Legends of the Pen: A Bowl Awaits

Nov. 11 Legends of the Pen: Nothing Comes Easy
Oct. 20 Legends of the Pen: 1970 Squad Had Great Turnaround
Oct. 1 Legends of the Pen: The 1984 Team Was Special
Sept. 9 Legends of the Pen: College Football Time At SU

When last we gathered in this space, Syracuse had clinched at least a non-losing season for the first since since 2004 but still needed one more win for a winning campaign and to be bowl eligible.

Both have happened since but the race to the finish line of the regular season certainly had a few rough and rather unkind bumps. As Bette Davis said in the movie "All About Eve", "fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."

But the Orangemen did get the needed win in a powerful display of grit and determination at Rutgers, managing just one touchdown but riding the gifted right foot of frosh Ross Krautman to a 13-10 win. It was the fourth straight conference road win.

Now it was back home for the final two and a chance to build on the 7-3 record. First up was Connecticut. The Huskies hadn't had a conference road win since beating SU in 2008.

The Doug Marrone forces had struggled much of the fall searching for a consistent offense. Unfortunately, this was not the day to resolve that problem, a pair of Krautman field goals being the only Orange points. The win made UConn bowl eligible while the loss, its third at home, made SU the first team since the founding of the football portion of the Big East to go undefeated in conferenece road games but not win a single one at home.

The regular season finale found Boston College arriving for a revival of a traditional foe contest, the first since the Eagles deserted the Big East for the ACC. And, as Louisville had been without its starting QB and leading rusher when it met and beat Syracuse in early November, BC was without its top ground gainer.

Again, the the visiting team on the Dome field, won the battle in the trenches, and unncorked a freshman back who rushed for 185 yards and two touchdowns in a 16-7 win.

So the report card for Syracuse shows seven win, five losses. Not bad for a bunch of guys whose ranks were thin, suffered some serious injuries along the way and who may have been beaten on the scoreboard but never in the effort department. Now a bowl awaits. And with 15 more days of practice a lot could happen by the time the bowl battle arrives in late December. 7-5--not bad. Few others now 7-5 and awaiting bowl bids--Southern Cal, Iowa, Penn State, Florida, Notre Dame, Miami. Nice going, Orange! It's pretty good company.

QUICK THOUGHTS--The other team sharing the Dome these days, Jim Boeheim's Orange, also were searching for more offense in the early going but headed down to Atlantic City for an in-season tournamenat and got going in its game againsts Michigan then really kicked it up a few notches as five players hit double figures in beating Georgia Tech to run the record to 6-0...AND the Big East welcomed in Texas Christian as the newest member, starting in 2002. SU and TCU have met once in footballl, back in the 1957 Cotton Bowl. Jim Brown, who had scored 43 points in the regular season finale against Colgate, put on quite a show, scoring three touchdowns and kicking three PATs but the fourth was blocked and the Orange dropped a 28-27 decision.

Syracuse University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos