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| Courtesy of Alexander_O |
For the faithful Orange fans who stayed all 4 quarters and
overtime last week against Wake Forest (I’ll embarrassingly admit, I was not
one of them), it will be a game that you will probably never forget. Neither
will any of the players that played in that memorable game. And rightfully so;
outside of last year’s Pinstripe Bowl, it is probably the most exciting
Syracuse football game in quite some time. With that being said, it is pivotal
that Marrone & Co. do not look past Rhode Island in anticipation of their
west coast trip to USC next week. Easier said than done?
When Syracuse has the
ball: It was very apparent that during the first 45 minutes of last weeks
game that the Orange didn’t have the best offensive flow. That’s because,
according to the coaches post-game, nothing they saw in tape of Wake Forest
from last year was anywhere close to what they showed on the field. The Demon
Deacons are going with a 3-4 defense this year, as opposed to the 4-3 they
played in whatever tape the Orange had of them. Luckily, offensive coordinator
Nathaniel Hackett picked up on it in time to salvage the game. Do not expect 3
quarters of stagnant offensive this week. Rhode Island lost at home to Maine
last year; the same Maine team that lost to the Orange 38-14 at the Dome. Last
week, we saw the weapons that the Syracuse offense will so heavily rely upon
this year: over 100 yards from Antwon Bailey, an efficient 20-28 performance
from Ryan Nassib with 3 touchdowns, and huge catches from #1 receiver Van Chew
down the stretch during that comeback.
Last time the Orange played an FCS opponent, Nassib set the SU record
with 5 touchdowns in a game. Expect more of the same this time. Willie
McGinnis, a senior defensive end who is the best player on the URI defensive
unit, will do his best to make noise in the back field, but shouldn’t be able
to do too much.
When Rhode Island has
the ball: Basically, don’t expect a whole ton. The Rams’ lone playmaker on
offense is senior QB Steve Probst, who led the team in passing and rushing
yards last year. The Rams featured an average offense in the CAA last year,
ranking 6th out of ten teams in terms of points scored. One thing
URI has going for it is the Syracuse defense is somewhat banged up. It does not
sound like Chandler Jones, the anchor of the defensive line, will play on
Saturday, as he injured his knee (we think, the Orange have been very hush-hush
about the injuries) during the game last week. With that said, the Orange
should be able to run out a whole string of backups, and still be ok (which
will most likely happen by the second half, depending on the score).
Prediction:
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. This has all the makings of a trap game.
Syracuse has a big game next week; they’re coming off of a very dramatic win,
and are playing a far inferior team this week. Yup, this qualifies as a trap
game. Rhode Island did something
‘Cuse couldn’t do last year: Beat Nova (sure, it might have been in football,
but you get the point).
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