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in the • nov. 7 - nov. 8, 2014
huddlesyracuse vs. duke
3 or outSyracuse needs to win last 3 games for bowl
eligibility, starting with No. 22 Blue Devils
2 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com
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Adding injury to injuryAJ Long and Michael Lasker join the ever-growing list of injured Syracuse players. See who else is out or at risk of missing out for the Orange’s Saturday clash with Duke.See Page 5
In perspectiveDoctors told Davis Koppenhaver that had they discovered the tumor in his throat two weeks later, he probably would have died in his sleep. Now he suits up as a Duke tight end.See Page 10
cover photo by logan reidsma staff photographer
november 7 - 8, 2014 3 dailyorange.com [email protected]
By Phil D’Abbraccioasst. sports editor
The squat rack faced the wall, so Cameron Lynch couldn’t see behind him.
His father, Sean Lynch, was his spotter as the rising high school junior went through 16 reps at almost 380 pounds in a Hous-ton gym. Lynch was in the early stages of learning how to squat.
Or supposedly so. When his father looked up, seven gym rats had surrounded the rack, watching in awe of Lynch’s impeccable form and asking if Sean Lynch was a trainer, not the 16-year-old’s father.
“If I can’t grow taller, I can go wider and stronger,” Lynch said. “That was the plan.”
To combat what scouts called a height deficiency, the 6-foot tall Lynch conquered the weight room and developed into a stud linebacker and an NFL hopeful for Syracuse. His strength has formed him into one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top tacklers, while his experience and leadership qualities earned him a captain role this season.
And when the Orange (3-6, 1-4 ACC) holds its Senior Day ceremony before its game against No. 22 Duke on Saturday — knowing it needs to win to preserve bowl eligibility — Lynch
will have one last time to play before the Carrier Dome crowd.“It’s all come and gone so fast. To see his progression, him
growing from when he first walked in as a freshman to now,” Sean Lynch said. “To see all of that culminate this Saturday, that’s what’s going to get me teary-eyed and smiling at the same time.
“… And he’s not done yet. He wants to go to the next level. It may not be pretty, but he’ll get there.”
Lynch’s weight-room prowess quickly became too much for his father to keep up with — and Sean Lynch was once a Division I linebacker himself. He played baseball and walked onto the foot-ball team at Colorado in the 1980s, but transferred after one year.
His passion for football bred his son’s.“I credit all my success to him,” Lynch said, “because he got
me started.”Though adolescence naturally helped Lynch drop his youthful
chunkiness, after his freshman year in high school he and his father researched and designed a program that included weight lifting, plyometric work and exercises utilizing his own body weight.
Even if it meant jumping over trash cans or bounding onto student desks to replicate box jumps in the 100-degree heat of Houston — where he visited his father for the summers — Lynch was determined not to feel puny anymore. Core exercises and hip and flexibility work fine-tuned him into even more of a specimen.
“He’s a very, very, very strong human being,” SU defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said.
Lynch’s athleticism was apparent at a combine-style UCLA football camp going into his junior year of high school. After waiting in a line of 60 players, he took his shoes off, furrowing the eyebrows around him, but then raised them as he hit 38 inches in the vertical jump, his father said. Then Lynch repeated it when he was dared to do it again. It was one of the highest marks at the camp, Sean Lynch said.
On the field, he was soon a 215-pound beast making 135 and 188 tackles in his junior and senior seasons, respectively, at Brookwood (Georgia) High School.
He even scored a touchdown on a wheel route in his one time moonlighting as a fullback for Brookwood and won a state championship in his senior season. The championship game was one of the best individual high school performances SU head coach Scott Shafer said he has ever seen.
Still, recruiters from Virginia and Georgia Tech and a shortage of interest from the Southeastern Conference surrounding Lynch told him he was too short to make it as a college linebacker.
“Man, if I was 6-2, I’d be getting all kinds of offers. I could go anywhere,” Lynch said at the time to his father.
see lynch page 4
CAMERON LYNCH (38) has 54 solo tackles and 73 overall to lead the Orange. His 6-foot frame kept the top college football programs from offering him a scholarship, but it’s his strength that has allowed him to excel as a linebacker for Syracuse. He became a consistent starter after his sophomore season and hasn’t looked back. But the captain’s SU career will come to an end after the next three games, unless the Orange can win out and make a bowl game. logan reidsma staff photographer
‘FREAKISH’
40 TIME: SQUAT: CLEAN: BENCH PRESS: Scouts told him he was too short to be a Division I line-backer, so Cameron Lynch took it out on the weight room. Here is what he is capable of with his 6-foot, 231 pound frame as of Aug. 20, 2014:source: nfl.com
4.7 620 374 435seconds pounds pounds pounds
SU’s leading tackler, captain Lynch overcomes lack of height, heads into final home gameWRAPPING UP
4 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com [email protected]
“Yeah, but you know what? You’re not,” Sean Lynch told him. “You play like you’re 6-2, 6-3, and that’s what you’re going to do from this point on, but you’re not.”
“He got over that,” Sean Lynch says now, “and he never looked back.”
Lynch knew he wanted to take Syracuse’s offer after his official visit and passed on offers from Harvard and Vanderbilt, accord-ing to his Scout.com profile. He earned three starts through his first two years with the Orange before taking on a starting role last year and finishing as SU’s second-leading tackler with 69.
This year his 73 tackles lead the Orange, his 54 solo tackles rank second in the ACC and his 6.5 sacks are tied for third in the conference. In May, he was named the No. 4 “freakish” athlete in college sports by an NFL.com college football writer. Shafer used the same word to describe Lynch’s numbers in
the weight room.He’s done his part in passing on the Syra-
cuse linebacking torch, first by learning under Siriki Diabate and Dan Vaughan, then ascend-ing with Marquis Spruill and current room-mate Dyshawn Davis.
Now he’s close to handing it off to under-classmen Zaire Franklin and Marqez Hodge.
“He’s a vocal guy that gets everybody in the right mindset,” Bullough said. “He understands what we want to do. Coaches, we say it but it’s bigger when it comes from one of their peers.”
He’s intent on riding his football career out to the very end, however long his skills pan out
for if he’s given an opportunity in the NFL.But after speaking with reporters in the
Iocolano-Petty Football Wing on Tuesday evening, he had the Graduate Record Exam waiting for him the next day. He also had another episode of his brainchild, Cam’s Cam to shoot — a weekly video feature in which he interviews his SU teammates, a preview to his aspirational career in broadcasting.
But regardless of when football ends and his next door opens, Lynch has a chapter to close over the next month.
Sean Lynch doesn’t regret how his college playing days ended, but he remembers the
experience of knowing he was playing his last college football game.
With three games left, his son approaches that same feeling.
“You don’t want to look back when you’re 40 years old and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and you start reminiscing, you don’t want to remember the time where you didn’t give it all,” Sean Lynch said. “Leave it all out there.
“So when you do have those times when you’re reminiscing and you look back — hey, you’ll be proud of yourself.”
[email protected] | @PhilDAbb
(FROM LEFT) SCOTT SHAFER AND CAMERON LYNCH have fostered a good relationship in four years at Syracuse. This season, he started an online video show called Cam’s Cam, where he interviews different teammates on a weekly basis. margaret lin photo editor
He’s a vocal guy that gets everybody in the right mindset. He understands what we want to do. Coaches, we say it but it’s bigger when it comes from one of their peers.Chuck Bulloughsu defensive coordinator
from page 3
lynch
By Phil D’Abbraccio
and Jacob Klingerasst. sports editors
Freshman quarterback AJ Long is “extremely doubtful” for Syracuse’s game against No. 22 Duke on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., SU head coach Scott Shafer said in his weekly press confer-ence Thursday morning. Sophomore Austin Wilson is ready to step up in Long’s place, Shafer added.
Long has a nerve issue in his throwing arm after apparently being stepped on during the Orange’s loss to North Carolina State on Sat-urday. He has the cleat mark near his neck and shoulder to prove it.
The true freshman was hurting after the game, Shafer said, but the injury was only con-sidered a brief soft tissue issue that would only require a bit of time to heal. Long toughed it out in Monday’s practice and tried to continue to hide his discomfort during Tuesday’s prac-tice, but his hand went numb and the coaches handed more reps to Wilson.
“He’s a tough son of a gun. Holy cow, he’s a tough guy,” Shafer said of Long. “So really, we knew about it after the game but we didn’t know exactly what it was or where it was. I’ve had nerve problems in the hand and obviously you can’t function if you can’t feel it right.
“... I think he’ll be fine, but it’s probably going to take some time and that’s why we’re going to go
ahead and list him as extremely doubtful.”The last time Wilson was on the field, he was
on the receiving end of a jarring hit and had to be helped off the field by SU trainers during the Orange’s loss to Florida State on Oct. 11. Shafer said after the game that Wilson, a week after Terrel Hunt went down with his fractured fibula, had a “pretty good headache.”
Wilson was limited in practice for a couple of weeks, Shafer said, but has felt “great” the last two weeks and has had a good week of work taking Long’s reps.
“You adjust to your offense to the skill sets that your players have,” Shafer said. “Austin’s got a big, strong arm. He can make any of the throws so we’ll have to accentuate those strengths that he has and lean on those kinds of traits.”
Shafer added that the Orange did pretty well against N.C. State in pass protection consid-ering the shuffling parts due to injuries on the offensive line.
Considering Wilson isn’t quite the mobile threat Long or Hunt are, Syracuse may very well have to rely on the pass much more than it’s had to this season and Shafer didn’t deny it.
“We’re going to consider everything and anything possible in this world to try to find a way to beat Duke,” Shafer said, “and that would be one of those things that we look at.”
Shafer discusses Duke’s program turnaround Shafer sees something familiar in his Saturday
opponent, Duke.The Blue Devils, like Shafer’s team, hail
from a private school. Duke head coach David Cutcliffe has overseen a transition from irrel-evancy in the football program to make the team a conference contender. And the Blue Devils’ transition is a private-school model Shafer’s worked in before, he said in his Thurs-day morning press conference, and hopes to replicate with Syracuse.
“There’s a sense of integrity with our types of schools, smaller private schools who give kids wonderful opportunities for the rest of their lives because of the quality of degrees that they’ll be able to walk out of here with,”
Shafer said at his press conference. Shafer was an assistant head coach and
defensive coordinator at Stanford — under-
graduate enrollment: 7,065 — in 2007 under then-head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Car-dinal went 4-8 in Shafer’s lone season at Stanford, a year after finishing 1-11, before Harbaugh finished his tenure with a 12-1 season and an Orange Bowl victory to cap the 2010–11 season.
Duke — undergraduate enrollment: 6,646 — went a combined 4-42 in the four seasons before Cutcliffe took over the Blue Devils in 2008. They went 15-33 in his first four years with the program, then reached back-to-back bowl games in the last two seasons.
“He struggled, he struggled at first,” Shafer said of Cutcliffe, “but they stayed with the formula, they stayed with the plan, they went out and got those high school kids that fit their program and now, especially these past two seasons, they got it rolling. They got it rolling with the processes that were put in place and the philosophies that coach put in place with the help of his administration down there.”
Throughout the season, Shafer has touched on the difficulties of running a program at an expensive private school because teams at such colleges don’t get many walk-ons. Players can’t afford to play without scholarship, limit-ing the number of healthy bodies a coach has available to practice and play with.
The Orange is currently mired in an injury cri-sis with a patchwork offensive line, quarterbacks
november 7 - 8, 2014 5 dailyorange.com [email protected]
AJ LONG playing on Saturday is “highly doubtful,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said in his weekly press conference on Thursday. Now Austin Wilson, who has appeared in two games for the Orange and thrown no touchdowns, will likely start for the Orange when it plays the Blue Devils in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. logan reidsma staff photographer
Long ‘extremely doubtful’; Hodge, Robinson, 9 others out
They got it rolling with the processes that were put in place and the philosophies that coach put in place with the help of his administration down there.Scott Shafersu head coach
see shafer page 6
6 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com [email protected]
SCOTT SHAFER (RIGHT) will coach a relatively thin roster on Saturday. His starting quarterback AJ Long is doubtful with a nerve issue in his arm, the offensive line is depleted and receivers Brisly Estime and Ashton Broyld are out as well. logan reidsma staff photographer
from page 5
shaferHunt and Long out and doubtful, respectively, in addition to receivers Ashton Broyld and Brisly Estime having been in and out of the lineup.
Said Shafer: “What a great example of a school that can win games and also win in the classroom and be an elite school, like a Syra-cuse, a Duke and a Stanford-type situation. So for sure, we definitely do.”
Syracuse kicker Murphy named semifinal-ist for Lou Groza AwardSyracuse kicker Cole Murphy has been named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which is given annually to the country’s top kicker.
Murphy, a walk-on freshman, has con-verted 12 of his 14 field-goal attempts on the year, two of which came from 50 yards out. His field-goal percentage of 84.6 is 19th best in the country and fourth among freshmen. He hasn’t missed a kick from inside 35 yards this season for the Orange.
Six of the 20 semifinalists are from ACC schools. Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches, sports information directors, past Groza finalists and national and regional foot-ball writers will narrow the group down to three finalists, which will be announced Nov. 24 at the 23rd annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The winner will be announced Dec. 11 live on ESPN during the Home Depot College Foot-ball Awards Show.
Riley Dixon, SU’s senior punter and Mur-phy’s holder, cracked the preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award, the country’s punting
equivalent of the Lou Groza Award.Murphy’s provided stability to Syracuse’s kick-
ing game, which hasn’t had much success in recent years. In five of the last seven seasons going into this year, the Orange didn’t have a kicker with a
field-goal percentage higher than 80 percent.Ross Krautman hit 18-of-19 (94.7 percent) as a
freshman in 2010, but fell off the past few seasons and had to walk away from football due to injury before this season started. Junior Ryan Norton
was inconsistent — making just 4-of-7 — with his opportunities through SU’s first three games, leading the way for Murphy’s emergence.
[email protected] | @[email protected] | @Jacob_Klinger_
By Jacob Klingerasst. sports editor
When Syracuse senior guard Rob Trudo looked at this season’s sched-ule, he figured the Orange would’ve
clinched bowl eligibility by this time of the year. He couldn’t imagine that his offensive line team-mates would be so decimated by injuries.
But they are, leaving Syracuse (3-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) to face No. 22 Duke (7-1, 3-1) at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Carrier Dome with a patchwork offensive line that’s struggling week to week just to get five healthy-enough players on the field.
Their lingering knocks and chronic injuries have changed the way SU practices. And as Syr-acuse fights for its bowl-eligible life, the injuries also stand at the front of a long list of reasons why this season hasn’t gone the way the Orange expected.
“No one else that’s playing us cares, so we’ve got to find a way to go to war and that’s what we’re going to do,” head coach Scott Shafer said.
The injuries have left Syracuse’s opponents
smelling blood in the water — North Carolina State, a 20 percent blitz team, senior left tackle Sean Hickey said, rushed SU on half its plays on Saturday.
Hickey said that at the beginning of the season, he thought the Orange would have five or six wins by now. He also said he thought the team had about seven linemen that could play meaningful snaps. On top of the injuries on the line, freshman quarterback AJ Long is doubtful with a nerve injury and Austin Wilson could start against the Blue Devils.
“But right now we’re kind of past that point,” Hickey said. “And the rest of some of the guys that are playing aren’t really themselves.”
Normally the Orange practices with eight first-team reps followed by four second-team reps, then eight first-team reps, Trudo said, but now it’s just a mix. A scout-team period of practice might become a walkthrough and the team might add more reps against the second team instead of the scout team, Hickey said.
There are simply fewer reps in practice, he said, and fewer chances for players to work on their
blocking technique.Some of them are off the field, getting treat-
ment, just trying to be healthy for Saturday.“You look and say ‘Scout team, let’s go,’ and
there’s five guys,” Shafer said. “Well you can’t do that, right?”
Right tackle Ivan Foy has been out, battling a pair of leg injuries since limping off in SU’s 31-15
loss against Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 27. Right guard Omari Palmer has had to slide outside in his absence and had a brace on both of his legs against the Wolfpack last week.
After hardly practicing last week and being listed as doubtful, right guard Nick Robinson started but only lasted a couple series against N.C. State before being replaced by Michael Lasker — who usually plays tackle but had to slide inside.
But Lasker struggled and was replaced by back-
up center Jason Emerich while John Miller, who has also been on and off injury reports all season, played center. When Palmer limped off for a play, Jamar McGloster made his collegiate debut for one play before Palmer hobbled back in.
“Of our group, this is the most banged-up we’ve ever been since I’ve been here,” Trudo said.
This offensive unit is on its way to becoming just the first Orange side in the past six years to finish the season without a 900-yard rush-er. That’s partly due to SU spreading its carries around more evenly.
The 18 sacks allowed this season has the team one sack away from its worst performance in that area since 2011 when Syracuse went 5-7. The Orange also didn’t allow a sack until Week 3 and quarterback Terrel Hunt wasn’t sacked against Notre Dame in Week 4. All 18 sacks have come in six total games.
It all leaves the Orange a game away from having its worst record since that 2011 season, or worse. And it’s left Hickey, ahead of closing out his Carrier Dome career on Senior Day Saturday, counting on players that were in the offensive line room, but far from the playing field two months ago.
“They can physically go in there and be OK,” Hickey said. “It’s just, they need to make sure they know what they’re doing.”
[email protected] | @Jacob_Klinger_
november 7 -8, 2014 7 dailyorange.com [email protected]
Down in frontThe Syracuse offensive line has been plagued by injuries this season. In the six games that SU has allowed sacks, it’s given up six, which is one shy of its highest total since 2011. Offensive linemen Ivan Foy, Michael Lasker and Nick Robinson are all out for Saturday, while center John Miller is listed as probable. logan reidsma staff photographer
Of our group, this is the most banged-up we’ve ever been since I’ve been here.Rob Trudo su left guard
Syracuse’s hobbled offensive line looks to hold up against No. 22 Blue Devils
10 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com [email protected]
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Duke tight end reflects on career that cancer nearly cut shortBy Paul Schwedelsonstaff writer
Sharon Koppenhaver knew something wasn’t right with her 10-year-old son, Davis.
While playing sports, he wouldn’t sweat and his face would turn gray instead of the typical red color. He began snoring loudly while sleeping and his voice changed before hitting puberty. He was more fatigued than usual and even fell asleep at halftime of his youth football game and in between games at a travel basketball tournament.
Neither an allergist nor an asthma doctor could figure out the problem.
But finally after a few weeks, Jeffrey Birns, an ears, nose and throat doctor, put a camera down
Koppenhaver’s throat and found a golf ball-like tumor blocking 90 percent of his airway.
“They said that if they would have found it two weeks later, I probably would have died in my sleep,” Koppenhaver said.
The tumor, which was later found as cancer-ous, was removed five days after Birns found it in December 2006. It all happened fast that it seemed like a blur for Koppenhaver, now a freshman tight end for No. 22 Duke (7-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast). Although he only has one catch in four games this season, he’s enthusiastic about his future with the team because of what he’s already overcome.
When he was diagnosed, Koppenhaver played football, basketball and baseball. He
was in the middle of his travel basketball sea-son and played in four games at a tournament the day before the tumor was found.
Looking back, doctors were surprised he didn’t collapse on the court.
Davis’ cancer had rarely previously been found in a child’s throat before, which added to the uncertainty of the situation, Sharon Koppenhaver said. But throughout the week leading up to the surgery, the Koppenhavers decided to keep everything as normal as possi-ble — something they learned from his father’s experience with breast cancer six years earlier.
“You can’t dwell on the negatives,” Dave Koppenhaver, Davis’ father, said. “You can’t focus on woe is us, woe is me.”
Though Sharon Koppenhaver wanted to stay at home in Southern California before the surgery, her husband, son and daughter all wanted to continue their typical Christmas tradition of visiting friends and relatives in Sacramento, California. They outvoted her, and Sharon Koppenhaver said it worked out for the better because being with family and friends took their minds off the tumor.
The night before surgery, Koppenhaver slept over at his friend Brady White’s house. They played video games, watched college foot-ball bowl games and SportsCenter and ate snacks just like they had always done.
They prayed, too.“As a close friend of his, I was going through
the same kind of worries that he was,” White said. “I just wanted to be there for him, just have a good night with him and kind of get his mind off of things.”
After the surgery was successful, Koppen-haver just wanted to get back on the court. As a 10-year-old, he didn’t fully understand everything that happened.
But over time, Koppenhaver said it sunk in.“I realized that sports don’t define me,”
Koppenhaver said. “If someone asked me what my best attributes were before that, I’d prob-ably say athlete or competitor. But now, it’s completely different.”
Off the field at Duke, he’s laid back and is enjoyable to be around, fellow tight end David Reeves said, and his attitude impressed team-mates in the first week of training camp.
And while Koppenhaver’s role is minimal at this point in his career, tight end coach Zac Roper said you wouldn’t be able to tell from watching him practice, because he still brings the same energy level and attention to detail as the Blue Devils’ starters.
When he was younger, Koppenhaver wouldn’t talk about his cancer experience much. He still doesn’t, but he occasionally brings it up with his parents.
As a sophomore in high school, Koppen-haver dislocated his shoulder, which put his athletic career in question again. But after already nearly dying years earlier, Koppen-haver got back on the field.
“I remember saying, ‘Are we done now?’ meaning football. ‘Are we done with this?’” Sharon Koppenhaver said.
“No, I can’t wait to get back out there,” Koppenhaver responded. “Mom, I’m not even supposed to be here.”
DAVIS KOPPENHAVER (81) stands with his family. When he was 10 years old, a doctor discovered a cancerous tumor in his throat. He might have been just weeks from death, but now the tight end is playing football for Duke. courtesy of sharon koppenhaver
november 7 - 8, 2014 11 dailyorange.com [email protected]
pregame playbook
beat writer predictions
PHIL D’ABBRACCIO duke: 27 syracuse: 13
Don’t tell me my business,
Devil Woman
Duke is the lighter and
Syracuse’s season the paper bag. Just don’t
put it out with your boots, Orange fans.
JESSE DOUGHERTY duke: 28 syracuse: 20
Speaking of the Devils
Syracuse is banged up.
Very banged up. Like,
really banged up.
JACOB KLINGER duke: 30 syracuse: 14
Orange cake
Syracuse fights the good
fight but just doesn’t have
enough healthy bodies to be anything but
devil’s food.
key players
austin wilsonq ua r t e r b ac kHT: 6’3 WGHT: 214 YEAR: SOPHOMORE
jamison crowderw i d e r ec e i v e rHT: 5’9 WGHT: 175 YEAR: SENIOR
cole murphyk i c k e rHT: 6’3 WGHT: 193 YEAR: FRESHMAN
jeremy cash s a f e t yHT: 6’2 WGHT: 205 YEAR: REDSHIRT JUNIOR
syracuse
duke
backup, back againThe sophomore quarterback gets another chance to shine this season, after filling in after Terrel Hunt’s ejection against Villanova and starting against Florida State. AJ Long is “highly doubtful” with a nerve problem in his right arm, so Wilson is currently tasked with keeping Syracuse’s season alive. He’s com-pleted 16-of-29 passes on the year with no touchdowns, but he’ll have to be better than that against Duke.
starchildThe freshman was named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist on Thursday and he may be relied on to get the first of three necessary wins to make a bowl. Murphy is 12-for-14 on field goals this season, with a long of 50, and if Wil-son can’t get SU into the end zone, it might be chunks of three points that prolong the Orange’s season.
main attractionThe senior wide receiver is fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 636 receiv-ing yards and will pose a serious threat to the SU secondary. He has four receiving touchdowns, which is two-thirds of the num-ber of total touchdown catches the entire SU team has.
making it rainThe redshirt junior safety is second on the Blue Devils with 76 total tackles and is tied for the team lead with five tackles for loss. His two interceptions and one and one-half sacks prove he is capable of getting into the backfield or patrolling the secondary, so Wil-son will have to have his eyes on the money at all times.
stats to know
syracuse 33duke 6
Jerry Courtney had a 74 yard run for Syracuse on Oct. 21, 1939 in Durham, North Carolina. Only one Syracuse player has had a longer run this season. Devante McFarlane had an 86-yard dash against Wake Forest on Oct. 18.
86
74
JERRY COURTNEY DEVANTE MCFARLANE
161.7
they said it
They’ve got some depth and they play a lot of people in a lot of areas on offense and defense. They’ve got some people that can run; this is another big, physical offensive and defensive front.
David Cutcliffeduke head coach
They have a big play guy in Crowder, a big, agile guy who can make plays both in the quick passing game and down the field. They have a good balance in their run-to-pass ratios and in different down and distance categories.Scott Shafersu head coach
But what these guys are doing, there’s no month off after these games, so it’s basically just playing and … and taping them up for next week.Sean Hickey su left tackle
212.2
371.6422
20.1 35.8
o f f e n s i v e c o m pa r i s o n s:
Rushing yards per game
Total yards per game
Points per game
SYRACUSE DUKE
d e f e n s i v e c o m pa r i s o n s:
SYRACUSE
DUKE
Tackles for loss Total defense Rushing defense
6131
353.8
422.5
130.6
214
last time they played
12 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com [email protected]
time machine
Duke steamrolls Syracuse at Archbold Stadium 21-0 in 1938Editor’s note: The following is republished Daily Orange coverage of Syracuse’s first-ever game against Duke, a game played on Nov. 12, 1938. This story was published in the Nov. 15 edition of the same year.
By Roger Hammondformer sports editor
Teams may come and teams may goLike a cigaret’s feeble spark,They take the field, display their showWith casual talk their mark.But some teams dazzle, striking somehow
Minus flaw or flukeTo such teams one must surely bowSaturday it was Duke.Perhaps the best way to sum up the Duke
meeting, or the story of the one-sided hand-shake in four chapters, would be to open dis-cussion on Columbia as defeats usually come under the heading of the less said, the better.
But you can’t evade or dispense with the Blue Devils that way. When there is a loss, which is questionable or which shows gross error on the part of the losers, the forgetful attitude may be apropos but when the defeat is 100 percent genuine, you have to clap the winners.
Duke was a victor Saturday all the way, in every sense of the game. The southerners not only had superior material in every position but in addition had football finesse.
They had a polished repertoire of grid knicknacks, that collectively were significant to the point of paying off. Ability to sense plays when on defense, a lax, loose stroll coming out of the huddle followed by sudden explosion of the play, machinelike conversions from a crouch after touchdowns – that’s what the Durham dynamo showed you Saturday.
The triumph was the seventh straight set of perfect play by the Dukes. And those seven
wins have included an opposition whitewash in each. Duke is grid aristocracy not only in the name but in everything the word implies.
The invaders schedule could well be called the Dance of the Blue Devil, with a dizzier cycle of pigskin pirouettes each succeeding Saturday. And Duke is determined that the dance won’t reach its apex until the Rose Bowl whistle is blown.
Two encounters remain to bar the path, North Carolina State and Pittsburgh. North Carolina should fall away but if Pitt overpowers Duke, the Panthers should get an all time sports scepter for being the greatest football greats.
By Phil D’Abbraccioasst. sports editor
With their backs to the wall after losing to North Carolina State on Saturday, the Syra-cuse players and coaches united in the Carrier Dome locker room.
The defeat meant the Orange has to win out in the regular season to be bowl eligible, but it didn’t stop safety Ritchy Desir from standing and addressing his team.
“‘No matter what, we’re a family until the bitter end and we’ll just keep fighting,’” head coach Scott Shafer said in his Thursday morn-
ing press conference, reciting Desir’s message. “That’s who these kids are.”
It was a senior who led that rally and it’ll be the Syracuse (3-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) seniors who say goodbye to the Carrier Dome after they host No. 22 Duke (7-1, 5-1) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. SU will honor 28 players that have played a “big part” in the program, Shafer said, in a Senior Day ceremony before the game.
Through the ups and downs this year has brought on, the Orange’s seniors have been reliable anchors. All four SU captains are seniors — two of them being fifth-year players.
“It’ll be extremely emotional for a minute,
then we’ve got to flip the switch and play football for the love of the game,” Shafer said, “because you want to be emotional and you want to be able to look at your experience after the fact. Because if you start contemplating all those things before, you’re going to get hit square in the chin and not play up to your ability level.
“… But I’ve been pleased with the work ethic and the brotherhood across the table through-out the course of this week, knowing it’ll be a lot of kids’ last day in the Dome.”
On Tuesday evening, left tackle Sean Hickey and linebacker Cameron Lynch, two of the captains, both acknowledged the sense
of urgency they feel as the Orange approaches the final quarter of the schedule with no margin for error.
But Shafer zoomed out and discussed the larger scope he likes to look at.
To the head coach, it’s not so much about wins and losses.
“… (It’s) more about the email you get from a kid saying, ‘Coach, remember when you didn’t think I could make it and then I did? And by the way, I have two children and a wonderful wife and I’m making a lot of money,’” Shafer said.
“That’s what it’s about.”[email protected] | @PhilDAbb
With season on line, Orange looks to seniors on Senior Day
By Connor Grossmanstaff writer
In his first day as the Georgia Southern head coach, Willie Fritz gave a familiar message: “We’re still running.”
Running has always been a tradition for the Eagles program and it’s one that Fritz contin-ued to follow. The Eagles lead college football with 3,638 rushing yards — 484 yards better than second-place Navy.
A blend of running back depth in an offense that mixes a variety of running plays — includ-ing play action and the triple option — has led to prolific running success this season.
“We have so many weapons in our backfield,” said freshman running back Alfred Ramsby. “If one guy’s not breaking out, there’s another guy ready to breakout just like last week.
“It’s what we pride ourselves on.”Though the ground game remains constant,
the team itself was in flux going into this season. Georgia Southern (7-2, 6-0 Sun Belt) is in its first year in the Football Bowl Subdivision and has Ramsby, its third-leading rusher, transi-tioning from quarterback to running back. The team also has a new coaching staff.
The pinnacle of all the moving parts sur-rounding the team, though, is the oft-used triple option.
“We do the triple a lot more than people think we do,” sophomore running back Matt Breida said. “A lot of teams try to pinch guys to force the quarterback to run the ball instead, but we’ve got some good athletes at the quar-terback spot so it doesn’t really matter who
(the defense) tries to take.”GSU is coming off a 42-10 victory against
Troy in which it amassed 421 rushing yards as a team, without one player recording 100 or more yards individually. Nine different play-ers notched positive rushing yards and all six touchdowns came on the ground.
Breida leads the Eagles with 1,104 rushing yards, and four others have at least 200 rushing yards on the season. The Eagles have led the Southern Conference in overall rushing yards the last two years and led in rushing touch-downs the last four years before moving to the Sun Belt this season.
Despite the astronomical rushing num-bers, there’s a constant risk in pitching or lateraling the ball mid-air in any leg of the option play. Sophomore quarterback Kevin
Ellison paid the price against Troy, lofting a pitch just inches ahead of the hand of receiver Montay Crockett to allow Troy to recover the ball at its own 19.
But just four minutes into the third quarter, Ellison lunged into the end zone on a 2-yard quarterback draw.
It’s the offensive line, he said, that is the catalyst for the rushing success.
“You know we pride ourselves so much on the running game,” Ellison said, “but we have an offensive line that prides themselves on just mauling people, they’re real physical.
“They always tell us before the game, ‘Just
november 7-8, 2014 13 dailyorange.com [email protected]
Georgia Southern has a new head coach in Willie Fritz, but is employing the same offensive tactics it always has. The Eagles lead college football with 3,638 rushing yards and have five players with at least 200. courtesy of georgia southern athletics
national
Georgia Southern uses triple option to thrive as country’s top rushing attack
We do the triple a lot more than people think we do. A lot of teams try to play pinch guys to force the quarterback to run the ball instead, but we’ve got some good athletes at the quarterback spot so it doesn’t really matter who (the defense) tries to take.Matt Breidageorgia southern running back
see national page 14
14 november 7 - 8, 2014 dailyorange.com [email protected]
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jump on our backs and we’ll lead y’all the way.’”New offensive coordinator Doug Ruse
instituted a zone scheme for the offensive line that has worked marvelously for the Eagles’ ground attack. Instead of going for the head block on the defensive lineman in front of them, Ruse preached lateral movement to prevent the defense from breaching the line.
The receivers also play a pivotal role in the blocking. Most games for the Eagles’ receivers play out like Kentrellis Showers’ last game did: three targets, one reception.
He’s happy to share in his team’s successes, but the lack of involvement in most plays can
grow tiresome.“I’m not going to lie to you,” Showers said,
“It does wear on you. But you have to be men-tally strong and a team player.
“When you’re out there blocking for 12-13
plays in a row, you just know that someone’s going to hit a play in a minute.”
Poking fun at his own offensive scheme, Fritz said of his relievers, “When we throw up 15 (yards), they’ve died and gone to heaven.”
There was a heightened willingness by Fritz to credit the players who make the plays off the ball — the players making plays ahead of the actual play.
“We’ve got some awfully good, unselfish
players,” Ruse said. “They’re thinking team first and they don’t care how we get it done.
“They’re just concerned about getting it done and we’re doing it with the run game.”
from page 13
national
Georgia Southern is in its first year in the FBS, but has raced out to a 7-2 record, including a perfect 6-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Eagles have established their success using a run-first style of offense. courtesy of georgia southern athletics
I’m not going to lie to you. It does wear on you. But you have to be mentally strong and a team player. When you’re out there blocking for 12-13 plays in a row you just know that someone’s going to hit a play in a minute.
Kentrellis Showersgeorgia southern wide receiver
november 7 - 8, 2014 15 dailyorange.com [email protected]
1 Ashton Broyld WR
1 Julian Whigham CB
2 Quinta Funderburk WR
2 Wayne Morgan CB
3 Durell Eskridge FS
3 Mitch Kimble QB
4 AJ Long QB
4 Brandon Reddish CB
5 Luke Arciniega LB
5 Austin Wilson QB
6 Ritchy Desir SS
7 Troy Green WR
7 Oliver Vigille LB
8 Steve Ishmael WR
8 Darius Kelly SS
9 Brisly Estime WR
10 Terrel Hunt QB
10 Josh Kirkland LB
11 Colton Moskal LB
11 Corey Winfield CB
12 Ryan Norton K
13 Ron Thompson DE
14 Ervin Philips RB
15 Juwan Dowels CB
16 Keenan Hale WR
16 Rodney Williams FS
17 Jonathan Thomas LB
19 Joe Nassib CB
20 Cordell Hudson CB
21 Chauncey Scissum FS
22 Adrian Flemming WR
23 Prince-Tyson Gulley RB
24 Jaston George FS
25 Eric Jackson CB
25 Jeremiah Kobena WR
27 George Morris II RB
28 Antwan Cordy CB
29 Devante McFarlane RB
30 Parris Bennett LB
31 Clay Cleveland FB
32 Travon Burke FB
33 Marqez Hodge LB
34 Adonis Ameen-Moore RB
35 Dyshawn Davis LB
36 Alex Hodgkinson K
38 Cameron Lynch LB
39 Greg Tobias RB
41 Eric Anthony SS
42 Jacob Green TE
42 Joe Stanard CB
45 Zaire Franklin LB
46 PJ Batten TE
47 Sam Rodgers LS
48 Cole Murphy K
49 Alryk Perry LB
50 John Raymon NT
51 Donnie Simmons DE
52 Eric Crume NT
53 Nathan Hines LS
54 Kennedy Kodua DE
55 Marcus Coleman DT
55 Rob Trudo OG
56 John Miller C
57 Omari Palmer OG
58 Hernz Laguerre LB
58 Donnie Foster C
59 Aaron Roberts OG
60 Sean Hickey OT
63 Rony Charles DL
65 Jamar McGloster OT
67 Michael Lasker OT
68 Nick Robinson OG
69 Keith Mitsuuchi LS
70 Jesse Wolf-Gould OG
71 Alex Hayes OG
72 Ivan Foy OT
73 Jon Burton OT
74 Seamus Shanley OG
75 Denzel Ward OT
75 Wayne Williams NT
77 Keaton Darney OL
78 Jason Emerich C
79 Taylor Hindy OL
80 Tyler Provo TE
81 Jamal Custis WR
82 Alvin Cornelius WR
83 Sean Avant WR
84 Ben Lewis WR
86 Adly Enoicy WR
87 Kendall Moore TE
88 Jarrod West WR
89 Josh Parris TE
90 Cameron MacPherson TE
91 Isaiah Johnson DE
92 Riley Dixon K/P
93 Micah Robinson DE
94 Robert Welsh DE
95 Chris Slayton DE
96 Jalen Harvey DT
97 Kayton Samuels NT
98 Trevon Trejo DE
99 Ryan Sloan DT
SYRACUSE
2014 ROSTER
DUKE1 Thomas Sirk QB
2 Evrett Edwards S/CB
3 Jamison Crowder WR
4 Johneil Barnes WR
5 Johnathan Lloyd CB
6 Nicodem Pierre QB
7 Anthony Boone QB
9 Josh Snead RB
10 Ryan Smith WR
11 T.J. Douglas CB
12 Parker Boehme QB
12 Will Kline P/K
13 Kane Banner QB
13 Collin Wareham K
14 Johndre Bennett WR
14 Byron Fields CB
15 Quay Mann S
15 Mackenzie Sovereign QB
16 Jeremy Cash S
16 Robert Collins QB
17 Isaac Blakeney WR
17 Hud Mellencamp CB
18 Eamonn Vain-Callahan RB
19 Quay Chambers WR
20 Jake Kite S
21 Alonzo Saxton II CB
22 Britton Grier DE
23 Joseph Ajeigbe RB
24 Zavier Carmichael LB
26 Corbin McCarthy S
27 DeVon Edwards S/CB
28 Shaquille Powell RB
29 Shaun Wilson RB
30 Danny Fowler LB
31 Breon Borders CB
32 Jamie Cockey CB
33 Deondre Singleton S
34 Eric Adams RB
34 Jonathan Jones DE
35 Ross Martin K
36 Christian Conway S
37 Phillip Carter S
38 Grant Hall S
39 Zach Muñiz CB
40 Dwayne Norman S
41 Will Monday P
42 Dezmond Johnson DE
43 Tinashe Bere LB
43 Danny Stirt K/P
44 Zach Boden RB
44 Nick Hill LB
45 Jackson Conway RB
46 Kyle Wellner S
46 Kelin Rayner DT
47 David Helton LB
48 Deion Williams LB
49 Danny Doyle DE
50 Austin Davis C
50 Wyatt Smith LB
51 Dominic McDonald LB
51 William Perrott OG
53 Kameron Schroeder OL
54 C.J. France LB
55 Lucas Fisher LB
56 Kyler Brown DE
57 Thomas Hennessy LS
58 Michael Mann DE
59 Kelby Brown LB
60 Mike Fagan OL
61 Colin Duffy LS
62 Matt Skura C
63 Zach Harmon OL
64 Jake Brodner OG
65 Cody Robinson OG
66 Carson Ginn OG
67 Lucas Patrick OG
68 Alex Skidmore OG
69 Bronson Bruneau LS
70 Christian Harris OL
71 Casey Blaser OT
72 Jake Sanders OL
73 Takoby Cofield OT
74 Trip McNeill OL
75 Sam Marshall OT
76 Gabe Bradner OT
77 Laken Tomlinson OG
78 Sterling Korona OG
79 Tanner Stone OT
80 David Reeves TE
81 Davis Koppenhaver TE
82 Chris Taylor WR
83 Anthony Nash WR
84 Trevon Lee WR
85 Dan Bellinson TE
86 Terrance Alls WR
86 Connor Peters TE
87 Max McCaffrey WR
88 Erich Schneider TW
89 Braxton Deaver TE
90 Taariq Shabazz DE
91 Jamal Bruce DT
92 Edgar Cerenord DT
93 A.J. Wolf DT
94 Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo DE
95 Jamal Wallace DT
95 Jack Willoughby K
96 Allen Jackson DT
97 Quaven Ferguson DT
98 Carlos Wray DT
99 Mike Ramsay DT
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