If you've been following these posts, you may have noticed that I've been going alphabetically across the league. If you did, then you may be wondering why I'm not doing a post on South Florida today. No, I'm not doing it tomorrow when "USF" would fall between Syracuse and West Virginia. We're going to be spending the entire summer talking about USF football, so one post would be ten pages long. So, for now, you only get seven of the eight Big East teams, but trust me, it'll be worth the wait.
Today, we've got Syracuse, who is coming off their best season in a long time with an 8-5 record and their first bowl victory since 2001, both over Kansas State. Head coach Doug Marrone did a great job of turning the team around and bringing Syracuse from the bottom of the barrel to a respectable candidate in the Big East. SU beat USF for the first time in series history, and had other signature conference wins over traditional conference powers West Virginia and Cincinnati.
2010 Record: 8-5
The Orange were led mostly by their star running back Delone Carter, who accounted for a large portion of the team's stats. Their quarterback, Ryan Nassib, was "eh", playing in eight games and only throwing three touchdowns. There was a lot of experience on the field last year, as seniors graced 25 roster spots. A lot of those seniors ended up being difference makers on the field, like TE Nick Provo who was a prime target for Nassib in many tight situations. Defensively, Safety Max Suter was a major factor in keeping those Big East passing offenses in check.
The problem with all this is the fact that their best players were mostly seniors. Luckily, TE Nick Provo, OG Andrew Tiller, and CB Kevyn Scott will be returning as graduate students in 2011 and their experience will be vital for the team to succeed. Ryan Nassib will be a senior, and so will his favorite target Van Chew. Delone Carter is gone, though, so senior Antwon Bailey will have to pick up the slack as his role will likely be more important than any other on the team. Nassib is going to have to be a better passer this year, and his receivers should help him improve enough to do just that. Aside from Chew, Nassib has two other seniors in Dorian Graham and Marcus Sales who should hopefully be able to keep the stats up.
This year will be successful if: Syracuse matches last year's record. Syracuse made a huge step forward, and now it's imperative that they refrain from taking any steps back. 8-5 is a great record for a team that's spent the past 6 years with a losing record, and it would be a big deal if Doug Marrone could keep his team's heads above the water for a second straight year. The last time they had a winning record in consecutive seasons was when current Connecticut coach Paul Pasqualoni was at the top for the Orange.
2011 Record: 8-5. Syracuse has an excellent chance to go 4-1 in non-conference play, with their toughest games coming against USC and maybe Tulane. That means if they can just get above .500 in the league, they'll be in very good position for a great bowl game. With that said, I don't think they'll win four conference games (which would have been enough for a share of the Big East championship last season) this year. I do, however, see them winning a bowl game, which I project to be the Pinstripe Bowl again, this time against Baylor. As long as Rutgers or Army isn't going to be playing in that bowl, you can pretty much chalk SU into that. I think they're going to have a season almost identical to last year, and that's definitely not a bad thing.
