Syracuse Preview
It’s rather cliché to say that “when these two get together, you can throw the record books away.” But it would certainly appear true in the case of Virginia Tech and Syracuse. Over the first few years of the Big East, home field determined the winner of this game, VT finally breaking that string in 2000 with a 22-14 win. Syracuse immediately turned that around with their own 22-14 win in 2001 in Blacksburg. Last year, Syracuse’s sole highlight of a miserable 4-8 season was their 50-42 defeat of VT in 3OT at the Carrier Dome. In that game, Bryan Randall and Ernest Wilford set Big East single-game passing and receiving records, but Tech’s defense never really seemed to show up.
The one positive of this year’s schedule for Tech is that it breaks up the Syracuse/Pittsburgh death pairing. In 2001, Tech went to Pitt immediately after the demoralizing Syracuse loss and got blown out 38-7; last year, Tech’s visit to Syracuse came after a home loss to Pittsburgh. Given the psychological hold Pitt and Walt Harris seem to have on the Hokies, getting all VT’s other important Big East games out of the way before visiting Heinz Field can only help Tech.
Back to the issue at hand, Syracuse comes in at 3-1 (0-0 BE), and VT sits at 5-0 (1-0 BE). The teams’ only common opponent so far is UCF, which Syracuse beat 38-14 and the Hokies took out 49-28. Tech brings in the #3 scoring offense in the country, at 44.4 pts/game, but the Syracuse rushing game is no slouch, at #4 with 267.0 yds/game behind RB Walter Reyes, who stands #2 in the nation individually at 7.4 yards per carry and #6 in rushing yards at 681, despite only having played 4 games compared with most others’ 5. Tech QB Bryan Randall, on the other hand, will look to feast on Syracuse’s weak pass defense.
Game time in Blacksburg is noon Eastern on ESPN.
10 October 2003 / 1 Comment / Tags: football