You know the drill by now. Brian Harrison of Orange44 and I take turns asking each other questions about Syracuse sports. Insight is provided. Jokes are made. Life is shared. It's matzo ball soup for the Syracuse fan's soul.
This week Brian and I recap the Penn State game, talk about what's to come from SU and the Twitter practices of the Syracuse basketball team.
28-7. How does that stack up with what you expected?
It is about as I expected, however the final score should have been 28-14. That is the great disappointment in the entire affair. Mike Williams has disappointed in the last two games now, which is cause for some alarm, but mostly disgust. Either way, all things considered, they played well enough in Happy Valley and they beat the spread by a respectable margin. But looking at that game you knew that team should have played better. Therefore there is a certain level of disappointment, which is a shame.
Syracuse unofficially instituted a two-QB system for the game. A sign of things to come?
I think Syracuse will use Greg Paulus at least 90% of the time, and Nassib will be in 10%, if that. Paulus is the guy and will continue to be so, pending some epic collapse of Paulus, or some ridiculous improvement in Nassib. Both of which I doubt very much. It’s a short answer, but it is just that simple.
Northwestern is coming off an extremely unimpressive win over Eastern Michigan. The Orange have impressed in two losses this season...is this the game they break through?
While I think a lot of good play will be expected and seen from the Orange in this game, I still do not think the Orange will have enough to beat Northwestern, who is an up and coming program in the Big Ten, and has impressed me the last couple of seasons. I just don’t see this as a win. That all being said, is a win possible? Yeah, it certainly is. The key to not losing is sustaining drives and NOT dropping the damn ball. I believe we will have to wait for Maine until our first win of the year, but am I hoping we pull this one out? You know it.
Who is the one player that has yet to break out for the Orange that you think will make their mark very soon.
Nick Provo sat out this past week with a shoulder injury. Before that he managed two catches for eight yards. He will have bigger games for the Orange. Paulus is a QB that can find open men, and Nick Provo in the TE spot should be a position that he will exploit in future games. Provo seems to have surer hands than several of the receivers on Syracuse and he is tough. I look for him to get a few touchdowns, but most importantly help Syracuse convert on third and short situations on several drives.
We spent all off-season talking about every team except Cincy to win the Big East. Now they look like the clear favorite. What are your early impressions on the conference?
Yeah Cincinnati is the clear front runner at this point, but I still like USF to make some noise in the conversation. Cincinnati is just drubbing opponents though, which makes them the top dog until true conference play starts and they lose one. While we all knew Tony Pike was a great QB, we all figured that the team would not be as good as last season. Whoops. Either way, Cincinnati could be repeating as the Big East representative to the BCS in January.
A sizable chunk of the Syracuse basketball team is now on Twitter and openly tweeting in full view of fans and others. This isn't going to end well, is it?
In my opinion, not at all. I tend to be a little more cautious than the average person probably however, as I want the program I support to be squeaky clean. But I have to assume that these kids have been trained and/or warned in some way by the Athletic Department in terms of what they should never post, and what is acceptable to post. At least they should have, as most elite programs do such things. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something posted in the relative future at which we’ll all be like "well that was stupid."
Two weeks in, I'll give you a chance to revise your preseason prediction of how many games SU will win this year?
I’ll stand by my assessment for how the rest of the season will look. I said we would lose to Northwestern and I’m still saying that. I do obviously think we will beat Maine, and I still believe Akron is well within our grasp. Additionally, L’ville and Rutgers look ripe for the picking still. The rest I still think will be losses. But hey, if an upset happens at UConn no one would be happier than this guy. Technically because I thought Minnesota would be a win I will amend my call of 5-7 (2-5) to 4-8 (2-5).
Thanks as always to Brian and if you haven't already, make Orange44 a part of your daily regiment.