Prep school: Orange viewing weekend as chance to fix mistakes, prepare for Big East play
Each week, Derrell Smith and his teammates receive a little history lesson from their head coach. They hear about the first time Syracuse did this, the last time it did that. The history of Syracuse football is broken down and allows players to see the bigger picture.
For Smith, those numbers dance around in his head and stick with him throughout the week. He becomes a ‘student of the game’ by learning SU’s past highs and lows. It’s how his head coach, Doug Marrone, teaches his players the significance of certain things.
‘Coach Marrone is big on statistics,’ Smith said with a wiry grin Tuesday.
So, yes, Smith and his teammates have been well-informed about the last time Syracuse started the season 3-1. He’s been told it was 2003. With a win against Colgate on Saturday, SU could start the season winning three of its first four games again. But Smith and his teammates have been informed that despite the hot start, that SU squad stumbled and failed to make it to a bowl game. That’s a message Marrone has instilled in this year’s team.
Instead of simply focusing on win No. 3, Smith and his teammates head into this weekend focused on cutting out the sloppiness that plagued SU during each of the past two games. For Smith, that’s the key with the Orange just one game removed from the start of Big East play.
‘Obviously we want to cut down on little mistakes, little errors,’ Smith said. ‘Cut down on defensive and offensive penalties, of course. … It’s one thing to do things at practice right and to answer all the tests that we receive, but when we get to the field, that’s what we have to work on — just doing our job better when we get into a game situation.’
With a win Saturday against Colgate, the Orange will be off to its best start in seven years. Before Doug Marrone. Before Greg Robinson. Before any of the players currently on the SU roster were here at Syracuse.
Paul Pasqualoni was running the show. His squad won three of its first four games in convincing fashion, only to go 3-5 on its way to finishing the season 6-6 and without a bowl bid. Despite being bowl-eligible to end the season, Syracuse had gotten worse as the season progressed, instead of the other way around.
Because of that, and other things Marrone has planted in his players’ minds, Smith and his teammates insist the goal is to not just collect three wins before the scheduled Week 5 bye, but to progress to a point in which they are prepared to go toe-to-toe with conference opponents when Big East play opens.
The latter is something Syracuse has yet to prove it is ready for.
‘I feel like we’re ready,’ freshman linebacker Malcolm Cater said. ‘We just need to work on the small things, no more penalties, and just keep it tight. Just fix the small things, and we’ll have it right.’
Through its first three games, Syracuse has been anything but consistent. Though a 29-3 season opening victory at Akron was rather convincing, the Orange has struggled through stretches of its last two games.
Against Maine, Syracuse was able to keep the game close, despite a first half plagued with penalties and poor execution. A week earlier, Washington showed that SU cannot get away with that against the BCS opponents SU will face on the back end of its schedule.
And because of that, Marrone is stressing the importance of coming out strong and putting together a complete, consistent performance against Colgate Saturday. Smith is viewing this game as a chance to not only collect that third win, but also as an opportunity to work out the kinks that still linger. A chance to make things right before the most critical part of the season begins.
‘We can just use this team and this game as a chance to work on the things we need to work on,’ SU wide receiver Alec Lemon said. ‘We need to get back on the same page, and we’re going to approach it like we approach every week, whether it’s Big East or non-conference, and go out there and play the best we can.’
A win — even a big win — against the Raiders won’t tell much about this Syracuse squad. The Orange has the speed, the talent, the athleticism and the physicality to dispose of an FCS team if it really wants to. But a complete performance is what will really impress. It’s what will give the Orange exactly what it needs heading into the bye week.
It would give Smith and his teammates the necessary momentum heading into the bye week. That, to Marrone, is more important than registering a blowout.
‘That is my goal — to get better every week,’ Marrone said at his weekly press conference Monday.
As the season progresses, Smith and his teammates understand the weekly lessons they receive from their head coach. Marrone stresses getting that third win guarantees nothing as far as the postseason unless the mistakes are fixed.
Still, knowing the history, starting out with three wins in the first four weeks is something Smith has learned puts him and his teammates in a good position heading into the bye week.
To be a part of the history book of Syracuse’s highs.
‘Last time we were 3-1 was 2003,’ Smith said. ‘That would definitely be something big, for us to be included in that history book.’
