Ten reasons Syracuse will be better this season

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, August 22, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Syracuse Orange
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Coming off a terrible season, here are 10 reasons why things will get better for Syracuse in 2008.

1. Things can't get any worse.

It might not be true to call the 2007 Syracuse team the most inept in Big East history -- if you'll recall, Rutgers and Temple were pretty bad in their day. Still, last season's Orange has to be at least a contender for that dishonor. Greg Robinson's squad was 2-10 and got absolutely hammered by the predators of the Big East -- West Virginia, South Florida and Cincinnati. The 38-35 upset of Louisville was shocking, until everyone realized how defenseless the Cardinals had become, and all the air seemed to go out of the Orange after the team fell just short of beating Pitt -- the last three games were ugly.

On offense, Syracuse averaged 2.0 yards a rush and allowed 54 sacks. The defense had just nine sacks and nine interceptions all season. What could be worse -- a yard a carry?

2. Other teams will take them lightly.

These are kids playing college football, remember, and not even Knute Rockne could fire up a team for all 12 games. There will be letdowns even for the West Virginias and South Floridas of the world, and they will probably come against a team like Syracuse. Even the Orange, bad as it's been, has some good players -- just not enough of them. Let them hang around long enough to gain their confidence, and anything could happen.

3. Greg Robinson is fighting for his job.

Actually, no -- the team is fighting for his job. Some college teams probably hope their coach gets fired, but the Syracuse players seem to have an affection for the man known locally as "GRob." There is a real possibility, though, the the "G" could stand for "gone" as early as midseason if the Orange doesn't win at least half of its first four games (at Northwestern, home against Akron, Penn State and Northeastern). This is yet another motivating factor.

4. The players are mad.

This is a proud program with a lot of bowl games and All-Americans in its past, and the students and alumni aren't happy that their current football team has become the butt of jokes (Q: How is the Syracuse football team like a possum? A: They play dead at home and get killed on the road.) This impatience carries over to the players, who are tired of hearing how bad they are.

5. There is a new offensive coordinator, Mitch Browning.

Whatever the previous coordinator was doing, it obviously wasn't working. And Browning presided over a series of high-powered offenses at the University of Minnesota, including one (2005) that averaged nearly 500 yards a game.

6. The offensive line is leaner, presumably meaner, and more experienced.

In all fairness, this unit started three sophomores and two freshmen at various times last season -- and according to what the no-nonsense Browning saw when he arrived, most of them were overweight. Browning credits his line for working more and eating less since the end of last season, and predicts it'll be much improved. Quarterback Andrew Robinson, who probably is still suffering post-traumatic stress snydome from the 54 sacks ("It's hard to have a vertical passing game when your quarterback is horizontal," quipped one Syracuse writer), fervently hopes so.

7. Andrew Robinson has a year under his belt, along with all the bruises.

Statistically, the junior from Baltimore wasn't all that bad last season. He threw for 2,192 yards, hit on over 50 percent of his passes and threw 13 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions -- not terrible when you're constantly running for your life. There's even talk that Syracuse might occasionally experiment with a spread offense at times, although Robinson cautions, "I'm not Pat White. I'm no 4.3 guy."

8. The backs are back.

It may have been just as well that Delone Carter and Curtis Brinkley were basically canceled out by injuries last season (Carter for the year, Brinkley's more of the nagging variety). Given the state of the Orange line, LaDainian Tomlinson probably wouldn't have made much headway. Now, both are reasonably healthy, and they've got holdover Doug Hogue and hot-shot freshman Averin Collier to push them.

9. "GRob" and his staff have actually done some recruiting.

The Syracuse two-deep is littered with sophomores, redshirt freshmen and even a few true freshman.

10. Max Suter.

This is the fallback position. Suter is one of the best kickoff return men in the country, but the Orange would actually like to take the ball out of his hands as much as possible.
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