Nov. 7, 2014

huddle in the • nov. 7 - nov. 8, 2014

syracuse vs. duke

3 or out Syracuse needs to win last 3 games for bowl eligibility, starting with No. 22 Blue Devils

2 november 7 - 8, 2014

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In perspective

Adding injury to injury AJ Long and Michael Lasker join the evergrowing 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

Doctors 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

t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r ac u s e , n e w yor k

Lara Sorokanich

Meredith Newman

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november 7 - 8, 2014 3

WRAPPING UP

SU’s leading tackler, captain Lynch overcomes lack of height, heads into final home game

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

By Phil D’Abbraccio asst. sports editor

T

he 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 Houston 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 football 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

‘FREAKISH’ Scouts told him he was too short to be a Division I linebacker, 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

40 TIME:

4.7

seconds

SQUAT:

620 pounds

CLEAN:

374 pounds

BENCH PRESS:

435 pounds

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from page 3

lynch “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, according 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.

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 Bullough su defensive coordinator

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

(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

the weight room.

He’s done his part in passing on the Syracuse linebacking torch, first by learning under Siriki Diabate and Dan Vaughan, then ascending with Marquis Spruill and current roommate Dyshawn Davis.

Now he’s close to handing it off to underclassmen 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.” pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb

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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

By Phil D’Abbraccio and Jacob Klinger asst. 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 conference 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 Saturday. 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 considered 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 practice, 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 considering 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 irrelevancy 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 Thursday 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,”

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 Shafer su head coach

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 Cardinal 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, limiting the number of healthy bodies a coach has available to practice and play with.

The Orange is currently mired in an injury crisis with a patchwork offensive line, quarterbacks see shafer page 6

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from page 5

shafer Hunt 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 Syracuse, a Duke and a Stanford-type situation. So for sure, we definitely do.”

Syracuse kicker Murphy named semifinalist for Lou Groza Award Syracuse 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 converted 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 football 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 Football Awards Show.

Riley Dixon, SU’s senior punter and Murphy’s holder, cracked the preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award, the country’s punting

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

equivalent of the Lou Groza Award.

Murphy’s provided stability to Syracuse’s kicking 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. pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_

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The 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

Down in front

Syracuse’s hobbled offensive line looks to hold up against No. 22 Blue Devils

By Jacob Klinger asst. sports editor

W

hen Syracuse senior guard Rob Trudo looked at this season’s schedule, he figured the Orange would’ve clinched bowl eligibility by this time of the year.

He couldn’t imagine that his offensive line teammates 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 Syracuse 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 firstteam 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 treatment, 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

Of our group, this is the most banged-up we’ve ever been since I’ve been here.

Rob Trudo su left guard

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 rusher. 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.” jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_

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Duke tight end reflects on career that cancer nearly cut short

By Paul Schwedelson staff 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 cancerous, 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

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 SERVICE HOURS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 7:30am - 7pm Wednesday - Friday: 7:30am - 7pm Saturday: 8am - 1pm SALES HOURS: Monday - Thursday: 9am - 8pm Friday: 9am - 6pm Saturday: 9am - 5pm

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10% off all repairs with SUID Free shuttle to and from campus Loaner cars available

And Full Service Collision Center

was in the middle of his travel basketball season 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 possible — 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 football 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, Koppenhaver 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 probably 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 teammates 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, Koppenhaver dislocated his shoulder, which put his athletic career in question again. But after already nearly dying years earlier, Koppenhaver 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.” pmschwed@syr.edu

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pregame playbook beat writer predictions

key players

syracuse

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.

backup, back again

austin wilson quarterback

JESSE DOUGHERTY duke: 28 syracuse: 20

HT: 6’3 WGHT: 214 YEAR: SOPHOMORE

Speaking of the Devils Syracuse is banged up.

Very banged up. Like,

The 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 completed 16-of-29 passes on the year with no touchdowns, but he’ll have to be better than that against Duke.

starchild

cole murphy kicker HT: 6’3 WGHT: 193 YEAR: FRESHMAN

The 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 Wilson can’t get SU into the end zone, it might be chunks of three points that prolong the Orange’s season.

duke

really banged up.

main attraction 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.

jamison crowder wide receiver

The senior wide receiver is fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 636 receiving yards and will pose a serious threat to the SU secondary. He has four receiving touchdowns, which is two-thirds of the number of total touchdown catches the entire SU team has.

making it rain

jeremy cash safe t y HT: 6’2 WGHT: 205 YEAR: REDSHIRT JUNIOR

HT: 5’9 WGHT: 175 YEAR: SENIOR

The 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 Wilson will have to have his eyes on the money at all times.

stats to know offensive comparisons:

422.5

defensive comparisons:

SYRACUSE

353.8

SYRACUSE

DUKE

371.6

DUKE

422

214 161.7

212.2

130.6 61 20.1

Rushing yards per game

Total yards per game

last time they played

31

35.8

Points per game

Tackles for loss

Total defense

Rushing defense

they said it

syracuse 33 duke 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.

74 86 JERRY COURTNEY

DEVANTE MCFARLANE

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.

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.

David Cutcliffe

Scott Shafer

Sean Hickey

duke head coach

su head coach

su left tackle

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.

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With season on line, Orange looks to seniors on Senior Day

By Phil D’Abbraccio asst. sports editor

With their backs to the wall after losing to North Carolina State on Saturday, the Syracuse 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 throughout 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.” pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb

time machine

Duke steamrolls Syracuse at Archbold Stadium 21-0 in 1938 Editor’s note: The following is republished Daily Orange coverage of Syracuse’s firstever 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 Hammond former sports editor

Teams may come and teams may go Like a cigaret’s feeble spark, They take the field, display their show With casual talk their mark.

But some teams dazzle, striking somehow

Minus flaw or fluke To such teams one must surely bow Saturday it was Duke.

Perhaps the best way to sum up the Duke meeting, or the story of the one-sided handshake in four chapters, would be to open discussion 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.

november 7-8, 2014 13

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national

Georgia Southern uses triple option to thrive as country’s top rushing attack

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

By Connor Grossman staff 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 continued 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 — including 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, transitioning from quarterback to running back. The team also has a new coaching staff.

The pinnacle of all the moving parts surrounding 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 quarterback 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 players notched positive rushing yards and all six touchdowns came on the ground.

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 Breida georgia southern running back

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 touchdowns the last four years before moving to the Sun Belt this season.

Despite the astronomical rushing numbers, 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 see national page 14

14 november 7 - 8, 2014

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from page 13

national 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

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 Showers georgia southern wide receiver

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

grow tiresome.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Showers said, “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.”

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.”

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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.” cgrossma@syr.edu

november 7 - 8, 2014 15

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2014 ROSTER SYRACUSE 1 Ashton Broyld WR

13 Ron Thompson DE

34 Adonis Ameen-Moore RB

57 Omari Palmer OG

81 Jamal Custis WR

1 Julian Whigham CB

14 Ervin Philips RB

35 Dyshawn Davis LB

58 Hernz Laguerre LB

82 Alvin Cornelius WR

2 Quinta Funderburk WR

15 Juwan Dowels CB

36 Alex Hodgkinson K

58 Donnie Foster C

83 Sean Avant WR

2 Wayne Morgan CB

16 Keenan Hale WR

38 Cameron Lynch LB

59 Aaron Roberts OG

84 Ben Lewis WR

3 Durell Eskridge FS

16 Rodney Williams FS

39 Greg Tobias RB

60 Sean Hickey OT

86 Adly Enoicy WR

3 Mitch Kimble QB

17 Jonathan Thomas LB

41 Eric Anthony SS

63 Rony Charles DL

87 Kendall Moore TE

4 AJ Long QB

19 Joe Nassib CB

42 Jacob Green TE

65 Jamar McGloster OT

88 Jarrod West WR

4 Brandon Reddish CB

20 Cordell Hudson CB

42 Joe Stanard CB

67 Michael Lasker OT

89 Josh Parris TE

5 Luke Arciniega LB

21 Chauncey Scissum FS

45 Zaire Franklin LB

68 Nick Robinson OG

90 Cameron MacPherson TE

5 Austin Wilson QB

22 Adrian Flemming WR

46 PJ Batten TE

69 Keith Mitsuuchi LS

91 Isaiah Johnson DE

6 Ritchy Desir SS

23 Prince-Tyson Gulley RB

47 Sam Rodgers LS

70 Jesse Wolf-Gould OG

92 Riley Dixon K/P

7 Troy Green WR

24 Jaston George FS

48 Cole Murphy K

71 Alex Hayes OG

93 Micah Robinson DE

7 Oliver Vigille LB

25 Eric Jackson CB

49 Alryk Perry LB

72 Ivan Foy OT

94 Robert Welsh DE

8 Steve Ishmael WR

25 Jeremiah Kobena WR

50 John Raymon NT

73 Jon Burton OT

95 Chris Slayton DE

8 Darius Kelly SS

27 George Morris II RB

51 Donnie Simmons DE

74 Seamus Shanley OG

96 Jalen Harvey DT

9 Brisly Estime WR

28 Antwan Cordy CB

52 Eric Crume NT

75 Denzel Ward OT

97 Kayton Samuels NT

10 Terrel Hunt QB

29 Devante McFarlane RB

53 Nathan Hines LS

75 Wayne Williams NT

98 Trevon Trejo DE

10 Josh Kirkland LB

30 Parris Bennett LB

54 Kennedy Kodua DE

77 Keaton Darney OL

99 Ryan Sloan DT

11 Colton Moskal LB

31 Clay Cleveland FB

55 Marcus Coleman DT

78 Jason Emerich C

11 Corey Winfield CB

32 Travon Burke FB

55 Rob Trudo OG

79 Taylor Hindy OL

12 Ryan Norton K

33 Marqez Hodge LB

56 John Miller C

80 Tyler Provo TE

1 Thomas Sirk QB

18 Eamonn Vain-Callahan RB

40 Dwayne Norman S

58 Michael Mann DE

80 David Reeves TE

2 Evrett Edwards S/CB

19 Quay Chambers WR

41 Will Monday P

59 Kelby Brown LB

81 Davis Koppenhaver TE

3 Jamison Crowder WR

20 Jake Kite S

42 Dezmond Johnson DE

60 Mike Fagan OL

82 Chris Taylor WR

4 Johneil Barnes WR

21 Alonzo Saxton II CB

43 Tinashe Bere LB

61 Colin Duffy LS

83 Anthony Nash WR

5 Johnathan Lloyd CB

22 Britton Grier DE

43 Danny Stirt K/P

62 Matt Skura C

84 Trevon Lee WR

6 Nicodem Pierre QB

23 Joseph Ajeigbe RB

44 Zach Boden RB

63 Zach Harmon OL

85 Dan Bellinson TE

7 Anthony Boone QB

24 Zavier Carmichael LB

44 Nick Hill LB

64 Jake Brodner OG

86 Terrance Alls WR

9 Josh Snead RB

26 Corbin McCarthy S

45 Jackson Conway RB

65 Cody Robinson OG

86 Connor Peters TE

10 Ryan Smith WR

27 DeVon Edwards S/CB

46 Kyle Wellner S

66 Carson Ginn OG

87 Max McCaffrey WR

11 T.J. Douglas CB

28 Shaquille Powell RB

46 Kelin Rayner DT

67 Lucas Patrick OG

88 Erich Schneider TW

12 Parker Boehme QB

29 Shaun Wilson RB

47 David Helton LB

68 Alex Skidmore OG

89 Braxton Deaver TE

12 Will Kline P/K

30 Danny Fowler LB

48 Deion Williams LB

69 Bronson Bruneau LS

90 Taariq Shabazz DE

13 Kane Banner QB

31 Breon Borders CB

49 Danny Doyle DE

70 Christian Harris OL

91 Jamal Bruce DT

13 Collin Wareham K

32 Jamie Cockey CB

50 Austin Davis C

71 Casey Blaser OT

92 Edgar Cerenord DT

14 Johndre Bennett WR

33 Deondre Singleton S

50 Wyatt Smith LB

72 Jake Sanders OL

93 A.J. Wolf DT

14 Byron Fields CB

34 Eric Adams RB

51 Dominic McDonald LB

73 Takoby Cofield OT

94 Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo DE

15 Quay Mann S

34 Jonathan Jones DE

51 William Perrott OG

74 Trip McNeill OL

95 Jamal Wallace DT

15 Mackenzie Sovereign QB

35 Ross Martin K

53 Kameron Schroeder OL

75 Sam Marshall OT

95 Jack Willoughby K

16 Jeremy Cash S

36 Christian Conway S

54 C.J. France LB

76 Gabe Bradner OT

96 Allen Jackson DT

16 Robert Collins QB

37 Phillip Carter S

55 Lucas Fisher LB

77 Laken Tomlinson OG

97 Quaven Ferguson DT

17 Isaac Blakeney WR

38 Grant Hall S

56 Kyler Brown DE

78 Sterling Korona OG

98 Carlos Wray DT

17 Hud Mellencamp CB

39 Zach Mu単iz CB

57 Thomas Hennessy LS

79 Tanner Stone OT

99 Mike Ramsay DT

DUKE

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photo by logan reidsma staff photographer