pwgegick's Blog

Running out the clock: Week 5 edition

By Pete Gegick
October 3, 2011 - 12:56 pm
News and notes from Syracuse's double OT loss to Rutgers, 19-16.

Here’s my recap of Saturday’s game, a 19-16 loss to the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. “We didn’t take advantage of opportunity” - Doug Marrone.

Ryan Nassib attempts a tackle after throwing an interception.

Ryan Nassib had his worst statistical day of the season, with an uncharacteristic 15 completions on 32 attempts for 169 yards. The yardage total is his lowest of the season. Also, Nassib’s three interceptions were two more than he had thrown so far this season.

Antwon Bailey amassed his highest amount of yardage on the ground this season as the senior piled up 124 rushing yards against Rutgers. However, his two fumbles were one more than he had all season.

Dyshawn Davis finished with one of the better defensive stat lines of the season. The freshman finished with six tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.  He also had one of the hardest hits you’ll ever see on a football field, clobbering Jawan Jamison of Rutgers on Jamison’s first carry.

Your leader in tackles this week is Dan Vaughan with 15. In second place was Jeremi Wilkes, who had nine. Both are career-highs.

Ri’Shard Anderson’s fumble return for a touchdown was the first by a member of the Orange since Jerry Mackey’s against Illinois in 2006. The fumble recovery was the second non-offensive touchdown scored by the Orange under Doug Marrone—Mike Holmes’ returned a blocked field goal against Akron last season.  

Mohamed Sanu, the highly touted receiver for Rutgers, had a tough time against the Syracuse secondary. Sanu only had seven catches, matching his season low. His 65 receiving yards are also a season low.

Rutgers had a tough time on the ground yesterday. The team finished with 5 total rushing yards. By comparison, Syracuse running back Jerome Smith, who only had three carries on the day, finished with 6 yards.

Despite the offensive woes, Rutgers managed to have seven more yards of total offense than the Orange, as they gained 302 yards to Syracuse’s 295. The Scarlet Knights also won the time of possession battle (36:30 to 23:30) and accumulated more first downs (23 to 15). 

With the movie 50/50 in theaters, here’s a 50/50 statistic: if a field goal was attempted in Saturday’s game, it had a 50 percent chance of success. San San Te of Rutgers was four of seven on the day, while Ross Krautman made just one of his three attempts.

Next week sees the Orange (3-2, 0-1 road) travel to New Orleans, L.A. to take on the Tulane Green Wave (2-3, 1-1 home) at 8:00 p.m. Tulane fell Saturday to Army at West Point, 45-6. Trent Mackey, a redshirt junior linebacker, currently leads the Green Wave with 55 tackles and five tackles for a loss. The game will be broadcast on Cox Sports Television.

 

 

 

Running out the clock: Week 4 edition

By Pete Gegick
September 26, 2011 - 1:10 pm
News and notes from Syracuse's overtime victory against Toledo, 33-30.

Here’s my recap of Saturday’s game, which saw the Syracuse football team pull out another overtime victory, 33-30. Unfortunately, Toledo asked the Mid-American Conference to vacate the game because an official missed the call on a crucial extra point by SU with 2:07 left in regulation. 

Speaking of SU’s kicking game, Ross Krautman’s four field goals Saturday tied his single-game career high. He also kicked four against West Virginia in 2010, a 19-14 victory for the Orange. Krautman is now ninth all-time in school history in field goals made with 23.

The special teams unit appears to have improved after last week’s performance. Both Jeremiah Kobena and Dorian Graham averaged over 30 yards per kick return, while the new starting punter, Jonathan Fisher, had two punts inside the 20-yard line.

The tackles leader is once again, Phillip Thomas. He notched 10 against the Rockets. Right behind him was true freshman Cameron Lynch with eight. Lynch would also have the lone sack on Toledo’s Austin Dantin.

Though the talk before the game discussed the two-headed quarterback monster of Toledo, only one stood out. Dantin had over 300 total yards with 258 through the air and another 50 on the ground. Despite those numbers, Dantin only factored in one Toledo touchdown.

Give credit to David Fluellen and Morgan Williams of Toledo. With normal starter Adonis Thomas out with an injury, Fluellen and Williams combined for 94 yards on 19 carries, with two touchdowns. The duo also contributed 57 yards receiving on seven catches.

Of course, any discussion of Toledo’s receivers begins and ends with Eric Page. Page showed why he is a Biletnikoff candidate, grabbing 13 receptions for 158 yards. Those 13 receptions tie the SU opponent record set by Joe Albano of Army in 1970. Page also had three less receptions than the entire Syracuse offense.

Let’s also not forget that Toledo’s offense had a ludicrous 22-play, 75-yard drive that ate an incredible 10 minutes and 34 seconds off the clock. Toledo did not equal that amount of time on offense on its next four drives combined.

Of course, Syracuse had its successes offensively. Antwon Bailey finished the day with 114 rushing yards, while Prince-Tyson Gulley finished with 66. Both were higher rushing numbers than any individual on Toledo.

On John Mackey Day, tight end Nick Provo showed where he belongs in Syracuse football history. With 56 catches, Provo is now tied for second with the most catches by a tight end at Syracuse. He’s currently tied with Marty Chalk. And prepare to be demonized by this Provo statistic: His current career receiving yards is 666.

Ryan Nassib is only the fifth SU quarterback to throw 30 touchdown passes in his career. He currently has accumulated 31, making him fifth all-time in program history. It appears that Nassib’s ranking could change as soon as next week. Number four is Troy Nunes, who threw for 32 in his career. Number one is Donovan McNabb, who threw for 77.

Next week, Syracuse faces Rutgers at the Carrier Dome at 12:00 p.m. The Scarlet Knights are 2-1 and coming off a home victory against the Ohio Bobcats, 38-26. On offense, the team is led by junior receiver Mohamed Sanu, who managed 176 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 16 catches last week. The game will be broadcast on the Big East Network.

 

Running out the clock: Week 3 Edition

By Pete Gegick
September 19, 2011 - 12:58 pm
News and notes from Syracuse’s Week 3 defeat by USC.

Here’s James Santelli’s recap of Saturday’s game, an unfortunate loss to the USC Trojans, 38-17.  Of course, the game was overshadowed by the larger news that Syracuse will defect to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Orange had no answer for Matt Barkley, who threw for a whopping 324 yards and five touchdowns in the victory. Barkley opened the game by completing his first five passes and had three touchdowns throws that were longer than 30 yards.

For all the hype surrounding Robert Woods’ performance, the star receiver “only” had eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown.   On the other hand, five different players from USC had over 40 yards receiving, including Woods.

The run defense can be proud of its performance against Marc Tyler, holding the running back to just 41 yards on the game. Unfortunately, Curtis McNeal ran for 79 yards against the defense on a mere five carries.

Wide receiver Alec Lemon has quietly been putting together a solid resume this year. The junior is only nine catches and 180 yards away from setting career-highs in both categories.

Tight end Nick Provo finally found his way back into the Orange offense. The senior caught eight passes for 85 yards.  The eight catches were double his season total, and the 85 yards was more than twice his original total coming into the USC game.

Free safety Phillip Thomas is once again your tackles leader, with 11 on the day. Shamarko Thomas, Marquis Spruill, Kevyn Scott and Jeremi Wilkes all finished with seven each. 

Rough day at the office for the Special Teams unit. Shane Raupers averaged only 31 yards on his three punts, while Jeremiah Kobena and Dorian Graham averaged a combined 14 yards per kick return.

It was rough day for the officiating crew, too, as they accidentally called USC “South Carolina” multiple times during the game. 

USC is now 3-0 against the Orange. SU also lost at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 16-0, in 1924 and at Giants Stadium in 1990, 34-16.

A Marinovich brother has participated in the last two contests of this game, Todd for USC in 1990 and Mikhail for SU in 2011. 

Ryan Nassib had just one completion and attempt less than Matt Barkley, yet threw for 94 fewer yards.  

Next week, the Orange will take on the University of Toledo at the Carrier Dome at 12 p.m.  The Rockets are currently 2-1, and recently fell to Boise State, 40-15.  The team employs a two-quarterback offense, utilizing the skills of Austin Dantin and Terrance Owens.  The two have combined for 826 yards passing and eight touchdowns on the year.