sports: September 2008 Archives
I was all set to post something tonight about how Cecil Cooper should stop whining about having to play the Cubs in Milwaukee. Surely it wouldn't be that much of an advantage, right?
They should embed a video clip of Andrea Kremer's post-game interview last night with Brian Urlacher. You could see him twitch when Kremer asked a question that was based on the premise that last night's game was an upset, then when she finished the question, Urlacher said, with a totally straight face:
"It wasn't an upset to us."
All the talking heads picking the Bears to finish 3rd or 4th in the Norris this year should take note--this team may surprise a few more favored opponents before the season's over, if last night was any indication.
...and I needed to mollify my alumni and boosters with a couple of wins over BCS conference teams, I could do a lot worse than to schedule Syracuse early and often. In a couple of seconds, SU will have lost by 2 TDs to Akron, in the Carrier Dome. They played well in the 3rd quarter, but that was about it.
You can't coach speed, but you can coach tackling; over and over today, the SU defense was meeting Akron ball carriers in the backfield, only to be shrugged off en route to 10+ yard carries. If it were a matter of someone else's talent, that'd be one thing, but most of our players were recruited by our current staff. If it were a matter of offense, that'd be one thing given the head coach's background in defense, but we couldn't tackle today to save our lives and we gave up 40+ points and almost 500 yards to a team from the MAC. Last year, SU was one of the worst D1 teams in the country, across the board, and the first 2 games (losses against Northwestern and Akron) do nothing to inspire confidence about our other non-conference games (v. Penn State and Notre Dame) or our ability to climb out of the Big East cellar.
I've watched parts of both games now, and I'm hard pressed to find any sort of identity for this team, not to mention actual promise. My guess is that our current coach doesn't have much longer.
