Saturday in Tampa Florida the Big East college football season kicks off with Syracuse University and the University of South Florida. Both teams go into the game 3-1 on the season. SU is looking for its first 4-1 start since 1999. This is also SU head Coach Doug Marrone's first Big East game coaching the Orange.
Q.B's for the University of South Florida and Syracuse University are B.J. Daniels and Ryan Nassib, respectively. This game was a defensive struggle as I predicted, punctuated with exciting offensive plays later in the game. New quarterback Nassib for the Orange showed his moxy in the SU driver's seat and SU rising stars Delone Carter and Marcus Sales showed thousands of screaming fans what SU football is all about.
And what a defensive struggle it turned out to be! Early in the game, SU safety Max Suter gets a sack with about 8:15 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately, as a turnover on downs progressed, SU was called for roughing the kicker, giving USF an automatic first down.
Then the boys in Orange come up with another sack! This time by Brandon Sharp # 91. He has two sacks on the season, and brought SU's total sacks to ten, at this early point in the game.
However, the penalty-plagued Orange began their offense sluggishly, but continued to play top-notch D, resulting in the tension filled battle this game would prove to be.
USF comes up with the first points on the board with a field goal early in the second quarter after a scoreless first quarter. In last year's match-up between the two teams at the Dome in Syracuse, USF came up with five interceptions. Not this time! SU began to find their offensive rhythm and continued to do a great job defensively, applying pressure to the pocket and forcing B.J. Daniels to make some hasty decisions, as Holmes comes up with another sack for SU towards the end of the third.
Both teams had trouble converting on 3rd and long, as well as converting in the red zone. Each team was also penalty-prone towards the end of the second half, but whats this!! A few SU penalties later, freshman Jeremy Wilkes # 28 reads B.J. Daniels' offensive rhythm and comes up with a pick for the Orange, giving them a chance to even up the score, now 9-6, USF.
In the fourth, Ryan Nassib to Marcus Sales for the touchdown.
The crowd goes........... silent?
Sales puts the Orange up 13-9 after a successful field goal, a lead the Syracuse Orange would hold on to for the remainder of the game.
Ryan Nassib went 5 for 5 on passes including the winning TD pass on his closing drive.
10/10/10 This day in history: Former Central New York Onondaga Central High School football star Mike Hart gets his first career touchdown for the Indianapolis Colts.
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