Sometimes the blind squirrel finds the acorn. Doug Marrone wasn’t Syracuse athletic director Dr. Daryl Gross’ first choice to become the Orange’s next football coach, but Gross, who claims to have had a hand in hiring Pete Carroll at USC, might have struck gold again.
Marrone, a Bronx native and a former ‘Cuse captain, did on Saturday what the previous coach, Greg Robinson, could never do: He got the Syracuse players to play with passion.
“Some people think Syracuse isn’t a special place anymore for football and I just don’t get that,” Marrone told me a week ago. “Look at the tradition here. Look at the players that have worn the jersey.”
The Orange lost 23-20 in overtime to a much more experienced Minnesota team, and Marrone is never going to talk about moral victories. But you know he had to be warmed by the sound of the Syracuse student section cheering the effort of their classmates after the game.
“Every step of my coaching career has been made with the thought of, ‘How can this help prepare me to be the Syracuse coach one day?’ ” Marrone said. “This is my dream job and I want to share it.”
RARE BIRD SIGHTING: Iowa’s 17-16 win over Northern Iowa was highlighted by what is believed to be a first in big-time college football. The Hawkeyes blocked consecutive field goal attempts in the final seven seconds.
According to the NCAA record book, four teams have posted two blocks in a quarter. And according to Iowa spokesman Steve Roe, who went the extra mile and called each of those four schools, no pair was on back-to-back plays.
“You experience every emotion you can think of,” Iowa special teams coach Rick Kaczenski told The Post. “Those were longest seven seconds of my life.”
Kaczenski said the Hawkeyes have four blocked kick schemes and they used the same one on both blocks. But Kaczenski was kicking himself for not reminding his players to recover any blocked kick because it wasn’t fourth down. That gave the Panthers a second attempt at a game-winning 40-yarder.
“That’s on me,” Kaczenski said. “My guys bailed me out.”
BIRD CHIRPING: Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi, after the Hawkeyes blocked those two last-second field goal attempts: “That’s like playing roulette and coming up green twice in a row.” Nice to know the NCAA’s anti-gambling message is reaching the student-athletes.
BIRDS IN FLIGHT: USC started a freshman quarterback for the first time ever and all Matt Barkley, the nation’s top offensive recruit, did was complete 15 of 19 passes for 233 yards without an interception.
BYU quarterback Max Hall was 9-of-11 passing for 74 yards on the Cougars’ winning touchdown drive against Oklahoma. We feel lousy that the classy Sam Bradford got hurt, but why isn’t Hall getting more credit for shredding what was supposed to be a tough Sooners defense? Bradford, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, injured his throwing shoulder and his season is in jeopardy.
BIRD DROPPINGS: The ACC had a weekend to forget, and it had little to do with Virginia Tech’s 34-24 loss to Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. The Hokies played with as much tenacity and speed as their SEC counterparts. But quarterback Tyrod Taylor is going to have to make major improvements as a passer for Tech to win a BCS bowl game.
But how about this list of failures? Duke loses at home to FCS Richmond. Virginia loses at home to FCS William & Mary. Wake Forest loses at home to Baylor. Maryland gets mauled at Cal. And N.C. State, picked by some to be the best team in Atlantic Division, loses at home to South Carolina.
Basketball league for sure.
BIRD SIGHTINGS: Just as important to USC’s success this season as Barkley’s play is the play of running back Joe McKnight, the nation’s top offensive recruit three years ago. McKnight, finally healthy, rushed for 145 yards on just 14 carries.
BIRD OBSERVATION: Ron Zook is what he is, a great recruiter, a poor game coach and not a developer of talent. Exhibit A: No player with the talent of Illinois quarterback Juice Williams has progressed less in his college career. Exhibit B: Illinois looked hapless in 37-9 loss to Missouri, which was breaking in a new starting quarterback.
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I know Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is a man because he told us so by yelling at a female sportswriter two years ago, but it sure seems he took the unmanly way out Saturday by deciding to opt out of the pregame handshake against Georgia.
Gundy, no doubt, had Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount’s postgame punch at a Boise State player Thursday night on his mind.
“It just takes one guy to pop off,” Gundy told reporters in Stillwater last Monday. “Then I don’t know how you’re going to break it up. How do you control something like that?”
I don’t know, Manly Mike, maybe you could have had a man-to-man talk with your players and stressed they not pop off. Just a thought, one man to another.