Janela | Syracuse will start 5-game win streak at UConn

By: Mike Janela

Posted: 10/6/05

Syracuse is 1-3. True.

The Orange offense averages a sputtering 269 yards per game. Also true.

But how about this? SU will win its next five games. You heard it here first.

It may sound like a stretch, but work with me here. SU faced West Virginia, Virginia and Florida State so far this season, three teams of Top 25 caliber. Buffalo is the anomaly in the schedule, but SU had to win at least one game for confidence purposes.

The point is, Syracuse hasn't lost to a group of nobodies, which will help the Orange immensely when it plunges again into Big East play tomorrow night at 7 at Connecticut.

"You know that saying, if it doesn't kill you, you ought to be better from it?" SU head coach Greg Robinson said. "I'd like to believe that there's truth to that."

A home game against Rutgers, an away game at Pittsburgh and home meetings with Cincinnati and South Florida follow the Huskies for SU - five very winnable games for a team that isn't dead yet.

Consider the 12-10 combined record of SU's next five opponents. Then consider the 11-6 record of the four opponents in the books. Plus, don't forget the upcoming Big East group has pumped up its collective totals with wins against teams like Florida A&M, Villanova and Youngstown State.

For SU, playing Florida State one weekend and UConn the next will be like playing 10 minutes of checkers after four hours of chess, even if UConn leads the nation in total defense.

Don't forget, the Husky defense feasted on Buffalo, Liberty and Army in its three wins and lost 28-13 to Georgia Tech - a team very comparable to Virginia - in its one loss. SU put up a better fight against the Cavaliers than UConn did against the Yellow Jackets, so one could assume that Syracuse will use UConn and its extremely inexperienced passing game as a springboard.

So we'll chalk up a win over the Huskies.

Moving on, Rutgers visits the Carrier Dome next weekend and despite some national buzz that the Scarlet Knights could be a Big East power this season, let's be honest - it's Rutgers. Ryan Hart has improved at the quarterback spot for the Knights but he still hasn't proven himself against a defense this year as dynamic as SU's.

We won't comment extensively on each of the next five games, but just know that Pittsburgh is 1-4, Cincinnati is having big quarterback problems and South Florida has already gotten its inaugural Big East upset out of the way.

This Syracuse team says it wants to win, wants to improve each week. They say the improvement in just the last month is tremendous.

"The biggest game that hurt us was West Virginia," defensive end Ryan LaCasse said about SU's season opening loss. "If we could have that back, the outcome would be a lot different."

They can't have it back, but the Orange certainly has its shot at redemption. Five beatable opponents all in a row. Four games of quality experience under the belt. A chance to erase the early season stumbles and finish with its best Big East record since 2001.

"Our back's against the wall a little bit," Robinson said. "I think it's time. It's time to get into the Big East. Let's go."

Syracuse will go - it's just a matter of how far.

Mike Janela is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at mike.janela@gmail.com.