Syracuse vs. Rutgers: The Walking (And Hitting) Wounded

So, did Doug Marrone close practice because he doesn't want people to know who's injured? Or did he not want Rutgers to know the extent of the injuries so they couldn't gameplan for it? Or did he just want to mess with Greg Schiano?

Perhaps all of the above?

"I’m not going to lie to you," Marrone said ominously. "We have guys who are banged up, we have to make a decision on players. Some players will be in casts, some players will be heavily wrapped up.

"It’s not a paranoia," Marrone insisted. "You don’t want the opposing team to put more (plays) in that may — not injure a player, because I don’t ever want to say that – but expose a player who’s not playing at 100 percent."

If there's a silver lining in all this injury news, it's that it might not be the long-term troubles that one might expect:

"I understand better than the lot that you play this game with bumps and bruises, but we've had some critical players, especially on the defensive side of the ball, not being able to play. What I said is, their availability, I don't know, it doesn't look good for the upcoming game. I want to tell you that they're close and we're getting them back, it's not one of those situations where they're out for the year," Marrone said.

If you want my guess, I'd say that Chandler Jones, Prince-Tyson Gulley and Olano Fisher are sitting this one out. But that's the beauty of a closed practice...we literally have no idea...

Syracuse has gotten a lot of contributions from young players so far and, given the situation, that's probably going to continue. When it comes to their progress, Doug Marrone likes the progression of the way their progress progresses.

"We have a lot of those players," head coach Doug Marrone said, "and they've all progressed well. To this point, we're happy with the way they are progressing."

Syracuse and Rutgers ready to renew rivalry at Carrier Dome...AP

The Axepress Lane: SU-Rutgers Mini Preview....Brent Axe

Orange Insider - Rutgers at Syracuse: Scarlet Knights a healthy challenge for banged-up SU squad...Dave Rahme

Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu turns it up...ESPN

Syracuse Vs. Rutgers: Scouting The Scarlet Knights...SB Nation NY

Syracuse has opened Big East play against Rutgers six times and has won all six meetings...ESPN

Improving Nassib poses worries for Rutgers...The Juice Online

Syracuse - Rutgers Prediction...Three Idiots

CFL Extra: Weekend In The Big East...YouTube