Friday Night Beatdown

Boy, the Syracuse Orangemen sure do know how to play with the affections of their fans.

There was guarded optimism before the season started mostly hinging on the abilities of newcomers Brandon Triche, Wesley Johnson and the return of Scoop Jardine from injury.

All of that was pretty much dashed in a season opening lose to LeMoyne. Even for Boeheim's notoriously inconsistent teams, losing to LeMoyne was more embarrassing then other losses to lesser teams (Colgate).

Integrity was then restored by soundly beating a top 20 California team. This win put the team back to respectability but not necessarily prominence. After all the Cal basketball team, much like the football, can be wildly inconsistent in their own right. Still, a trip to the finals of a preseason tournament is respectable, so the Cuse had come back from the low of the early season loss.

Then on Friday they moved the needle way, way the other way by soundly trouncing the hell out of No. 4 North Carolina. I don't recall the last time SU beat a top four team at all let alone badly unless it was against UConn. How a team can lose to LeMoyne and then beat UNC is beyond me.

Does this tournament tell us anything? Sure. Mostly that the Cuse will probably be all over the board this year, beating the UConn, Nova and ND's of the world mixed in with the occasional loss to DePaul or the Johnnies. Business as usual otherwise.

One thing is for certain though. Come tourney time, the Cuse won't have to worry about quality wins out of conference.

College Football Notes

thoughts from Friday night & Saturday's action
COLORADO
Somebody up in Boulder needs to heat up the Doomsday clock on the Dan Hawkins era because it's getting perilously close to midnight.
The Buffs week one loss to the Colorado State, while infuriating to alum and boosters, was at least tolerable. The game was competitive and CU showed some promise in Hawkins fifth year on the job. What happened Friday in Toledo was an embarrassment. CU was completely shamed in every aspect of the game. The defense was particularly atrocious. After CU had gotten a score, turnover, score, they had the Rockets in a third and six situation, leading only 37-24, deep in their own end. A stop would've given CU the ball in good field position, all the momentum. A TD would've made it 37-31 and CU would've been rolling. So what happens? The QB runs untouched up the middle for a 60 yd.+ TD run. Pathetic.
The only thing that might save Hawkins job is that schools are broke right now and can't really stomach the financial hit it would take to get rid of a coach. If CU keeps getting outclassed by mid major, small schools though they might do it anyway.

SYRACUSE
Syracuse is clearly a far superior team than the ones dragged out and shot during the Greg Robinson debacle. A game and a half into the season though, it is clear what the Achilles heel will be for this team and surprisingly enough, it isn't the complete lack of defense.
The big problem is that the Cuse just can't throw the ball down the field. I don't know if it is because the WR's can't get open or Paulus doesn't see them. I fear that the real reason is that Paulus doesn't have the arm to throw it deep with any consistency. If he has the arm then he can work on the rest of his game but if he's just a cunny thumber then we can look forward to 25 more bubble screens a game and a complete waste of Mike Williams comeback year.