hope we can take that all away from them.

Doug Marrone knows that beating Washington is going to be a challenge, records and results aside.  The best work the Orange can do...commit to not beating themselves first.  To that end Marrone says he'll be focusing on cutting down turnovers (3 against Akron), improving the O-line play and sorting out whatever the hell happened on punt returns with Mike Holmes.

History will be against the Orange on Saturday.  And if anyone knows their SU football history, it's Doug Marrone:

"Everybody knows that I'm big with the history of this program," Marrone said Monday as former Orange coach Dick MacPherson listened intently. "Syracuse is 1-11-1 in road games on the West Coast since 1964. We haven't done well out there, and we've had some darn good coaches and a lot of great players make that trip."

As John Kekis points out, it's actually "only" 1-9-1.  But still...that doesn't make me feel any better.

Finally, Delone Carter is looking to move his way up the prestigious SU running back ranks. Currently ranked 19th in rushing yards (1,962 yards in 30 games), DC3 is 48 yards away from surpassing Michael Owens and move into 18th.