Syracuse Preview
November 19, 2003 12:15 PM | General
November 19, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is facing a Syracuse team looking to become bowl eligible this Saturday.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez calls the Carrier Dome one of the toughest places to play in college football. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Orangemen are 5-4 heading into this weekend’s game and can get their all-important sixth win of the year against a Mountaineer team that has won five straight and cracked the Top 25 for the first time this season.
But West Virginia has struggled at the Carrier Dome, having last won there in 1993. Since then, West Virginia has dropped 22-0, 40-10, 30-7 and 24-13 decisions to Syracuse.
“This is a pretty tough place to play,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez of playing in the Carrier Dome. “The difference with the Dome is you combine the crowd with the different type of scenery with the noise factor. We’ll prepare as best as we can for it.”
Four of Syracuse’s five wins this season have come in the Dome including its last two against Boston College and Temple by scores of 39-14 and 41-7.
Syracuse is averaging 28 points and 364.9 yards per game on offense, and much like West Virginia, utilizes a powerful running attack to move the football.
Junior Walter Reyes (5-10, 209, Jr.) rushed 24 times for 89 yards against Miami to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the second time in his career. Last year Reyes rushed for 1,135 yards and he is now ninth in career rushing at Syracuse with 2,329 yards. He needs just 58 yards to pass Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis in eighth place with 2,386 yards.
“He’s very good,” said Rodriguez. “I don’t want to say he’s under-rated because I think a lot of people knew about him before the season, but he’s been very productive and he reminds me a little bit of Avon (Cobourne). He’s also productive catching the football and he’s just a really good football player.”
Talented sophomore Damien Rhodes has missed several games with an injury, leaving the backup job to redshirt freshman Tim Washington (5-9, 199, Fr.). He has carried 18 times for 76 yards and a touchdown.
While Reyes has accounted for almost 60 percent of Syracuse’s rushing offense, quarterback R.J. Anderson (6-1, 228, Sr.) has proved effective running the football, too.
The senior has rushed 83 times for 268 yards and five touchdowns. Anderson is also completing 61.4 percent of his pass attempts, hitting 132 of 215 for 1,458 yards and eight touchdowns. Anderson has thrown only four interceptions while averaging almost 24 pass attempts per game.
“There have been some games where he has been on fire,” said Rodriguez. “Against Boston College Anderson was clearly the best player on the field that day.”
In that game, Anderson completed 20 of 27 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 12 times for 73 yards and scored on an eight-yard run.
Among Syracuse’s wide receivers, senior Johnnie Morant (6-4, 230, Sr.) is finally exhibiting the consistency and durability that was expected of him when he was signed with SU as one of the nation’s top high school recruits in 1999.
Morant has caught at least one pass in 26 straight games and leads the Orangemen with 33 catches for 551 yards and four touchdowns. His long reception of the season is 52 yards.
Reyes is Syracuse’s second leading receiver with 28 catches for 219 yards out of the backfield. Jared Jones (5-11, 199, Jr.) has started eight of nine games and shows 26 catches for 215 yards while his backup Rashard Williams (5-6, 167, So.) has 19 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown.
One of the strengths of the Syracuse offense is an offensive line that boasts four 300-pounders in tackles Adam Terry (6-8, 312, Jr.) and Kevin Sampson (6-4, 304, Sr.) and guards Matt Tarullo (6-5, 322, Jr.) and Steve Franklin (6-3, 311, So.).
Center Nick Romeo (6-1, 297, Sr.) is one of two seniors along the offensive line.
“We can’t let Syracuse get in a rhythm offensively,” said Rodriguez. “They do so much … so many formations and shifts and it seems when they get in a rhythm and get you on your heels it is non stop.”
The Syracuse defense ranks in the middle of the Big East in nearly every category. The Orangemen are giving up an average of 367.1 yards and 25.7 points per game.
The Orangemen also rank second to West Virginia in turnover margin at plus 1.0.
The Syracuse secondary has improved dramatically this year and has picked off 13 passes in nine games. Anthony Smith (6-0, 186, So.) leads the way with three picks, followed by Kellen Pruitt (6-3, 225, So.), Steve Gregory (5-11, 186, So.), Troy Swittenburg (5-9, 197, Jr.) and Diamond Ferri (5-10, 218, Jr.) with two each.
Gregory and Swittenburg are listed as starting corners, with Smith and Ferri starting at safeties.
Up front, Rodriguez has been impressed with Josh Thomas (6-7, 282, Sr.), Christian Ferrara (6-4, 292, Sr.), Louis Gachelin (6-1, 283, Sr.) and James Wyche (6-5, 264, So.). Those four have freed up linebacker Rich Scanlon (6-1, 240, Sr.) to produce a team-high 107 tackles and 7.5 tackles for losses.
“Their front seven I thought coming into the season was going to be very good and I still think it is the strength of their team,” said Rodriguez. “If we don’t make them involve their safeties in run support we’re in trouble. We didn’t block 93 (Ferrara) last year at all. He had a career day against us. Gachelin was the same way. Their two inside guys made tackles for losses and they controlled things up front. Our young pups up front are going to have to be prepared for that.”
Joining Scanlon at linebacker is Pruitt and redshirt freshman Kelvin Smith (6-2, 235, Fr.). Pruitt and Smith have combined for 126 total tackles and 12.5 tackles for losses.
Ferri and Anthony Smith have been very active in the secondary, accumulating 86 and 83 total tackles respectively.
Gachelin leads the Syracuse defense with four sacks; the Orangemen have produced 16 sacks in nine games.
Kicker Collin Barber (6-1, 216, Jr.) has been effective from short range converting 10 of 12 field goal attempts. His long is 42 yards and he has only attempted two field goals of 40 yards or longer.
Punter Brendan Carney (6-5, 201, Fr.) is averaging 43.5 yards per punt and has successfully had 13 punts downed inside the 20. However, Syracuse has had four punts blocked this season. The Orangemen have also given up two punt returns for touchdowns in the loss at Virginia Tech.
Meanwhile, West Virginia has won five straight after starting the season 1-4 and are still in contention to win a share of the Big East regular season title. After dropping a 22-20 decision at Miami on Oct. 2, West Virginia has won five straight against Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Central Florida, Boston College and Pitt.
WVU has the league’s second-best rushing offense averaging 220.3 yards per game and is coming off a 307-yard performance in a 52-31 win over Pitt. The Mountaineers also rank third in the conference against the run allowing 122.9 yards per game.
Running back Quincy Wilson is coming off a 208-yard, four-touchdown game against Pitt and ranks third in the Big East in rushing with an average of 122.6 yards per game. Wilson is one of four Big East backs that have already gained more than 1,000 yards this season.
“He’s powerful,” said Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni. “He has a little bit different style than Avon Cobourne. He’s every bit as productive as Cobourne, he just as a different style. He will run by you. He can run through tackles. He is a terrific back.”
Quarterback Rasheed Marshall ranks sixth among Big East passers averaging 142.2 yards per game. The junior has completed 78 of 157 passes for 1,280 yards and 11 touchdowns. Marshall’s 11 TD passes rank him fourth among conference quarterbacks.
Sophomore Chris Henry has jumped up to second in the Big East in receiving yards per game averaging 75.2. He shows 27 catches for 677 yards and a conference-best 25.1 yards per catch. Henry ranks second to Pitt’s Larry Fitzgerald in touchdown catches with seven.
West Virginia linebacker Grant Wiley, recently named one of five finalists for the Nagurski Award given to the nation’s top defensive player, leads the Big East with 131 tackles for an average of 13.1 per game.
WVU is beginning to feel the effects of playing five straight games in the month of November. Rodriguez announced Tuesday that Pat Liebig will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury sustained in the Pitt game. Liebig was replacing starting defensive end Fred Blueford, who is also out for the season with a knee injury.
Junior Jason Hardee could take Liebig’s place in the starting lineup or West Virginia could move nose guard Ben Lynch outside to end and start Craig Wilson at the nose. Ernest Hunter is West Virginia’s other defensive end.
“Where the next ones come from we’re not sure,” said Rodriguez. “This gives an opportunity for a guy like Warren Young to step up and play some.”
The coach expects the rest of his walking wounded to be ready for Saturday’s game, however.
Rodriguez is making his second appearance in the Carrier Dome and third overall; Rodriguez was Tommy Bowden’s offensive coordinator at Tulane when the Green Wave lost at Syracuse in 1998.
“There is a lot at stake for this game,” said Rodriguez. “Just look at their scores and see what they’ve done especially at home. They just killed BC and we just snuck one by against them.”
Pasqualoni has had his way with West Virginia, going 8-4 against the Mountaineers including a 5-1 mark at home. The coach is 10th among active NCAA coaches with a 66.3 winning percentage.
Game time has been set for noon and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Following this game, West Virginia wraps up its regular season on Saturday, Nov. 29 against Temple at 1 pm.
