When the eventual urban-reimagining of the movie 300 happens ("3-Hundy"), I can think of no better person in the world to play the role of Spartan King Leonidas (who will likely be renamed something like King Leo-nah-dawg) than Delone Carter. He's certainly got the physique for the role. And as for knowing what it takes to be a leader of men, I'd say he's got that down pat as well.
Carter said he's been offering some tough love to his offensive line. Bailey said that even though Carter is not a captain, everyone in the huddle looks up to the starting tailback and listens to his voice.
"I feel like me and my line can accomplish it, like, I can have 100-yard games every game from now on," Carter said. "That's not something I'm aiming for. I just expect it to happen because I know what we can do.
"But I just want to win. I just want to blow teams out. I want to play like the old Syracuse."
ORANGEMEN! THIS IS WHERE WE FIGHT! (300 references, folks! It's called relevancy.)
Donnie Webb's article breaks down the ways that Delone Carter is making Syracuse a better football team, ways that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet. Of course, the crux of the article is also how the offensive line needs to improve drastically to give Delone and Antwon Bailey more time and more space.
Speaking of Bailey, he's amped for the game this weekend and feeling good about SU's chances for a win:
"I think we're all just hungry for this win. We're real hungry for this win. You can see it everybody's faces, everybody's play throughout the week. I think we're going to get it going this week."
Eat something, guys. It's not good to be hungry all the time. We have dining halls and I'm pretty sure you have unlimited meal cards. Please, buy a double-stuffed burrito once in a while.
The Orange as a whole want the win. Gone is the days of Greg Robinson when everyone was just happy to play well or put up some stats. These days, every loss stings more than the one before it. Just ask LB Derrell Smith:
"I was just like, 'Wow, I can't believe we lost these games after how hard we worked,'" Smith said. "I've never hurt this much after losing. Obviously, we've lost a lot in the past, but that was different."
Marrone mentions that he thinks the key might be to simplify, which will allow the offensive line to settle in, rather than out-think themselves. Marrone also said standpoint a lot.
"Are we giving them too much to think about from a defensive front standpoint? At the end of the day, you have to look at what you're doing and maybe limit some of the things from a run-game standpoint to get our players coming off the football."
Standpoints, guys! Standpoints.