Sorry about that Pittsburgh entry from last week. They rushed us out of the press box after the game and my reporter and I had to get out of the city as quick as we could to get back to campus. Things got crazy then during the week (including a trip to Big East basketball media day, read about that in the blog, too) and I could never get back about the second half. Anyway, there wasn't much to talk about. Syracuse is playing its worst football in quite a while, if not ever. So don't worry, you didn't miss much from the rest of the Pitt game -- SU got outplayed again, couldn't take advantage of golden chances, and that was that.

Posted by at 07:03 PM on October 29, 2005
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Greetings from the Steel (and rainy) City. SU is at Pitt this week and it's a good game so far; we're at halftime and it's 17-17. The game's at Heinz Field, home of the Steelers, so it's a beautiful venue. Unfortunately there's nobody here. It's cold and drizzly and windy and these two teams aren't exactly the cream of the national crop. Still, SU is creating great opportunities on defense and special teams but is still turning the ball over on offense. Pitt has a lot of turnovers as well but they made a late second-half surge to tie it up. Anthony Smith is having a great game for SU with a big interception return and a blocked punt; we'll see if he can single-handedly carry them in the secondary and special teams. An interesting fact: if SU loses today, it'll be the first tiime it drops five games in a row since 1982. I wasn't even born yet.

Back with more after the game-
Mike

Posted by at 01:43 PM on October 22, 2005
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I predicted in the column you can check out in the last entry that Syracuse would win five games in a row, starting with UConn. Well....saying I was wrong would be an understatement. SU looked absolutely horrible against the Huskies Friday night and now I'm more inclined to say they won't win another game at all this season. Of course, the law of probability says the Orange will win at least one game the rest of the year, but then again who knows. The offense looked stale -- it took more than three quarters to score a touchdown and by then it was only 26-7. The defense looked porous -- it allowed 342 yards, 297 of them on the ground! Astonishing. Check out The Daily Orange's coverage of it online at http://dailyorange.com. Go to the 'archives' tab on the left side and select Monday, Oct. 10's issue for all the details.

Posted by at 02:14 PM on October 11, 2005
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Syracuse is in Hartford for the night to take on the Huskies, just thought I'd drop everyone a pre-game line. This is arguably the biggest game of the year for SU. If they win this, they're back on track for the Big East championship they want so badly plus maybe they get some momentum for the next four conference games after this. If they lose, well then it's a 1-4 record and a season that continues to be just one giant anticlimax. I have some personal interest vested here also: I predicted in a column for The Daily Orange at SU that the Orange would win its next five games. You can visit the column and read me try to validate my madness at http://www.dailyorange.com/media/paper522/news/2005/10/06/Sports/Janela.Syracuse.Will.Start.5Game.Win.Streak.At.Uconn-1011522.shtml I'll be checking back in after the game. Enjoy.

Posted by at 07:41 PM on October 07, 2005
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Hey there! I'm down in Tallahassee for the Syracuse-Florida State game and let me tell you, it is HOT. 90 degrees in October is something to be proud of, and girls in bathing suits on the Quad this late in the year definitely makes a guy think about transferring. Alas, I head back up to lovely Central New York later today.

Anyway, about the game -- Syracuse was severely outplayed by Florida State. The 'Noles are just plain better; more talent, better execution, more athleticism and it seemed like better coaching. The 'Noles know exactly when and where to blitz, when to go vertical or stay underneath on offense and they were by far more disciplined -- SU committed four turnovers and five penalties. FSU did commit 10 penalties but they weren't that consequential. In the end, I think just chalk it up to Syracuse being a 1-3 Big East team and Florida State being the undefeated number-6 team in America. It's like a high schooler playing in the pee-wee leagues.

I'd love to stay longer but unfortunately I have a hotel to check out of and a flight to catch. Let's hope it's not snowing when I get back to campus.

Posted by at 11:27 AM on October 02, 2005
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