The More You Know...About Syracuse

[Dan E. Dangerously]

For the first time since 2003, the Miami Hurricanes will face an old nemesis in the form of the Syracuse Orange. But who are they really? Lets dive deeper.

First off, it's all about the U.

Second, the Miami Hurricanes are ranked in the top ten.

Third, I'm posting a thread.

And finally, Miami is playing Syracuse in football AND it's a conference game?

Truth is I'm a bit apprehensive about posting this. Since I stopped posting; Al Golden got canned, Miami hired a real coach, are currently on a 10 game win streak, and have a single digit ranking next to their name. Basically, everything has been coming up Millhouse since I decided to walk the Earth like Caine in Kung Fu, and I'm leery about messing up the good juju around here. So if we lose this week I take full responsibility for jinxing everything and sending our season into a tailspin. However, keep in mind I mean this in the strictest of Al Golden standards, which is just saying "Its on me" and not actually facing any repercussions. Also, @ghost2 already proved that there's nothing special about these posts as they are pretty formulaic. They pretty much go like this:

-**** joke
-random pop culture reference
-gif
-Captain obvious comment about the importance of turnovers and field position
-another gif
-****** photoshop
-Youtube video
-another **** joke
-rinse and repeat


With that being said let the **** jokes commence.


1. Where they are in the standings/rankings:

The ACC is where the big boys play, and right now we're Kevin Nash during the nWo invasion...we don't play. It's awesome that perennial choads like FSU and Louisville are currently pulling up the rear of the caravan over in the Atlantic. That fact makes my nipples harder than a 12 year old girl at a 1D concert.


The Orange are coming off a program building win over Clemson last week. Here's what the defending national champions are saying about them:

From: Shaking The Southland

...In previewing the game, we discussed how poorly Syracuse’s pass defense had been all year. Since Bryant didn’t look good passing the ball against Wake Forest (aside from the first two drives), this matchup offered a good opportunity to have Bryant attack a defense through the air. Syracuse’s pass rush had been weak all year (only six total team sacks heading into the game) so starting Bryant, even if we was hobbled, didn’t seem ludicrous.

That’s where Baber’s game plan changed things. Likely anticipating Bryant to be immobilized by injury, they dialed up the blitzes. They stacked the box and didn’t respect him as a runner either. The aggression led to a pair of big runs by Feaster and Etienne, but largely stifled the offense and led to four sacks...

...Syracuse’s uptempo passing attack was vicious and by the end of the game tired out the defense. That allowed them to pick up yards on the ground to close out the game. I do not believe the defense was tired because they substitute often in other games. That’s an assertion I’ve seen floating around Clemson twitter, but it’s a silly one. Conditioning comes in the hours upon hours of practice, not just the games. Offenses that play with great pace will do that. It was weird to see Clemson play so and their opponent tire out our defense. It wasn’t fun.

The bigger problem though was the play of Clemson’s DBs, who have been so impressive this season. They simply lost matchups against ‘Cuse wide receivers. There’s no way around it. QB Eric Dungey passed for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He also broke off a 45-yard run. Excluding Lamar Jackson, Dungey is the best QB Clemson will see during the season...

Here's what the game looked like:

[video=youtube;eiZl_L1hXsM]www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiZl_L1hXsM[/video]

The Syracuse offense is uber uptempo. Basically their whole team is on meth, averaging 87 plays per game, which is 2nd in the nation. The fact that we faced similar brands of uptempo spreads in Duke and Toledo will help, but these guys do it better than just about everybody. Our defense has had issues with getting off the field on 3rd down all year. Conversely, the Syracuse defense is only allowing opponents to convert 24% of 3rd down conversions (3rd in the country). We are only converting on 3rd down 34% of time so it's time to get good.


2. What happened the last time Miami played Syracuse?

From the AP:

Coker made several changes this week. He benched Berlin, tightend Kellen Winslow and center Joel Rodriguez. He also vowed to get Moss more playing time.

It worked, barely.

Miami trailed 10-7 in the fourth quarter before scoring 10
straight points to stay in the hunt for the conference title and a
berth in a Bowl Championship Series game. If the Hurricanes beat
Rutgers and No. 16 Pittsburgh, they will win the conference title
and earn a BCS berth, probably in the Orange Bowl.

This game was weird. Miami got blown out by the Hokies two weeks prior and stepped on their own ****s against Tennessee the following game. As a result Berlin was the sacrificial lamb and Crudup started this game. It was rough. Winslow didn't start as punishment for his now infamous soldier rant. This game ended up resting on the defense and a young Tyrone Moss to carry us to a 17-10 victory.

[video=youtube;iCMOvcmuRQQ]www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCMOvcmuRQQ[/video]


If you are interested in a Prima Facie case of refs holding Miami to a separate standard, jump to the 45 minute mark. Syracuse fullback Keith Belton taunts Sean Taylor after picking up first and goal inside the 5. The next play Taylor stones him and gives it right back. Taylor of course gets a flag and Coker pulls him from the game. Syracuse scored on the next play. **** them though because we won anyways. After the game it was alleged that Taylor spit on Belton. Whatevs, youtube or it didn't happen.

3. Who to be scared of:

Eric Dungey

This guy is their whole offense, both passing and as their leading rusher. His worst game this season was in a loss to Middle Tennessee St. where he threw for just 180 yards. No idea how this team lost to the fighting Nathan Bedford Forrests but still beat Clemson. Here's what he did last year.

[video=youtube;gz6D4Er3-UY]www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz6D4Er3-UY[/video]


4. Player that will score against us:

Steve Ishmael

Ishmael was a 2014 kid from North Miami Beach that got slow played and never received a committable offer. We swung and missed with Ermon Lane and Johnnie Dixon, and settled on Berrios, Brady and Langham. The knock on him was a lack of explosion and ability to get open. He's doing just fine for them in his senior season leading the team and the nation in receptions (62). His 802 yards receiving is good for 3rd in all of FBS. If we don't get some injured guys in our secondary back this week he is going to be a problem.

[video=youtube;FyTfkrSNG8w]www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyTfkrSNG8w[/video]

5. Some other guy:

Ervin Phillips

If Dungey isn't throwing the ball to Ishmael, he's throwing to this guy. His 56 receptions this year is good for 3rd in the nation. He set an ACC record for receptions in a single game against NC State a few weeks back, and scored on a 66 yard bomb against Clemson last week.

[video=youtube;iI8WAa12494]www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8WAa12494[/video]


6. Person that will **** you off:

Ravian Pierce

He's third on the team in receptions and yards, but its a pretty big drop off from Ishmael and Phillips. This guy didn't get an offer from the previous staff and it was probably for the best because he ended up failing to qualify at Mississippi State and went the JuCo route. We also ended up getting Herndon and Njoku so we did alright. However, our willingness to let him go reminded me of this quote by Golden after signing day in 2014.

### Golden told WQAM’s Joe Rose: “We would never drive past a local kid to fly out of state” to recruit, but that it’s difficult to fill some needs locally.

“There’s not a lot of tight ends down here, 250 pounds and can run like Clive Walford. So we had to go up to Atlanta to get Chris Herndon. Hopefully, we’ll find that kid down here next year. We will always [look] down here first to exhaust whatever position it is before going out of state."

Yea, just aren't enough guys as good as Clive down here on a yearly basis. FOH.


7. If Syracuse were a lame youtube channel, it would be:

The Annoying Orange

[video=youtube;ZN5PoW7_kdA]www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5PoW7_kdA[/video]


8. Official Internet meme for this game:

Mr. Orange

 

[JgDaCane]

Welcome the **** back!!! True staple of CIS. Thank you!

 

[407cane]

YES!

 

[BigDikCane]

Their game plan is to take out Rosier... **** won't work this go around...

 

[hesskilla]

 

[hesskilla]

 

[ChosenOne]

Basically, we're playing Toledo again but slightly better players.. Someone please take Knowles job. Hopefully Redwine is good to go because Knowles is a lost FIU player who found himself on Miami's roster.

 

[FrancisSawyer]

FIU? Butch would never offer Knowles. LOL

 

[ChosenOne]

FIU? Butch would never offer Knowles. LOL

you right. I mean FAMU.

 

[Coach Macho]

This won't be a cakewalk.

 

[Consigliere]

Thanks Dan, glad to have you back. Didn’t see anything on how much they drop off on the road.

As previously stated in other threads, this D has carried the load in ACC play. It would be nice if the offense showed up and played well for a full game.

 

[BigDikCane]

This won't be a cakewalk.

You wanna bet?

 

[supacane]

They can run plays as fast as they want, we need to create negative yardage and we need to score on offense. QB can't throw if he's on his back.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

[casualcane]

And then Milo smiled

 

[cubin10]

With DD back CIS just got better, welcome back.

 

[404Usernamenotfound]

We back?

 

[plantcity3]

WE BACK!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CaneMonster]

I think the weather will slow them down, especially in the 4th.

 

[Dwinstitles]

u have to keep doing this even if we lose man, this is the ****

 

[2FNFST4U]

We swung and missed with Ermon Lane and Johnnie Dixon, and settled on Berrios, Brady and Langham. The knock on him was a

Not sure Lane and Dixon were misses. Dixon hasn't done a thing in 4 years.