Back in April, if I had told you the starting quarterbacks for the Syracuse-South Florida game would be Greg Paulus and B.J. Daniels, you'd have punched me in the face, stolen my wallet, purchased $500 worth of kitchen appliances from Bed, Bath & Beyond, avoided legal action that I would have brought against you, left the country as a fugitive, taken up asylum in Burma, started a new life, gotten caught up in a gun-smuggling operation, decided to help some hostages in need and spent the rest of your life in a Burmese prison so that they could walk free.
You would have been busy.
And yet, here are we. Redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels not only stepped in and replaced the injured Matt Grothe, he led the program to arguably it's biggest win ever.
In the first-ever meeting of the teams, he threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns, including two completions for 70-plus yards. Daniels also ran for 126 yards, becoming the first quarterback since 1986 to rush for 100 yards against the Seminoles.
Doug Marrone has high praise for Daniels. Even praising the fact that he is, in fact, alive.
"He is able to throw the ball vertically down the field. He has a nice live arm and he’s obviously great on his feet."
He has two nice live arms, actually. Two nice live legs. A nice live torso and even a nice live head.
Coincidentally, Daniels is also a basketball player. He appeared in 19 games for the Bulls last season though he didn't see too much action.
The other basketball guard on the field this weekend, Greg Paulus, is settling into his second month as a college quarterback. Things have progressed quickly for Greg and it's all about keeping the momentum up as the season progresses:
"It's about taking advantage of what we have," Paulus said. "We're lucky enough to have another game. We've won two straight. We've got to get to three. That's what we're thinking about. As a team, myself, keep getting better, keep the progression going. It's not about media or question or other outlets. It's about what this team is doing and where we're headed."
Some other notable news o'the day for Syracuse..
Arthur Jones will play! Thank the lord. The Orange are "planning" on playing him as well as "planning" on playing WR Donte Davis, who missed practice Tuesday. Freshman Brandon Sharpe remains day-to-day after what is assumed to have been a concussion in the Northwestern game.
Marcus Sales caught a TD pass last week, his second catch of the season overall. Sales wants to be more of a force on the Syracuse offense and is ready to make it happen:
"I'm not really happy with my production," Sales said. "I think I can do better blocking and helping my other teammates, but whenever my number is called again, hopefully I'll make the play again."
And finally, what's with all the long games, huh? The Maine game took 3 hours and 43 minutes to play and the team is averaging games that last 3:26. Only four teams average longer. Penalties and injury timeouts marred the Maine contest, hopefully we can cut down on both.