Orange preps to face speedy WVU squad
Come Saturday, it will be a new level for the Syracuse defense to overcome.
With SU’s game against Big East frontrunner West Virginia, the Orange will be facing perhaps the most vaunted defense in the Big East. But at his weekly press conference on Monday, SU head coach Doug Marrone saved perhaps the kindest words for the Mountaineer offense.
That is where he knows his Syracuse team will be facing a challenge it hasn’t encountered all year.
It all starts with how athletic each Mountaineer is at certain offensive positions, especially the skill positions.
‘We haven’t seen those types of (offensive) players that we will see on Saturday,’ Marrone said.
Added Marrone: ‘West Virginia has at least three players who I feel … if they get the ball in their hands in space, that those players can score anywhere on the field, no matter how they touch the football.’
Marrone didn’t elaborate on the names of those three players Monday. Apart from quarterback Geno Smith, the Mountaineers have three offensive players in running back Noel Devine and receivers Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin who anchor the offensive attack.
Those three, along with Smith, account for the ‘types of (offensive) players’ Marrone spoke of in his press conference.
But the one player at whom Marrone pinpointed the term ‘dangerous’ on Monday was Devine. The running back has had somewhat of a down year numerically, as he sits at sixth in the Big East with 84 rushing yards per game. But this is still the same Devine who has amassed 3,885 rushing yards in his career, just 38 yards shy of No. 4 on the all-time Big East list.
However, Marrone is as worried about Smith and WVU’s wide receivers as he is about Devine, and rightfully so, based on the stats. Whereas Devine resides in the middle of the Big East pack in rushing yards, Smith is excelling in his first year as a starter. Smith has thrown just two interceptions to 14 touchdowns and is No. 2 in the Big East in passing efficiency (156.7) and passing yards per game (226.3).
Smith’s production, though, may have more to do with Sanders and Austin, who together make up perhaps the No. 1 receiving tandem in the conference. Sanders, on his own, is No.1 in the Big East in receptions per game with six. Austin is tied for second with 5.3.
‘You can’t over-commit to stopping one or the other,’ Marrone said. ‘They have guys who can hurt you.’
But stats didn’t surface with Marrone when the head coach spoke of the WVU offensive attack Monday. Numbers weren’t occurring to him so early in the week. What mattered at the beginning of the week was getting across to the team the core element of how the Mountaineers will attack: with speed. A lot of it.
It’s going to be coming, and will be utilized, from four different angles.
‘They have a lot of speed,’ Marrone said. ‘And not to discount the teams we have played or the teams we will play in the future, but this is one of the fastest teams that we will play.’
SU begins preparation for ‘extremely talented’ WVU defense
The names Smith, Devine, Sanders and Austin catch all the headlines. They are the four ‘dangerous’ playmakers Marrone refers to when he talks about the Mountaineers offense. But West Virginia has ridden its defense, not its group of offensive playmakers, to a 5-1 record through six games this season.
After struggling mightily against Pittsburgh’s blitzing defense Saturday, the Syracuse offense should have its work cut out for it this weekend in Morgantown, W. Va. The Mountaineers not only enter the game ranked No. 1 in the Big East in total defense, rushing defense and scoring defense, but also hold a top-five national ranking in all three categories.
‘They have more starts on their defense than any defense we will play,’ Marrone said Monday. ‘They are extremely fast and extremely talented.’
The Mountaineers have accumulated 18 sacks, eight interceptions and allowed just 74 points in its first six games of the season. After having a difficult time finding the end zone in each of its first two Big East games, the Orange will need to find a way to break through the WVU defense if it has a shot at beating the Mountaineers for the first time since 2000.
And after the Orange scored just 27 points in its last two games combined, it is heading into the eye of the storm at a difficult time. In what should be the toughest test of the season, SU will have to perfect its game plan come Saturday.
Against a stout, disciplined defense like West Virginia, SU will have to hope that is enough.
‘They know exactly what they’re doing,’ Marrone said. ‘They have fine coaches on the defensive staff. And we are going to have to execute our game plan. That will be a great challenge for us.’
