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Sean, Matt, Jared, John, Dan, oh hell the whole lot of 'em are better than I...
You see, many of you who come to this site not only want to get your fill of Orange athletics and share a few laughs in the process, but you rightfully expect to get some analysis that can help you make sense of Orange football and The ACC. Halfway through the season, and I'm sure each of my friends above will be able to give you the answers to why Terrel Hunt could complete a downfield pass one week and not another...the answers to why Drew Allen couldn't complete a downfield pass at all...the answers as to why the ACC has three or four really good teams and 10 others in a death match to show who is the most mediocre...
As for me...I can't do it. I can't explain these things other than to make a single observation that 2013 Syracuse football is all about being Direct. Direct in HCSS' no-nonsense approach to the fans and the media. Direct in our defensive philosophy which seems to be predicated on pinning one's ears back and attacking straight ahead. Direct in the sense that sending Rome and PTG between the tackles "Northern style" is the only style that seems to suit our struggling offense.
Sure, direct can be pretty easily countered and beaten if you have the talent of a Clemson or Florida State. But this is the ACC...with a collection of 10 teams that do not appear to have anything close to Clemson or Florida State's talent, and are seemingly filled with just as many question marks as us. Georgia Tech is squarely in the middle of this meddling group. Perhaps winning and losing on Saturday and for the rest of the season will not be so much about trying to do enough things well to win, but rather doing that one thing we actually can do -- being direct -- better than sum of anyone else's two or three things. For we've seen enough of the ACC to notice that there aren't too many teams that can do two or three things functionally let alone exceptionally. With six games to go, our "one thing" may be enough to bring us another four or five wins...
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In this week's preview, we introduce you to an "Institute of Technology" whose football team is anything but geeky. We break out the chalkboard and offer a sure-fire strategy for defeating Georgia Tech's unique spread option offense. And we take a look at the greatest "Yellow Jackets" of all time. As always, enjoy, and Go Orange!