Imagine if you will...an unranked Syracuse Orange football team playing a ranked West Virginia Mountaineers football team. No one thinks too much of the Syracuse team and their victories over lesser opponents. Everyone expects the West Virginia team to cakewalk. And yet...the Syracuse team wins.
And now remember that that's exactly what happened last year.
"We went down there and no one gave us a shot, and that’s just the way we’re going to go into this game," sophomore left tackle Justin Pugh said.
"That feeling when we won … it was just beautiful," he said. "We beat a ranked team. We were the underdogs. Everybody expected us to lose, and we came out with a W."
The Orange will look to write that story over again on Friday night when the Mountaineers come looking for payback.
Dana Holgorsen wasn't there but he knows what was missing. A little excitement!
"I’m pretty familiar with how the day went. We jumped out to a lead and didn’t have enough excitement and energy to finish the game," said Holgorsen.
Expect Geno Smith to pull out the Jazz Hands Option at some point.
Of course, Holgorsen also thinks his offense isn't very good. The same offense that racked up 643 yards two weeks ago, that is. Apparently the idea of a good offense to Dana is one that garners 1,000 yards/game. Scary.
And yes, this game does indeed take place Friday night. It's the first Friday game for Syracuse since 2007 when the opened the season against Washington (with disastrous results). The players remember how big of a deal it was back then and expect it to be just as big a deal this time.
Every generic excuse is out the window for SU fans who don't make it to games. You don't have work tomorrow (in theory). You don't have to get up early. You don't have to worry about school the next day.
You just need to be at the game in orange. That's it.