Right off the bat, I first want to acknowledge how disappointed I am in myself for going so long without a post. For the six of you who have been upset with the lack of new content, I deeply apologize. Turns out this blogging stuff takes more time than I thought. I’ll be setting aside more time in the coming weeks to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Now… how about that feisty performance from our Orange? Just when the Cardinals faithful were beginning to drink the Kragthorpe Kool-Aid, they get handled by Syracuse for much of the game. Luckily, our guys decided to finish this one out… a welcome change of pace from the almosts we’ve experienced in the past 3+ years.
So I was ecstatic with the rest of the remaining Dome faithful when Bruce’s pick sealed the deal, right? Wrong. Because I’m a complete douchebag, I wasn’t at the game despite the fact that I have season tickets. So if you’re keeping score at home, I’ve witnessed the following games in the flesh this season:
- Akron 42, Syracuse 28
- Penn State 55, Syracuse 13
- Syracuse 30, Northeastern 21 (woo-hoo…)
- Pittsburgh 34, Syracuse 24
- and I got in a roadie at Tampa – South Florida 45, Syracuse 13
Now, I think a compelling case can be made that heading into Saturday’s game, the opportunity cost of attending the game instead of being able to watch it and Texas/Texas Tech was at least worth evaluating. I’ve always prided myself on being a fan that sticks it out no matter how bad it is. I dislike the heading for the gates early strategy. Yet my roommate and I talked ourselves out of going to what may very well be Greggers’ last win. Sometimes as a sports fan, you really hate yourself.
But enough about me.
Some observations following the game:
- It’s beginning to look more and more like burning Antwon Bailey’s redshirt hasn’t been the atrocious decision it seemed to be at the time. True, it’s hard to make a very compelling argument for the timing of the move, but with Doug Hogue and Delone Carter both having different issues the past few weeks, we needed someone to give Curtis “Now What” Brinkley a break from time to time. After a very impressive run, it’s clear he has the ability to be a factor. Next season, he’s very likely to be featured much more often.
- Now what, indeed, Curtis. To say that we didn’t all doubt the ability of the Orange to pull this upset off again would border on being downright fallacious. Sure, Louisville made some rather untimely gaffes that contributed heavily to the game’s outcome, but I don’t feel bad for them. We’ve watched a prolonged gaffe for over 3 seasons. It’s about time some of these plays happened in our favor.
- Beware of the B word: obviously, every game is an elimination game for the Orange when it comes to going bowling at this point. But this Saturday’s games will play a huge role in the rest of the season. A win at Rutgers is a must, but watch Notre Dame. The Irish have struggled to put games away this season and may be lacking a bit for confidence (though not talent). With tough road games coming up at Boston College and Navy, how will ND respond? Also, we get UConn coming out of their bye week. The Huskies can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot as of late. If they get too conservative against us we should be able to hang around with them. All of this is very unlikely, maybe a 5% chance at best that we’re able to head to Cincinnati at the end of the month with a shot at a bowl. But Saturday’s win means its still possible.
