Syracuse Lost in Wind
- Thread starter ngrant
- Start date
November 2003:
Rutgers 24
Cuse. 7
...IMO the first major sign of life we showed under Coach Schiano.
Joe P.
Each kickoff against the wind were actually long onsides kicks. Ball kicked, caught in wind and pushed back to be recovered by Rutgers.
I took my two sons down, ages 2 and 1. I took them out of the car, and both started screaming as their skin hit the wind. End of the game for them. We listened on the radio home. The "take the babies to the game" experiment ended that day.
Yes. A big win for the program under Schiano. Hard to believe it's been 13 yrs.
Not sure if my memory is correct, but it seemed all of the wind-related bloopers went on Rutgers' favor.
I agree. Manhandled them all game. It was a sign where both programs were headed. Wind sounded like a freight train up in section 207
Attendance 18,563. Ouch. Easy to forget how far the program has come.
Take a look at the link RU205 posted; it's a cuse blog that actually perfectly describes how that game became a 'changing of the guard' between RU and cuse.
Joe P.
What's really entertaining about reading that article is that there's a comment from me about halfway down. I don't even remember posting it.
I love how there is even a picture of the incident. What a crybaby, scumbag move. And Scanlon is a Bergen Catholic grad too. Such a sweet victory on so many levels.
What a crazy game. Really was the first big time win for Greg. I remember a quote from one of the Syracuse players after the game talking about how tough and physical we were. Think he said something like you guys (media) don't understand this is a different Rutgers team. Felt so great to read that. I always believed in Greg but it was easier to do so after that game.
Apparently, the Syracuse basketball team is also blaming the win for their loss in last night's final four game.
Scarlet Jerry
Scarlet Jerry
I see on their upcoming schedule that SU plays UCONN Sept 24. Can they both lose? No, huh. OK I'll root for UCAN"T since my dislike for all things SU goes back further. Right?
Oh that one is easy. Cuse is a P5, UConn is a mid-major. I will root for the Huskies.
I recall being in the student section for this game and cheering like crazy - and laughing - when we recovered a SECOND unintentional onsides kick. One of my favorite memories as an RU football fan...
This was the beginning of Cuse's unraveling as a program and the start of their absolutely terrible 10-year stretch. At the time, we viewed them similarly to many of our fans view PSU today - a local school with a much better football pedigree and fans that looked down on us. Very sweet victory, fun and crazy game, and enjoyable seeing one of the litany of NJ players who spurned RU lose his cool.
That was a great day to be an RU fan.
This was the beginning of Cuse's unraveling as a program and the start of their absolutely terrible 10-year stretch. At the time, we viewed them similarly to many of our fans view PSU today - a local school with a much better football pedigree and fans that looked down on us. Very sweet victory, fun and crazy game, and enjoyable seeing one of the litany of NJ players who spurned RU lose his cool.
That was a great day to be an RU fan.
That, incredibly, was also the game in which RU knocked USC out of the national championship game. The pairings for the NC game relied heavily on computer rankings back then and those computers took SOS into account. But they also took into account the SOS of all of your opponents' opponents. And that is where RU defeating SU comes in. As noted in one of the articles linked here, the week after the 24-7 win over SU, the Orange hosted ND at the Dome. They upset the Irish (probably saving Pasqualoni's job for one more season, which was also good for RU since, by firing him in 2004 rather than 2003 is what gave Ray Rice to us). The Irish were one of the biggest, if not the biggest win on the Trojans' schedule. So when SU upset the Irish after losing to RU, that cost USC enough points that it ended up 3rd in the computer rankings that season, despite being unbeaten. IIRC, the NC game was between Oklahoma and Auburn who were also unbeaten.
After the three boom boom boom scores by RU there was a steady stream of sour oranges walking out the stadium. The 18563 crowd dropped ~25-30% I would say that was the last "large NJ/metro NY orange crowd to attend a RU game.
Quite figuratively and literally this game marked the decline of "the rotten orange crowds" at RU Football games
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