I'll Take Some Good With The Bad

It could have been worse. It could have been ALOT worse. Penn State pretty much had its way with our Orange for the majority of Saturday's game at Happy Valley - especially through the air. But again, it could have been worse. I'm not a fan of moral victories, but I will point out some good points.

SU D stuffed the Nittany Lions on the goal line on a few occasions. Hell, they even caused a fumble on the 2 yard line which they recovered.




The flip side to that, of course, was the call to run up the gut 3 straight times resulting in a punt after that fumble recovery. YEEEEEEEESH!!!!!!

Opportunities might have been blown, but at least there were opportunites. Fuck me, if thats not a 'glass half full' statement I don't know what is.

Most notably the final minute in the first half. Out of timeouts, the Orange needed to put some points on the board but didn't manage the clock well enough to get within reasonable firing distance of the end zone. Hell, the officials even gave Marrone and Co 2 straight timeouts with the review of Lemon's catch (which it clearly was) and the decision to review the play again to see if it made a first down (which it clearly did not). Thanks for the TOs, refs. None-the-less, SU went to the locker room with a goose egg.


Paulus didn't look half bad. But his receivers had the dropsies all damn day. Mike Williams had the drop of the day in the endzone on a 'must score' possesion.

The Stalion formation worked when implemented. But lets face it. The only play ran out of it was the "Fake the handoff to Carter - Bailey takes off up the middle" (I'll call that play a 'shot of Baileys on the Rocks'). And while I'm not great with keeping up stats I'd say that damn play is good for about 5 damn yards every time. Put that in your coach's notebook. On 3rd and 5 - "Hey Bartender!! Shot of Baileys On The Rocks!!!"
Damn if they could only throw out of that formation. Cause the fucking cats outta the bag and Opposing Defenses are going to be ready for that play sooner rather than later.

The Axeman thinks that this battle tested SU squad is ready to put NorthWestern in the ground next Saturday. I love that kind of optimism. But I've been hurt before (Thanks alot Greggers) and I'm not ready yet.

TNIAAM sums it all up here

(Paulus still looks lke Troy Nunes when he scrambles)

I want to close with a subject I havent bitched about in some time. I DO NOT LIKE YANKING PAULUS FOR RYAN NASSIB. I DO NOT LIKE A 2 HEADED QB MONSTER. IT DOES NO ONE ANY GOOD TO PULL ONE QB FOR ANOTHER ALL FUCKING GAME. I DO NOT LIKE A 2 HEADED QB MONSTER. I DO NOT LIKE IT, SAM I AM.

Side notes: The game menu once again included Hot Italian Sausages and Yuengling.

Today's Menu for the NFL opener is gonna rock. My wife has slow roasted a chunk of meat all freaking day to the point where it pulls right off the bone. That stuffs been marinating in her kick ass 'hot and sweet brown sugar bbq' sauce and is gonna be stuffed into some oversized HB buns and topped with cole slaw for some kick ass BBQ Sammiches!! Take that, Dinosaur!!

Been A Long Time, Shouldnt've Left You W/O A Dope Beat To Step To

Damn its been a while. Sorry for the absence. But since my last post Ive lost both jobs and started up on a new and better one. Anyone who caught the game yesterday HAS to be optimistic about our Orange this season and beyond. Don't get me wrong, early on in the first quarter it looked like the same ol same ol. Snap over Paulus' head, turnover, Gopher RB takes in a score untouched. You know the script. But then not only did the D step it up, but the offense found some rhythm. I'm digging the new 'stalion' formation. I think if Bailey could throw out of the damn thing it'd be all the more difficult to defend. 'Cause towards the end of the game Minnesota D was stacking 8 in the box to defend it.
Greg Paulus didnt dissapoint. Dont get me wrong. He wasnt fantastic in his debut but for someone who's been away from the game for 4 freakin years he looked solid. But I know I wasnt the only one getting Troy Nunes flashbacks watching him scramble. And don't tell me that first play didn't look just like our old #11? Hand to God I had to do a double take. Speaking of which, not only do I dig the new NunesMagician site. But I completely agree with my fellow Blogger that on the last offensive play Paulus should have either found Williams sooner or gotten rid of the ball so 'Cuse could at least put up three. You cannot lay a goose egg on the first possesion in OT. Cannot Cannot CANNOT.
All in all I'm with so many other fellow Orange fans when I say I took some hope away from our home opener. Offense looked a hell of alot better than last season. D played with some heart. Crowd was into it the whole way. Looking forward to some good things this year. I truly believe Syracuse can pull off 4 or 5 wins and maybe steal another.
As for my thoughts on the Golden Gophers their QB, Weber, looks like he's going to break every Minnesota passing record that exists. The guy backing him up looked sick (in a good way) in what little time I saw him. He's gonna be a hoss somewhere down the road. That Decker fucker caught damn near everything thrown at him and finished with around 180 yards recieving. He'll be playing on Sundays.

Oh and speaking of playing on Sundays, Art Jones gets my Monster Quest award this week for being the beast of the D Line. After every tackle they should flash that shot from the show where the evil looking beast eye blinks and growls. Yeah... don't act like you've never watched that shit.



Side notes: Yesterday's menu included Hot Italian Sausages and Yuengling (on sale for $8.99 for a 12 pack..... kick ass!!!). Oh and a fresh pack of Pall Mall Ultra lights. Yeah... the Orange pack. Heh Heh heh...



And for anyone who's wondering, my Hakim Warrick collection is coming along nicely.

Hak Collection

Think collecting hoops cards is for little kids?? Wrong, bitch!!