Syracuse shows potential late in the season
By Jasmine Watkins
Saturday was definitely the coming out show for Ryan Nassib,
Syracuse senior quarterback. The party is later in the season than many would
have preferred but it is still nice to see. The Orange haven’t lost on Senior
Day since Nassib has been playing, and with it being his turn to be a senior,
he wasn’t about to start now.
Winning would prove to be a tough feat facing BCS hopeful,
Louisville.
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| (AP Photo/Kevin Rivioli) |
The Orange (5-5) trumped the previously undefeated No. 11 Louisville
Cardinals, 45-26 with an even mix of the running and passing game. The offense
gained 524 yards total, with Jerome Smith leading the way with 144 yards for
the Orange.
The Orange defense was also extraordinary, holding the Cards
to just 50 yards rushing.
The star of the game was definitely Nassib, playing the last
home game in his career he threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns. This is
the quarterback Syracuse fans knew they had and the rest of the nation was
afraid to realize. The fact that he showed glimpses of what he could’ve been
doing the whole year was excruciating.
“Where has this been all year?” Syracuse fan, Michael Scoff
said after the game. “I’m happy with the win but man could you imagine if
(Nassib) and the team had been playing up to their potential this whole time?”
This was the consensus amongst some of the fans leaving the
game. They expressed their feelings of being cheated by a team they always felt
could do better, but never lived up to it.
On a lighter note, Nassib surpassed Donovan McNabb and moved
into second place on the list of the most passing yards in Syracuse history.
Defensively this wasn’t the best outing for the Cardinals,
giving up more yards than usually and allowing the offensive line take control
of the game.
The mood in the locker room was that the team’s hopes of an
undefeated season are down the drain but they can still come back and at least win
the Big East.
“This is the worst game we ever played,” defensive back
Hakeem Smith told ABC. “There’s not a lot of talking right now. We just have to
push on. We’re going to bounce back.”
On the other side the celebration went on for hours, the
entire Orange Nation realized how big of a win this was.
This was definitely an “Upset Saturday” for the ages.
