Photo: Frank Ordoñez/The Post-Standard
At the start of the Syracuse football season I had an internal war raging within. The rational part of my brain understood SU had won just 10 games over the previous four years. The team lacked depth, didn't have an established quarterback, and due to a large roster purge brought on by a new coaching staff, had zero depth. Winning many games in 2009 simply wasn't going to happen given these circumstances.
However, the lifelong, hopeless orange fan in me held out hope that Doug Marrone, through some innovative offensive schemes and a take charge attitude, would transform the Orange into an unlikely success story. After beating Northwestern in game 3, it looked like this was a possibility. Now, after 9 games, it's clear that the first scenario is true. The Pitt left no doubt about that.
Syracuse brought 55 players to Western Pennsylvania with them. The NCAA scholarship limit is 85. It goes without saying that when you're working with 30 less players than other teams, the results aren't usually good.
Pitt proved yesterday they have superior athletes, better skill position players, and are deeper, more talented team. They deserved to win the game. It doesn't make the loss any easier from a fan's perspective. We've suffered through 4.75 years of bad, losing football.
When Doug Marrone was hired, he stated on numerous occasions his job was to win and win now. I wouldn't expect him to say anything different. If a football coach tells you he's not trying to win, something is clearly wrong. However, it's clear from Marrone's actions, he's looking to build for the future.
If he cared about winning now, Mike Williams would still be on the team. Antwon Bailey and his other rule breaking team mates would have suited up. He's changing the culture, and that's not an easy thing to do. It's the right thing to do.
Sadly, it also makes for some painful football games. The Pitt game was one of them.
Observations
* I really like the way Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue are playing. They have developed throughout the year into a pair of very good linebackers. If they can find someone to play the WIL, the linebacking corps for next year will be a strength of the team.
* Delone Carter runs hard every week. It's good to see that translating into yards for him. He's a heck of a football player.
* It's clear both quarterbacks are limited. While the calls for Nassib to play reached a fever pitch this past week, his play on the road v. a top 15 opponent was nothing to write home about. I still think he needs to keep getting reps and the second SU hits 7 losses and isn't bowl eligible, he should get every snap under center.
* Without Mike Williams, this team has no outside threats. The receivers were handed a golden chance to show what they could do yesterday and they came up empty.
* The offense has been very conservative. It's clear the coaching staff, with the talent they have at their disposal wants to play things conservatively and not beat themselves. The problem is, the team always beats itself with dumb penalties and turnovers. It will be interesting to see if this changes down the road when there are more play makers on the roster.
* Three separate times on third down SU receivers ran routes that were short of the first down maker. That's not acceptable.
* Syracuse is averaging 12.5 points per game in Big East play.
* The secondary was bad when everyone was healthy. Now its decimated by injuries - you do the math on that one.
* The defensive containment was really bad yesterday. So bad I think the entire defense could use this.
I'll close with this - Marrone told Bud Poliquin, "As far as I’m concerned, I know exactly what we’re doing with the players that we have and the direction that we’re going," he said. "I feel very comfortable with that. Everyone’s learning and everyone’s getting better."
We certainly hope so coach, because yesterday they weren't better - and Syracuse fans just lived through 4 years of a guy telling us things weren't bad when everyone knew they were.
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