Did you hear? Syracuse lost again.It's the first time we've started a season with three straight losses in 21 years.
We've been outscored 118-32. We entered the game allowing 426 yards and 38.5 points. Illinois had 443 yards after three quarters and finished with 508.
I think its officially past the point of no return, we are not going to win more than two games this year and both of those are in serious doubt as well. I think we can all cut to the chase when it comes to the architect of this team as well, Greg Robinson. The term "hot seat" has been thrown around a lot lately and if there is such a thing, Greg's tuchus would have been planted firmly upon it by now. But we're past that. Greg Robinson will not make it to Season 4 and I think there's no denying that at this point. The only question that remains is, will he make it to the end of the season?
Rest assured, there is no value in Syracuse bringing back Greg Robinson next season. This team has regressed so far so quickly that even if Robinson were able to bring the team back to the "glory days" of 4-8, it would be a meaningless season. What would Syracuse do then? Extend his contract? Could you imagine the uproar?
DOCTOR Daryl Gross is a smart guy. He can see its a win-lose proposition. Cuse Nation is in George W. Bush mode. You're either with us or you are against us. A vote to keep Greg Robinson around for another season means you are very much against us, and the good doctor is has too fine a reputation to protect at this point in his young tenure.
I will be the first person to agree that its better to wait until the end of the season to fire a coach rather than do it mid-season as a reactionary move. Our program is a mess and our players are already mentally unbalanced by the situation. To take away their head coach in the middle of all of this would do no good and would send a message to the outside world (i.e. recruits) to stay away due to a lack of institutional control. It would be much wiser to start thinking about replacements that can make a splash and win sooner than later.
But I say that with one caveat. There is one situation that is quickly approaching that, if it happens the way it shouldn't, I would have no problem with Greg Robinson's early dismissal. The situation in question would be if we lost to Buffalo.
I heard a stat the other day about Ohio State that they haven't lost to another team from Ohio in about sixty years. It's not terribly impressive when you realize the biggest competition is Miami (OH) and Cincy but you'd figure there was a slip-up somewhere in there in the last 20-30 years. I have no idea what the number is but my guess is that Syracuse has a similar stat in regards to New York State. Granted, it probably all comes down to the last time we lost to Army (anyone know?) but we must have a pretty impressive streak and record intact when it comes to in-state rivals. And the point is, there is never any reason for the Syracuse football team to lose to any in-state teams such as Buffalo, Albany, Army, etc. But that serious possibility has presented itself.
Two weeks ago Buffalo throttled a Temple team that is probably on par with the current Orange team (throwing up in mouth). Then this past weekend they put a scare into mighty Penn State at home. Sure they didn't win and the game got away from them, but they proved they could get things done against one of the best teams in the country. On paper, Buffalo has proven that they can beat Syracuse this season.
If that were to happen on October 20th, when the presumably 1-6/0-7 Orange host the 4-3/3-4 Bulls, I think it would be well within DOCTOR Gross' capacity as steward and ultimate decision-maker in charge of the Syracuse football program to jettison Greg Robinson from the Dome on the spot and make due with interim coaches for the rest of the season. Orange fans will live after Louisville drops 60 on us this weekend. We'll live after West Virginia puts up 600 yards rushing against us in a few weeks. We'll survive when the team loses double-digit games for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. But we will not suffer a loss to Buffalo silently. It is the most inexcusable of the inexcusable.
Hey, maybe it'll be like two years ago where we only win one game and it's a 40-point shellacking of those tools from Western New York. Maybe it won't. We've got a few weeks but really the Miami (Ohio) game is the only one where we'll be able to tell if we can hold our own against a mediocre non-BCS team. Other than that, its a crapshoot. Greg Robinson will be fired at the end of this season simply because the Syracuse-Buffalo game is officially a crapshoot. But if he loses that game, we will not pretend to listen to his press conferences for a second longer.