Photo by: Charles Wainwright
Sunday Sidebar: 'All Our Dreams are Not Dead'
11/12/2017 2:27:00 PM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The 2017 Orange football team still controls its own postseason destiny. With two games remaining against Louisville and Boston College, a pair of victories makes Syracuse bowl-eligible with a 6-6 record. It was a fact not lost on Syracuse head coach Dino Babers and Orange players in the aftermath of yesterday's 64-43 setback to Wake Forest.
"All our dreams are not dead," Babers said. "We're up on the cliff now. There's no more room for error. We need to go down there to our next opponent [Louisville], who won today. They've got fabulous players and it's at their place and we have to find a way to win."
The Orange have done it before. In 2007, Syracuse paid a visit to Louisville and and came away with 38-35 triumph against the heavily-favored Cardinals. And Boston College? Syracuse has won three out of the last four against the Eagles, including a thrilling 34-31 victory in the 2013 regular-season finale that ultimately secured a berth in the Texas Bowl.
One win might be enough depending on how many 5-7 teams (if any) are needed to fill the 78 spots in this year's bowl lineup. Should that scenario play out, teams would be selected on the strength of their most recent APR scores.
Starting quarterback Eric Dungey could return to the lineup next week. If he does, Syracuse gets back one of the most dynamic playmakers in the ACC and a guy who ranks sixth nationally in completions per game (25.0), as well as total offense (343.3).
If Dungey can't go, all backup Zack Mahoney has done in his last two starts is throw for 824 yards, account for 10 touchdowns (8 passing, 2 rushing) and rack up 911 yards of total offense.
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"All our dreams are not dead," Babers said. "We're up on the cliff now. There's no more room for error. We need to go down there to our next opponent [Louisville], who won today. They've got fabulous players and it's at their place and we have to find a way to win."
The Orange have done it before. In 2007, Syracuse paid a visit to Louisville and and came away with 38-35 triumph against the heavily-favored Cardinals. And Boston College? Syracuse has won three out of the last four against the Eagles, including a thrilling 34-31 victory in the 2013 regular-season finale that ultimately secured a berth in the Texas Bowl.
One win might be enough depending on how many 5-7 teams (if any) are needed to fill the 78 spots in this year's bowl lineup. Should that scenario play out, teams would be selected on the strength of their most recent APR scores.
Starting quarterback Eric Dungey could return to the lineup next week. If he does, Syracuse gets back one of the most dynamic playmakers in the ACC and a guy who ranks sixth nationally in completions per game (25.0), as well as total offense (343.3).
If Dungey can't go, all backup Zack Mahoney has done in his last two starts is throw for 824 yards, account for 10 touchdowns (8 passing, 2 rushing) and rack up 911 yards of total offense.
"It's do-or-die time," senior linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "No more time for any excuses. You have to treat every loss how you treat a win, but moving forward next week there's a sense of urgency. All that's in our mind is just find a way to get a win."
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