The Pitt loss is over. Done. It happened and now the only thing Syracuse football is concerned with is West Virginia and what to do with all those lunatics down there. And not just the one's in the stands.
"It's going to be a rude awakening for some of the young kids who have never been down there," Suter said. "But a lot of us love that atmosphere. … I love that, personally, and I know a lot of other guys feel the same way on this team."
"I haven't been down there in awhile," Marrone said. "It is an extremely difficult place to play. … They have great fans and support. It's a tough environment to play in, and it's challenging. That's what is fun about college football."
Hear that, Mountaineer fans? Max Suter feeds on your jeers the way vampires feed on the blood of the weak. Go one and try him.
The big question on defense is how the Syracuse secondary will react after getting torched last weekend. Game by game, the unit has either played extremely well or extremely not. It won't be easy to reverse the output of the Pitt Game, especially with the kind of playmakers staring back at us.
"West Virginia has at least three players who I feel, or maybe they feel - I can't answer for them - that if they get the ball in their hands in space that those players can score anywhere on the field no matter how they touch the football," SU Coach Doug Marrone said.
Bill Stewart tips his hand slightly in letting the Orange secondary know they're on notice:
"I hate to get too specific," WVU Coach Bill Stewart said, "but we're going to move our receivers and we're going to make them run with us."
One guy who won't be able to help the secondary out but will still have an impact on the game is freshman Lewellyn Coker. While he's not at the level of the current starting linebackers, Coker has found his niche. Hitting the snot out of people on kick coverage. And he's extremely good at it.
"He’s like a young Derrell Smith," Conley said. "He’s very explosive. On that kick coverage team he has a great knack for getting downfield and being disruptive at the second level. People are going to start to scheme for him, try to ambush him. Our whole kickoff team is filled with freshmen, and all of them run well and hit. Lewellyn epitomizes that."
While SU will be losing two star LBs after this season, the future is bright with Coker, Marquis Sprull, Brice Hawkes and Malcolm Cater up next.
| Freshman Linebacker Making His Mark for Orange |