I've been keeping an eye on the NY Times' blog The Quad recently. They've being doing a countdown of every Division 1-A (or whatever they are now) team from the bottom up. It all started with #120 Western Kentucky and it's been slowly making it's way south of the Mendoza line ever since. Naturally, I've been waiting for Syracuse to show up and I knew it wouldn't take too long. Baylor did us the solid of being the first BCS team to show up (#112). After that, it was simple a race against triple-digits. If we could just make it into the 90's, I would be happy. Well, the good news is, #100 came and went earlier this week and still no mention of Cuse. The bad news? We're #98.
When I refer to Greg Robinson as the worst thing to ever happen to Syracuse football, this is not just an opinion. The numbers back me up. No coach in Orange history had ever lost 10 games in a season — Robinson has done it twice in three years. No Orange coach with more than two years on the job has compiled a losing record — Robinson’s career winning percentage is .200.There's also fun tidbits such as this to keep you warm and cozy at night:
In 2007, the Orange was outscored by a total of 50 points in the first quarter, 79 points in the second quarter, and 41 in both the third and fourth quarter — for an overall score of 418-197.Interesting thought on who's to blame for all of this:
Sharing responsibility for the current state of Syracuse football is Athletic Director Daryl Gross, the genius behind firing Pasqualoni and hiring Robinson after the 2004 season. Gross, inextricably linked to this coaching change, is probably afraid of losing his job if he were to fire Robinson. Therefore, he will go down with the ship.The Quad says the low point for the Orange was the mailed-in end of the season losses to South Florida and Cincy. I'd be willing to say it was the Miami (Ohio) instead. Losing to a MAC team the week after the Louisville win sucked every last ounce of hope out of us and confirmed that the big upset was just a fluke.
Oh and just cause it's that kind of day, Robinson is #2 overall on the CBSSports Coaches Hot Seat Rankings, just a smidge behind Ty Willingham. Syracuse Football...catch the fever!