Orange to Play in City that Celebrates Orange Greats
11/18/2008 7:23:35 PM | Football
Game Notes
Head Coach Greg Robinson's Press Conference Transcript
In three weeks Syracuse All-American quarterback Don McPherson will be inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. This weekend the Syracuse Orange will visit the city that will forever recognize McPherson and 14 other Syracuse football student-athletes and coaches when it plays Notre Dame on Saturday, November 22 (2:30 p.m.).
“We're getting ready for Notre Dame and it's quite an opportunity for our football team," said head coach Greg Robinson. "Any college football player, I think, would like the opportunity to go to play at Notre Dame and have a chance to go in there and knock them off. I think the same goes for us. I think our team will be excited and looking forward to the opportunity. In watching Notre Dame, you can see a football team that's improving and making progress. They're a young team where you see them making their growth. I think it's really important that our football team finishes out this year strong and we're going to work as hard as we possibly can to where we can play like a complete football team in offense, defense and the kicking game. If there was ever a time to do it, it would be right now."
The great tradition of Syracuse football lives and breathes in the halls of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame with 14 former Orange student-athletes, including Ernie Davis, Tim Green, Jim Brown, Larry Csonka and Floyd Little. McPherson will be the 15th Syracuse person to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday, December 9 in New York City as a member of the Class of 2008.
This weekend the Orange will play a 6-4 Notre Dame team. The Fighting Irish lead the series with Syracuse, 3-2 and won the last meeting in South Bend in 2005. When the teams met in the Carrier Dome in 2003, Syracuse beat the Fighting Irish 38-12. In that game, SU running back Walter Reyes rushed for 189 yards and set a Dome record with 30 points on five touchdowns, a performance which vaulted him to the top of the single season rushing touchdown list (20). The Orange forced four turnovers in the contest, including two interceptions by Anthony Smith and Christian Ferrara tied the SU single-game record with five tackles for a loss.
