Shit hits the fan in....

12 days.
you heard me.

12 days until the Orange open against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Carrier dome. 12 short months ago, we had a bumbling idiot at the helm who knew less about football than Tim McCarver does about baseball. Time flies when you don't have much to look forward to...... or do we? Here's your first set of legit preseason notes for the season:

-Some contoversy as to the progression of the offensive line, Adkins is optimistic, and Marrone?..... The exact opposite. Guess who gets voted off the island this year if things don't work out?

August 23rd: "The offensive line has to come around," Marrone said. "We're not getting new players there."

Ahh... the power of negativity.

-Marrone held a 150 play controlled scrimmage behind closed doors saturday. At least we think that's what happened..... No further comment.

-Greg Paulus is still the starter, kind of a good sign considering some people thought he wouldnt last a week back in pads. Maybe he finally learned to control his flopping.... i don't know do i look psychic to you?

Marrone's been relatively hush-hush in the past week, which either means things are going REALLY good, or they've just elevated to a new level of suckification. Maybe we'll know more this week.

Until tomorrow,
G'Orange

Poster Time!

Greg Paulus: Impressing coaches with his arm and his buttocks. nothin wrong with that except doug might think his thighs are getting outclassed. watch yourself buddy.

The Marrone Way

So far we've noticed two glaring things about the Doug Marrone era at Syracuse. First - the man is not shy about making quick decisions. He named Ryan Nassib the starting QB shortly into spring practice, and was just as rapid when replacing Nassib and naming Greg Paulus the starter last night. Secondly - the roster turnover has been nothing short of astonishing.

I don't mean this in a bad way. We all know about how lax things had gotten under the Greg Robinson regime. It was evident in the way the team faded in every game, the way they were pushed around on the field by teams like Akron (Akron!), and now from former players essentially admitting that there wasn't really any accountability in the off-season (weight training, conditioning, etc.). As reported by The Post Standard, 18 players have left the team since Marrone took over. They all have different reasons for doing so, but you can guarantee that at least some of them quit because they simply did not want to deal with a tougher, more demanding coaching staff. It happens.

Hopefully, this helps the team in the long run. The Orange are dangerously thin now at a few key positions (kicker and linebacker come to mind). But hopefully, when all is said and done, the kids that are left on the roster are tougher, both mentally and physically, as a result of the "pruning," if you will. The guys that are left are committed to this coaching staff, and they have bought into whatever hard-nosed approach Marrone is selling behind closed doors.

I'm reminded of a pivotal scene from the movie "Hoosiers," when the loudmouth kid tries to go back on the floor after being benched, because everyone else fouled out, and Coach Dale tells him to sit down. Incredulous, the kid sits back down, and the referee comes over to the coach and says, "You need one more out there," to which Norman Dale coolly replies, "my team's on the floor."

Hopefully when the lights go up on September 5th, after months of weeding out players, and toughening up those that are left, Doug Marrone's team will truly be on the field.

Breaking News: Paulus named Starter

first of all, hi guys! who missed my scrawny white ass?

good, i didnt either.

Greg paulus was just named the starter and since i dont have much time THIS evening to let people know what ive been up to over the past 2 months, i figure i'll just list the pros and cons of this move and leave it at that. nothin too crazy, i may go to su practice tomorrow, we shall see.

Pros:

• Tremendous Talent- The kid was the national hs player of the year as a senior. that needs to count for something.
• give nassib a rest-The kid is talented, but when he's at that level of maturity he's going to make tons of mistakes. let him study what a great quarterback can do for the season, then hand him the reins.
• Put some meat in the seats-I dont want to hear about aluminum bleacher halloween costumes this year. spare us all.

Cons

• He's a little...... rusty-Yeah he's been playing basketball now, and while i'm sure his court vision helps on the football field, there's more bodies to be accounted for on a football field, it'll take some time.
• No immediate PT for nassib-Just the flip side of my previous statement, i mean great qbs start as freshmen and learn the system from the beginning more often than not.
• what if he sucks?-Not an issue, we cant get any worse.