(Update: Here’s Sunday’s post with more from the following anonymous coach who ripped into SU. He criticizes the offensive line and says the 10-win season was a mirage.)
If you’re a Syracuse fan and are looking forward to the time worn tradition of picking up the Athlon preview issue and thumbing through it at the lake or the pool this summer, you may want to rethink the plan. Pick up a Motor Trend or Fishing magazine instead. Not only do the editors at Athlon believe this will be a painful season for the Orange, but an opposing coach tears into the program pretty good.
The “Scouting the Orange” portion is a tough read. “Opposing Coaches Size Up Syracuse” goes into the gory details.
“If you had to pick one program that falls apart this year, it’s probably here or Duke. Right now it’s a train wreck, at least externally.” – Opposing Coach in Athlon Sports
Can a team really fall apart if it had only one win last year? This opposing coach believes that the scheme is the problem. He thinks Dino Babers’ aerial blitz is outdated and ineffective.
“Dino has a lot of respect in our league… it’s just that the era of ‘go real fast and throw verts’ has sort of run its course… compounded by the fact other teams in this league run that system better and with better players.” – Opposing Coach
Is there any hope on the horizon? Uh, think again.
“I don’t see things getting much better for them because the offensive scheme is really the identity, and recruiting to it when you’re up in New York just isn’t going to work.” – Opposing Coach
So after that feel good analysis, if you’re wondering how the magazine editors look at SU, it’s not much better. They pick the Orange to finish last in the ACC Atlantic with a 4-8, 1-7 record. They rank the QBs as the second-worst unit in the league ahead of only Duke. WRs/TEs, OL and DL also rank 13th in the 14 team league (all ahead of only the Blue Devils). They ranked Syracuse recruiting at 12th in the ACC ahead of Duke and Wake Forest. The highest individual honors went to Taj Harris and Mikel Jones, who were selected to the preseason All-ACC third-team.
Time to go inside for a lot of vodka in that lemonade.
