Syracuse Preview
October 04, 2007 04:10 PM | General
October 4, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s time to dust off the Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy and head to Syracuse for a Saturday afternoon Big East football game against the Orange at the Carrier Dome.
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| Junior Steve Slaton can break Ira Errett Rodgers' 88-year record for rushing touchdowns Saturday at Syracuse.
Tom Crozier/WVU Photo Services |
West Virginia (4-1) has claimed the last five games in the lengthy series Syracuse now leads 30-24. Last year, the Mountaineers used long touchdown runs by Patrick White and Steve Slaton to register a 41-17 victory in Morgantown.
“Syracuse was pretty solid defensively against us except for a couple of those big plays, which of course you have to count,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “For us, that was the difference between two years ago and last year.”
The Mountaineers have historically had a tough time at the Dome going 5-8 in 13 games at the facility. West Virginia overcame five turnovers to pull out a 15-7 victory at Syracuse in the 2005 season opener. A defensive touchdown and a safety provided the difference in the game.
This year WVU is looking to get back on track after stubbing its toe last Friday night at South Florida. Syracuse (1-4) got its only victory of the year at Louisville after the Cardinals dropped a game at Kentucky the previous week.
“I don’t know if it was because it was a conference game but Syracuse had an extra bounce in their step, and they were clearly ready to play,” said Rodriguez. “They played well and they went after Louisville for four quarters.”
Rodriguez says two areas that really jump out at him on film are the play of Syracuse’s defensive line and the rangy athletes the Orange have at wide receiver.
Syracuse’s defensive line is one of the biggest West Virginia will face this year with Arthur Jones and Tony Jenkins weighing nearly 300 pounds. Backup nose tackle Nick Santiago is listed at 302.
“They have a lot of big, physical guys up front,” Rodriguez said. “Their front four are all physical and no one can really move them off the ball. Washington had some big plays against them - and Louisville in the passing game and Iowa had a couple - but they don’t get moved off the ball a whole lot.
“If they force you into a run situation they can get you down,” Rodriguez said.
Syracuse is giving up 484.8 yards per game including a conference-worst 231.4 yards per game on the ground. However, Syracuse has been susceptible to big plays having already given up seven touchdowns covering 20 yards or longer. Last year, the Syracuse defense only surrendered 12 touchdowns of 20 yards or longer in 12 games.
Last weekend Miami, Ohio was held to 17 points but managed 436 yards of offense including 286 on the ground. Illinois and Louisville both produced more than 500 yards of offense against the Syracuse defense.
“They are not a heavy blitz team but they are not anti-blitz either,” Rodriguez said. “If they can stop you using some base defense and just crowd the box I think they will do that a little bit. They will change their coverage; what they have done this year, and what we have seen is that they have gone from an even-front traditional defense to an odd stack which is very similar to what we from our defense.”
Offensively, Syracuse has been predominantly a passing team. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Robinson has completed 78 of 140 passes for 1,145 yards and seven touchdowns. Robinson has only been intercepted twice in 148 career pass attempts.
“He has been pretty smart with the ball for a first-time starter,” Rodriguez said. “I have been impressed on how he has zero negative yardage plays and he has gotten rid of the football whether he is dumping it off or throwing it away.”
Syracuse has a pair of fleet receivers in Taj Smith and Mike Williams. Smith leads the Orange with 19 catches for 342 yards and three touchdowns, while Williams shows 16 catches for 260 yards and three scores. Five different players have caught at least one pass of 40 yards or longer.
“One thing we will expect and will probably see is a lot of deep balls thrown down the field,” Rodriguez said. “They have thrown numerous deep balls down the field and no just in the big plays. You will get a one-on-one match up and they will check right away to a deep ball. Because Smith and Williams are the type of players that they are it makes sense.”
Syracuse has had a tough time running the football averaging just 40.6 yards per game and 1.3 yards per carry. Syracuse’s top rusher Curtis Brinkley comes into Saturday’s game averaging 36.6 yards per game and 2.6 yards per carry. Brinkley’s career has been plagued by injuries.
“I think he is where he is,” said Syracuse coach Greg Robinson. “We’re this many weeks into the season and I don’t know how much he is going to change physically.”
West Virginia has health issues it is dealing with, too. Quarterback Patrick White left the South Florida game in the second quarter with a deep thigh bruise and did not return. White completed 10 of 18 passes for 100 yards with an interception against the Bulls before exiting the contest.
“He’s doing better (Tuesday) than yesterday and better yesterday than the day before,” said Rodriguez. “We will see how he is at practice. He is day-to-day and will be for the next few days.”
Rodriguez said if White can't go then he has no problem letting sophomore Jarrett Brown run the offense. Brown 11 of 20 passing for 149 yards and a touchdown against South Florida. He also ran for a game-high 61 yards. In parts of five games this year Brown has completed 18 of 29 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. He has also run 26 times for 184 yards.
“Jarrett competed pretty well in the last game when we played really poorly and had six turnovers,” Rodriguez said. “He led an offense that ran some plays – and we could have won without the Big East player of the year – who didn’t play in the second half.”
Rodriguez said a decision on his starting quarterback might not be made all the way up until game time.
“If I decide earlier than that (the media) won’t know until noon on Saturday,” Rodriguez said. “Nobody else will either.”
Junior running back Steve Slaton failed to reach 100 yards rushing for the first time this season last weekend at South Florida and comes into Saturday’s game averaging 111.2 yards per game. The Levittown, Pa., resident shows 556 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on 97 carries. He is one touchdown shy of breaking West Virginia’s Ira Rodgers’ 88-year record of 42 rushing touchdowns established in 1919.
Coach Rich Rodriguez is also looking for his 100th career victory.
Syracuse is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the undefeated 1987 team prior to kick off. Syracuse was able to preserve that undefeated season by converting a two-point conversion late in the game to defeat West Virginia 32-31 in the Carrier Dome.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon. ESPN Regional (Dave Sims, John Congemi and Quint Kessenich) will televise the game as its Big East game of the week.
The Mountaineer Sports Network will present the action on the airwaves beginning with the pre-game show at 11:30 am. Sirius Satellite radio users can access the broadcast on channel 122. CSTV All-Access subscribers can access MSN’s coverage on the Internet.
