In November 2008, The Fizz named Darryl Gross Turkey of the Year. Thanksgiving of that season marked another lost campaign of SU football and a pair of missed NCAA appearances by Jim Boeheim’s squad.
Gross had presided over a dark period of SU athletics, the nadir being ’08, the end of the dismal, depressing Groobers’ Error. But two years later, Gross is God of the Gobblers no more. Here’s The Fizz’s 2010 Turkey Meter:
Low: Doug Marrone – The Big East Coach of the Year has dragged a mediocre team to the cusp of eight victories and a guaranteed bowl game.
Medium: Ryan Nassib – The quarterback hasn’t made enough mistakes to derail the postseason, but he’s been exposed the last three weeks as a signal-caller that just can’t move the football consistently enough.
High: SU Hoops – A band of role players are getting called out by The Per’fesser and the rest of the nation for being overrated. They are.
Highest: Big East football coaches – Would you have confidence in any of the other clowns in this conference coaching the Orange? Wannstadt, Edsall, Schiano, Holtz, Stewart have all looked like Gary Busey on the sidelines.
Posted: D.A.
Onto a preview of this holiday weekend for Orange Nation by Ted Conroy:
Anyone else mildly worried about the weekend in SU sports? It’s a murderer’s row schedule that could lead to some frownie faces. The Fizz takes you through the approaching Gauntlet.
1) Friday: SU vs. Michigan Basketball.
Michigan is 3-0 and has a long trio of wing players to penetrate the zone. In addition, their leading rebounder, freshman Jordan Morgan is 6-8 and 240 pounds. He’s playing just slightly more assertive than Fab Melo. Nobody is sure about this team. The FizzCast this week made that abundantly clear. Kannell, once more, summing it all up.
“This is a team full of role players. Some of the problems from last year are coming back where Syracuse has no offense to speak of. Fab Melo is not who we thought he was coming into the season. Kris Joseph is not that do it all player this year either. This team is really, really overrated.”
I had a dream Fab Melo came off the bench in garbage time last night. Not good. Let’s be honest: Boeheim can’t afford to do that with the size of this year’s team, but he could at least be the DaShonte Riley of this year’s squad.
2) Saturday: SU vs. Boston College Football.
Do you know what SU Football, nationally televised game, expectations, and a lukewarm non-con opponent have in common? Badness.
I can still vividly remember the ABC debacle against Purdue way back when. Even this season, the Washington game was a putrid example of the ‘Cuse flopping in front of expectations. The Eagles, ceremoniously booted from the conference after the Diamond Ferri Bowl in 2004, will want to come back and show why they left the conference. Couz looks at BC’s struggles with the quarterback and its potential NFL running back. Remember Jordan Todman? Right, we all removed that from our memory banks. Say no more.
3) Saturday: SU vs. Georgia Tech/UTEP Basketball.
Luckily, all the potential SU basketball matchups this weekend are relatively small. However, they can also shoot. Let’s show you two nightmares awaiting SU on the strip.
- Randy Culpepper, UTEP: Averaging 20 points per, with 46% 3 point shooting.
- Brian Oliver, Georgia Tech: Shooting just 33% from trey land, but his body is built to go over the top of the zone. He’s 6’6″ and can body up at 220 pounds. Yikes.
This weekend could be a narrow sweep by the ‘Cuse. However, we’ve all come to the conclusion that the hoops team isn’t a Top 10 club, and watching football in the Dome is a dubious endeavor. Let’s all cross our fingers.
