Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Daily Directive

We all in Orangeland wish a happy 44th BDay to Scott Schwedes.

First we had Ger as Capt of the 1959 Championship team. Then we had Scott help turn the program around in the early 1980s. So will there be another Schwedes this time around? Heck Tebucky Jones has a kid being recruited this year. So where is our 3rd Schwedes?

Hasta la vista baby

King Otto III

Monday, June 29, 2009

The Daily Directive

We made history! No not the US mans soccer team. SU Athletics. While technically we finished the highest ever in the Directors Cup, we still finished 63 out of 271. Now being a private school we are at a disadvantage. But are TGDs quotes not a bit Mickey Mouse? Coming 63rd is like RU bragging about getting 8 Ws against their powderpuff schedule.

"This accomplishment is historic,” said Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross. “Our vision is to provide our student-athletes with a championship experience. The performance this year shows that vision coming to fruition."

Anyway congrats on the teams that made being #63 possible. Especially the Lax team who provided a forever memorable championship and the BBall team which provided a nearly equal BET run.

Au revoir Orange faithful,

King Otto III

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Daily Directive

With camp still 10 days away, there isnt much to talk about besides recruiting. But it is so early in the recruiting game that most talk is just total speculation. So far SU has 5 verbals. In comparison GRob had ONE verbal at this time, although that one verbal was Mike Williams. But you also have to take into account that GRob was recruiting off a season in which SU tied for the BE Title and went to a Bowl. While Marrone is recruiting off of 10-37. So Marrone looks ahead of the GRob pace, which had 11 verbals by seasons start.

But quantity isnt as important as quality. Of the 22 players GRob brought in, I expect to see 9 guys get significant PT this year. So what about the other 13 guys? We have 3 guys who should be backups and likely wont see the field. We have seen 6 guys either not make it or leave the program. We had 3 guys who were JUCOs and have since left. But only one of them (Taj) got significant PT. We have one guy (Pierce) which is just bad luck. IMO that isnt good enough. You need more people seeing PT and less leaving (although the coaching change had a bit to do with that).

Lets all hope that Marrone will get it done on the recruiting trail.

See ya

King Otto III

Thursday, June 25, 2009

NBA Draft

I thought of doing a Cuse Cast following my reactions on the draft until Flynn was chosen. But since we didnt know where he would go that coulda been long and possibly boring. So instead I just decided to write my thoughts here.

-How do they let the Devil (David Stern) know a pick? Is it written? If so how funny would it have been if the Clips rep had a brain fart and accidentally wrote Taylor instead of Blake? I mean it is the Clips, so anything is possible. What would Stern have done? Does he confirm it allowing the Clips to fix their mistake? Or does he say the Clips are a lost cause, lets let Memphis build a decent team?

-Clips take Blake, I guess we will never know.

-Memphis takes Mr Elbow, Thabeet

-Wow. Oklahoma takes Harden. I didnt see him much. Only a few games, mainly the NCAAs. He has an NBA body, but he isnt a great ball handler or shooter. And disappearing in the NCAAs would be a warning sign to me.

-Kings take Evans. I think he has the best potential of the PGs in the draft.

-Wolves take Rubio. It has now been over a half an hour and only 5 pics have gone by. Too much talking for TV. I dont care enough about the NBA to drag this out.

-WTF? Neither Flynn nor Rubio can play the 2. You have to think they will trade one of these guys. If not then why not take Curry who could play the 2? How funny is it that JB talked crap on Rubio and now Flynn has to beat him out? I hope Flynn does or he wont see as much time as he would elsewhere for the next 3 years.

-Speedy Claxton stil plays?

-Warriors take Curry, looks like the Knicks will be shut out of the PGs.

-Wow, Knicks have stunk for awhile now and their best pick since 2004 is David Lee, ouch. Knicks take Hill. Double ouch 22 years since Knicks drafted an All Star.

Ok I have had enough of this. Cant be watching Rachel Nichols in HD. Put her on the radio please! I will now take a break until Harris or Devo (yeah right) are picked.

---------------------------------

I am back earlier than expected. Ty friggin Lawson? What the hell is Minny doing? And going back I cannot believe Hansbrough was a lotto pick.

-They now say Lawson will be traded. For Jonny's sake I wish it were him.

I will now take another break from this BS league.

------------------------------------

Back again to finish 1st round. Screw the 2nd round, sorry Paul.

-Knicks trade Q Richardson. Why couldnt Minny have taken him and the 8th for Flynn? Oh well.

-Knicks take Douglas via Lakers. If I were LA I woulda kept pick and taken a big body like that guy from Pitt whose name escapes me right now. Obviously it is also escaping everyone in the NBA. I guess he shoulda stayed in school. Good for SU.

-Blair! That was his name. LOL.

Three friggin hours for a round is a joke. I am done. Good luck to Paul and even Devo.

The Daily Directive

SU just received its 3rd LB commit of the season. While LB is a huge need, I hope we dont just throw numbers at the position. We need help everywhere. If we bring in too many LBs this year, it will cause a roster imbalance that will end up hurting other positions down the line. Including our verbals, here is a breakdown of the roster:

QBs
2010 3
2011 3
2012 3

QB seems fine number wise. But talent may require another QB this year.

RBs
2010 3
2011 2
2012 1

We absolutely need an RB in this years class, maybe even 2.

FBs
2010 0
2011 0
2012 0

Will we even use FBs? Do we combo this with TE?

WRs
2010 7
2011 4
2012 2

WR need one more this year and but more likely 2.

TEs
2010 3
2011 3
2012 1

We really need 2 TEs this year, especially ones that can block.

OL
2010 13
2011 7
2012 5

We need a bunch of OLmen both in numbers and more importantly talent. Likely 3 more this year.

DEs
2010 7
2011 6
2012 5

If the talent is there we dont really need more than 1 DE in this class.

DTs
2010 6
2011 3
2012 2

We need 2 DTs this year.

LBs
2010 12
2011 9
2012 8

If we keep the 3 verbals we currently have, numbers wise we have too many LBs. But talent is another question. You have to think some of these guys go DE or TE.

CBs
2010 6
2011 4
2012 3

We need some help here. Likely 2.

Ss
2010 6
2011 4
2012 2

Definitely need one, likely 2.

K
2010 1
2011 1
2012 1

There are two good Ks on our radar, gotta think we take 1.

P
2010 1
2011 0
2012 0

You almost have to take a punter.

So in total it looks like we need about 20 more players to fill holes. Which means we have more holes than current available schollies. I doubt we see any more LBs taken. It wont be easy of Marrone to juggle around talent and depth needs.

So long, farewell

King Otto III

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

All Time SU FB Team

My 50 player two deep of Syracuse Football All Time (with help from Orangeyes)

HC Ben Schwartzwalder

QB Donovan McNabb
QB Don McPherson

RB Jim Brown
RB Ernie Davis

FB Larry Csonka
FB Daryl Johnston

TE John Mackey
TE Chris Gedney

WR Marvin Harrison
WR Art Monk
WR Rob Moore
WR Scott Schwedes

OT Stan Walters
OT Craig Wolfley
OT Bill Horr
OT Joe Alexander (4th OT was not determined so I moved him here)

OG Roger Davis
OG Walt Sweeney
OG Gary Bugenhagen
OG Robert Yates

C Jim Ringo
C John Flannery

DE Dwight Freeney
DE Rob Burnett
DE Vic Hanson
DE Paul Frase (4th DE was not determined so added him now)

DT Tim Green
DT Joe Ehrman
DT Kevin Mitchell
DT Ted Gregory (4th DT was not determined so added him now)

LB Dan Conley
LB Jim Collins
LB Keith Bulluck
LB Terry Wooden
LB Ray Preston
LB Tony Romano (6th LB was not determined so added now)

CB Kevin Abrams
CB Jim Ridlon
CB Will Allen
CB Charles Brown (4th CB not determined so added now)

S Donovan Darius
S Tommy Myers
S Markus Paul
S Quentin Harris (4th S not determined so added now)

K Gary Anderson

P Pat ONeil

KR Qadry Ismail
KR Kevin Johnson

PR Quinton Spotwood (I overrode Orangeyes who liked Schwedes)

ST David Tyree

Cuse Cast IV














KingOtto (minus his sidekick CuseMan, who we believe is still missing from his BDay weekend in AC) teams up with Orangeyes to create the All Time Syracuse Football Team. They also discuss how Orangeyes gets his daily links, that we all know and love, as well as his role with the Ernie Davis statue.

Length 31:37
Download

WTF Chris Berman?

On the walk of fame? The world is coming to an end.

Link

The Daily Directive

Noon starts suck and our first two games are nooners. I guess that means a day trip for the Minny game. But for PSU the King will be RVing it, so I guess it does not matter.

What doesnt suck is The Cuse Cast. You are here by ordered to stop by tonight as we discuss the All Time SU FB team, with input from a very special guest.

Domo arigato

King Otto III

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Daily Directive

Festival to Honor McPherson

Gotta love the headlines that SU Athletics come up with. There is not a festival to honor just McPherson but the entire CFB HoF class. But the article did bring to my attention the other inductees as well.

Some observations:

Pat Fitgerald was a good player but isnt it early for him to get in already? He graduated in 1996 and the 2nd youngest player (Aikman) from this class graduated in 1988. So why did these other players have to wait 10 years longer to get in? In fact I believe that Fitzgerald is only the 3rd player from the 1990s to make the HoF. The others being Steve Emtman, who graduated in 1991, and Charlie Ward, who graduated in 1993. No offense to Pat Fiztgerald but when you think of the best players from the 90s he shouldnt be at the top of the list.

Ron Simmons, Damn! The former WCW champ and part of tag team champs Doom.

Forgot that Sam Mills had died. I met his son, who had gone to my HS for a year and was a good kid. It was amazing that a guy 5'9 that went to a small school like Montclair State, could turn into a Pro Bowl LB.

That all being said congrats again to Don McPherson.

Buenas noches bitches

King Otto III

Monday, June 22, 2009

More on recruiting

Good article on Miami getting too involved in the star system.

Here

The Daily Directive

Recruiting is a hot topic in Orangeland. Some people are on edge having a team that lacks in talent and then having a lack of commitments. So I wanted to take a look at who we are targeting. One would think that SU would concentrate on NY, NJ, and PA. Then would look to Mass, Conn, DE, MD, VA, OH, and Fla. And finally the rest of the country. However that doesnt seem to be the case. I looked at 3 star and higher SU offers on Scout and found that SU has 35 offers consisting of:

16 players from NY, NJ, PA
11 players from Mass, Conn, DE, MD, VA, OH, Fla
8 players from other states

It is interesting that less than half are from our so called bread and butter states of NY, NJ, and PA. And it may be even more interesting that over 20% are from outside our normal territory. I think SU should be recruiting nationally as we are a national program, unlike the regional programs that make up the rest of the Big East. But where we are right now as a program, it may be easier to have success close to home.

So why the low local numbers and high numbers from afar? Well at this point one can only speculate. If one were to look at things with a glass half full, then you may say that SU is getting run out of our territory. That we cannot beat out the local competition and have to look elsewhere. But if you look at things with a glass half full you will remember that when it seemed like the Corleones were being chased out of NY by Barzini and the other families, that Micheal settled all family business when he took out Barzini, Phillip Tattallgia, Moe Green, Slacci, and Cuneo. So it may only take a few Ws until the local dominoes fall. And maybe all of those long distance guys are just a result of our new staff. Spence came from Clemson. Shafer from Michigan, and Stanford the year before. And a bunch of guys were at Tennessee last year. So those recruits are likely just a result of prior connections, and not failing in our own back yard.

Remember that signing day is long away.

Arrivederci

King Otto III

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Cuse Cast

We will be back this week better than ever. Last week we were off in observance of Cuse Mans BDay for a trip to Atlantic City and then Monmouth Park to play the ponies. BTW on the ride down to AC and back up from AC to MP to NYC we did not see ONE friggin R on the back of a car. Would that ever happen on a trip to Turning Stone or Vernon Downs? Also the RU gear being worn in AC and MP could be counted on one hand. Gotta love the propaganda RU fans spew. On a sad note there was a ton of Phillies stuff in AC.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Daily Directive

Here in NYC it has been raining all day and the wind has trees bending sideways. It is days like today that I am glad we play in a Dome. I couldnt imagine the lack of a crowd for home games from mid October to the end of November without a roof over the fans heads.



I certainly would still go, as evidenced by sitting through the entire rain soaked game at RU last year. But it just isnt as fun. Sure we miss out when (or should I say if) the weather is good in September. But thats what road games are for. Yes, football is meant to be played outdoors. And I would have loved to have been there when games were played at Archbold.




But without the Dome it would hurt recruiting and our fan base. So in a sense football was not meant to be played in CNY. It is the Dome that allows all of this to happen.

So here is to you Carrier Dome (ugh the naming is for another day)

Cheerio

King Otto III

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Daily Directive

When Coach Marrone took over I initially thought that 2009 would be an important year to get Ws, for recruiting purposes. This is because SU has a much easier schedule in 2009 vs 2010. This year SU has 8 home games, with OOC games against Akron, Maine, Minn, NW, and @PSU. While in 2010 SU will have only 6 home games, with OOC of @Akron, BC, Maine, VT, and @Wash. But after the new depth chart came out, I think SU could still be in decent shape. This is because SU will lose very few players due to graduation.

Looking at the 2 deep

-The O will return all but Greg Paulus, Mike Owen, and Dan Collier. Numbers wise there isnt a whole lot being lost. Collier will be a little used walk on. Owen is our best blocking TE but you can get by without him. Assuming Paulus wins the starting QB job, he will be the only real loss. Now the QB position is an important one so this could hurt. But the blow will be softened by everyone else returning.

-The D will return all but Art Jones and Mike Stenclik. Again only a few players are leaving. I like Mike but he hasnt been able to see the field so he isnt a big loss. Art Jones however will be a big loss. But again with everyone else back it should soften the blow.

So when you take into account that we only have 2 real losses (although pretty BIG Ls), we may very well be able to handle the harder schedule. The returning kids should all be better based on an extra year of development and the fact that they will be more comfortable with the O and D systems which are new to them this year. Initially I thought we would take a step back in 2010 but now I think we could sustain or even improve vs 2009.

Two other factors could have a pretty big impact which could change things. One is the possibility that Mike Williams leaves for the NFL. He struggled with school his first stint at SU. If he doesnt think he can make it through another year he could leave. On top of that if he has a monster season, he could leave. Losing Mike would without a doubt hurt our O.

The other factor is Nassib. He could beat out Paulus, making that loss irrelevant. Also what does Marrone do if the Orange are 2-6, or worse, after 8 games? With 4 games left, three of which are on the road, the chances of 6-6 will be slim. And even at 6-6 it is unlikely that a Bowl spot opens up for SU. At that point if Nassib is the #2 QB behind Paulus, do you start Nassib the last 4 games to better prep him for 2010?

I still think 2009 will be an important year for recruiting. But the fact that SU returns so many players in 2010, will at worst soften the blow of a harder schedule.

Aloha to all

King Otto III

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Daily Directive

Doug Marrone was in church yesterday to talk about SU Football. I am not sure if he was there trying to appeal to God or the SU faithful. Up to this point Marrone seems to be impressing everyone in Orangeland. I will admit that at first I was concerned with his hire. Personally I thought it was very important for our next HC to have a strong staff around him. Since Doug was coming from the NFL and has never been a HC, I was worried. But he was able to surround himself with a strong staff. Thus I too am excited for what the future may hold.

So how has he done so far? Well in his short time here he has brought a bunch of much needed changes. Hard work, team unity, a sense of family, discipline, accountability, responsibility have all been hammered home to the team. He has brought a passion and love of SU FB that can only be contagious. He is doing things the "right way".

But is the "right way" enough? Coach P did things the "right way", but struggled to bring in talent near the end of his tenure. Randy Edsall does things the "right way" at UConn, but he too struggles in recruiting. Now there is nothing wrong coaching up and developing players. However it will be hard to have sustained success (8+ win seasons) doing so.

Which brings to question: Will Marrone be able to bring in talent? It is waaay to early to make any judgment now. But based on his track record and personality, you have to think he would be a good recruiter. But Marrone has been out of College FB for 8 years. Also Marrone talks about doing things the way Coach Mac did. Things have changed drastically since Marrone was in the college game and even more since Mac's methods brought SU back to where we belong.

Will this be a challenge for Marrone? Several players have already left the program. Personally I do not see this as a big deal as we need to open up schollies for next year. Also IMO the only loss that should hurt is Chestnut, so I am not concerned. But these defections can be seen differently. One may see them as players being weeded out. A cutting of the fat. However some may see the defections as the beginning of a problem. Todays kids in life, as well as football, are a hell of a lot softer than they were since Marrone left the college ranks. And Coach Mac's time is ancient history. Will todays kids respond to Marrones style? Football is constantly changing. Running the Nebraska offense of the Osborne years just doesnt happen anymore. So will the methods of Mac still bring success?

That is a question that will be answered in time.

Ciao for now

King Otto III

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Daily Directive

This time of year there isnt a whole lot to talk about as we all wait for the upcoming season. So we all discuss the usual: Conf realignment, schedules, uniforms, etc. Well today I will talk to you about schedules. We have seen several rankings come out that list SU near the top of OOC schedules. Personally I think that is very overstated. To compare lets look at the Big East OOC Schedules.

Cincy (108.2 avg)
SE Missou St
@Ore St
Fresno St
@Miami OH
Illinois

UConn (89.4 avg)
@Ohio
UNC
@Baylor
Rhode Island
@ND

Louisville (92.2 avg)
Indiana St
@UK
@Utah
So Miss
Ark St

Pitt (86.6 avg)
Youngstown St
@UB
Navy
@NC St
ND

RU (153.8 avg)
Howard
Fla Int
@MD
Texas So
@Army

WV (82 avg)
Liberty
ECU
@Aub
Colorado
Marshall

USF (91.8 avg)
Wofford
@WKU
Charleston Southern
@FSU
Miami

SU (68.8 avg)
Minn
@PSU
NW
Maine
Akron

Now using Sagarin rating from last year SU is well ahead of the rest of the Big East teams (see avgs). Part of the reason is that our 1AA team is decent while everyone else has their average dragged down by the 1AA. Also teams this year are not the same as last year. So using last years rankings are a little flawed. On top of that home and away cannot be factored in. So one has to use some common sense to evaluate these. We then get:

1. WV
2. UConn
3. SU
4. Cincy
5. Pitt
6. USF
7. Louisville
8. RU

IMO WV has the best OOC schedule. Games against ECU, Colorado, and @Auburn will all be difficult to win. On top of that Liberty is a solid 1AA and Marshall is a rival, which is always dangerous. I would place UConn ahead of SU as well. Our game @PSU is the hardest of the bunch. But UConn has to travel to Baylor and Ohio while we have our BCS and MAC games at home. That IMO more than offsets @PSU vs @ND. USF was screwed by RU when they stole FIU. However even with FIU instead of one of those two 1AAs, USF wouldnt move much if at all.


I would also like to add that comparing OOC schedules across conferences is just silly. I dont care that PSU has Akron, SU, Temple, and Eastern Illinois as their OOC games. They still have a much much harder schedule than Big East teams because they play in the B11, which gives them 8 built in BCS games a year. All in total they play 9 BCS teams this year. The only Big East teams with more are SU and UConn. Yes PSU is being a bunch of pussies for that OOC schedule but overall they are still strong.

By virtue of the Big East being a glorified mid major, our teams have to schedule 2 decent BCS OOC games just to get even with most teams from real BCS confs. Big East teams should be scheduling strong because the Big East needs to prove itself. Ten years ago the only legit programs of the current 8 Big East teams were SU and WV. So the respect isnt there nationally. An drespect cant be earned by scheduling soft and beating no one OOC. On top of that the Big East only has 7 built in BCS games, so at worst we all should have one more OOC BCS game than other BCS confs.

Heck five P10 teams have friggin 11 BCS games and only five teams play 1AA games. Yet the BE only has two teams with 10 BCS games and has two teams with TWO 1AA games, one of which only plays EIGHT BCS games on the year. Memo to RU, grow a pair. And that really goes to the rest of the Big East as well.

That is all

King Otto III

Friday, June 12, 2009

The Daily Directive

Why do we all love sports so much? Some will say it is the passion of competition. Some will say it brings us back to our youth. But I think a very large draw is the drama. We all know that there is a chance that something special can happen at any moment. It could be a legendary player adding to his resume. Our it could be a team doing the unthinkable. And upsets are a part of this, ever since Upset beat Man o'War.

Fast forward now to the 2009 Syracuse Orange Football Team. It saddens me when I look around Orangeland and see my loyal subjects so down on the prospects of next season. While the team is not yet good enough to win on a consistent basis, history has shown us that on any given day the underdog can come out on top. In fact we can look to our very own Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer. He was DC two years ago at Stanford when they went on the road and beat National Title contender USC. The prior year Stanford went 1-11, including a loss to San Jose St. That year USC beat them 42-0 in Palo Alto. But with a new HC and staff in place Stanford was able to go 4-8 and beat USC on the road 24-23. We all know that USC would beat Stanford by 4 TDs 90% of the time, but that day Stanford was the better team. And that is what makes sports great.

Now onto our Orangemen. Why cant we do something similar this year? Are we any worse off than Stanford was? Even if your answer is yes, do we have anyone on our schedule even half as good as that USC team they beat? By no means should we be beating a bunch of these teams but there is no reason why we cant take one of them out. Looking at the candidates I think WV and Cincy could be ripe for Doug Marrones first signature win. Penn St would be a minor miracle and is likely asking too much (although see Stanford again). So the next biggest would be the Big East pre season favorites: WV and Cincy, both of which are at home for SU. Last year SU played WV close on the road, as the game was not decided for good until late in the 4th Q. Cincy however beat SU pretty badly. They did lose their entire D, but WV still seems more likely.

So I am hopeful that we all will see a signature win this year that will Trump Grobs signature wins of the last 4 seasons:

2005 over 1-10 Buffalo
2006 at 2-10 Illinois
2007 at 6-6 Louisville
2008 at 7-6 Notre Dame

Interesting enough all of GRobs "big" wins came on the road. Then again when only one of those teams finished over .500 (and barely), can you consider it a big W?

Just keep this all in mind Orangeland, at any time we could see a signature win this year at the Carrier Dome. So make sure you are there, as you will not want to miss it.


Godspeed

King Otto III

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Cuse Cast III

Cuse Cast III

KingOtto and CuseMan talk about players leaving and the new depth chart (about 25 mins)











Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Cuse Cast 2.0

The newest Cuse Cast tackles conference expansion











Monday, June 1, 2009

Finally

I found a way to have The Cuse Cast on an embedded player here. No more need for Podbean, which locked my account because bandwidth was exceeded. To listen to it live you just need to download QuickTime, which doesnt take long. Then all future Cuse Casts will play no problem.











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