If Greg Robinson's existence became an issue for the legal system and Doug Marrone was called to the stand and asked to verify if Greg was actually Syracuse's football coach in the four years previous to his arrival, Doug would politely yet tersely say, "I have no recollection of that, Senator." Hopefully there would be a Senator present.
Syracuse has lost seven straight to West Virginia, including last year's game in which Noel Devine led a late charge to secure a 17-6 Mountaineer win. But when asked about his feelings on last year's game before he was coach at Syracuse, Doug Marrone has no idea what the hell you're talking about.
"I watched this year's games. I'm sorry. I didn't watch last year's games."
Lucky him. A lot of Syracuse players know what it's like to lose to West Virginia and they're sick and tired of it, like former starting QB Cam Dantley:
"Opportunities like that," Dantley said, "we were real close at the end, it kind of sticks in your gut for awhile just knowing, hey, we could have got that win, especially in a rivalry like West Virginia and being the underdog like we were."
Speaking of Cam, he's talking for the first time about what's it's like to be low man on the QB totem pole after being the team's starter for most of the last year.
| SU Senior Quarterback Cameron Dantley |
Greg Paulus might not have been here for any of the previous losses to West Virginia but he knows the pain of losing to the Mountaineers in a big game.
In 2008, the West Virginia basketball team upset Duke and Paulus 73-67 in the NCAA basketball tournament. On one side, you had McDonald's All-American blue bloods. On the other, you had, well, the Mountaineers.
There was quite a bit of mocking the Blue Devils by the Mountaineers after the game including a memorable lilne by West Virginia reserve Cam Thoroughman. He asked if Duke point guard Greg Paulus was one of the eight McDonald’s all-Americans on the Blue Devils team just ousted from the tournament. When told yes, Thoroughman said: "Oh my God. Are you kidding?"
Revenge is a dish best served cold, Gregory.
Finally, the tight end situation has become a bit of a concern for Syracuse recently. With so many TEs injured, Coach Marrone is going to have to think outside the box on this one. He's holding an open audition of sorts as multiple players on the team are getting looks at the spot. Marrone declined to say who might play the "U" position or even which players are practicing there, though there are some obvious options to start with:
In addition to senior co-captain Mike Owen, the tight end pool is left with former starting quarterback Andrew Robinson, former fullback Carl Cutler and walk-on Thomas Trendowski of Westhill High School in Syracuse. Robinson has a hand injury and is playing with a cast. Marrone said Robinson will be able to play against West Virginia on Saturday if called upon.