The Orange travels to Pittsburgh for the regular season finale this Saturday (12:00 p.m., ESPN2)
Photo by: Charles Wainwright
SU Looks To Get Back On Track At Pitt
11/28/2011 3:20:14 PM | Football
Read The Game Notes | Orange All Access
Read Coach Marrone's Press Conference Transcript
The 2011 Orange football team has one more game to achieve its goal of earning a post-season invitation for the second year in a row. Syracuse (5-6 overall) closes the regular season at Pittsburgh (5-6) on Saturday (12:00 p.m., ESPN2) at Heinz Field.
“Obviously, it's an unfortunate situation that we're in," said head coach Doug Marrone. "But we have another game left. It's an important game against a good football team that's in the same situation as far as their record. We got ourselves into this situation, and now we have to dig our way out of it. There's no substitute like hard work and good leadership, and I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get this thing corrected."
The game at Pittsburgh has additional meaning for the senior student-athletes in the Syracuse program. As a former Orange football student-athlete, Marrone understands first-hand what the end of the season means for the senior class.
"In college, there are some players where this might be their last game, and that's a sadness that I have, personally," Marrone said. "We're going to have seniors who have done everything they could for this program, and they're going to go out there and play a game and it might be the last time you ever play."
"They've tried to do everything that we've wanted them to do. They're going through the same struggles that I'm going through. You're trying to find answers to questions of why we're not performing that well, and that's why I have to be the person who stands up and tell them exactly what we're doing. We're doing everything we possibly can to make sure that we have the ability to win a football game this week and get back on track."
Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri directs an offensive unit averaging 21.5 points per game. Sunseri is 203-of-323 for 2,174 yards on the season. He has nine touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Sunseri had one of the best games of his career last year against the Orange, throwing for 266 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-14 Panthers win.
"They return a lot of players who we played against last year," Marrone said. "Offensively, they have weapons and they're explosive at times. It's a high octane, fast-paced type offense, so we're going to have to be ready."
Marrone says that he and the coaching staff will try different methods of motivating the Orange leading up to the game against the Panthers in the hopes of getting the best performance out of his players.
"I think more of our concern right now is to make sure that we're in the right state of mind in what we're doing. I think that's our concentration now. As we go through the week, obviously we'll putting forth the effort to make sure that we understand what we have to do to beat the University of Pittsburgh and their schemes and what they're trying to do to attack us."
Read Coach Marrone's Press Conference Transcript
The 2011 Orange football team has one more game to achieve its goal of earning a post-season invitation for the second year in a row. Syracuse (5-6 overall) closes the regular season at Pittsburgh (5-6) on Saturday (12:00 p.m., ESPN2) at Heinz Field.
“Obviously, it's an unfortunate situation that we're in," said head coach Doug Marrone. "But we have another game left. It's an important game against a good football team that's in the same situation as far as their record. We got ourselves into this situation, and now we have to dig our way out of it. There's no substitute like hard work and good leadership, and I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get this thing corrected."
The game at Pittsburgh has additional meaning for the senior student-athletes in the Syracuse program. As a former Orange football student-athlete, Marrone understands first-hand what the end of the season means for the senior class.
"In college, there are some players where this might be their last game, and that's a sadness that I have, personally," Marrone said. "We're going to have seniors who have done everything they could for this program, and they're going to go out there and play a game and it might be the last time you ever play."
"They've tried to do everything that we've wanted them to do. They're going through the same struggles that I'm going through. You're trying to find answers to questions of why we're not performing that well, and that's why I have to be the person who stands up and tell them exactly what we're doing. We're doing everything we possibly can to make sure that we have the ability to win a football game this week and get back on track."
Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri directs an offensive unit averaging 21.5 points per game. Sunseri is 203-of-323 for 2,174 yards on the season. He has nine touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Sunseri had one of the best games of his career last year against the Orange, throwing for 266 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-14 Panthers win.
"They return a lot of players who we played against last year," Marrone said. "Offensively, they have weapons and they're explosive at times. It's a high octane, fast-paced type offense, so we're going to have to be ready."
Marrone says that he and the coaching staff will try different methods of motivating the Orange leading up to the game against the Panthers in the hopes of getting the best performance out of his players.
"I think more of our concern right now is to make sure that we're in the right state of mind in what we're doing. I think that's our concentration now. As we go through the week, obviously we'll putting forth the effort to make sure that we understand what we have to do to beat the University of Pittsburgh and their schemes and what they're trying to do to attack us."
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