It would be an insult to Syracuse to laud them today as being the best 0-2 football team in the nation.
No team, no coach, no player can be winless after the first two games of the season and strut around like a supermodel on the runway.
“I hate the fact that we’re 0-2, hate it,’’ Syracuse coach Doug Marrone told The Post after the Orange’s 42-29 loss to Southern Cal at MetLife Stadium. “But I’m telling you, we’re a good football team. I’m proud of this team. They’re tough. They’re going to play hard for 60 minutes. They have character. They have an identity. We can beat any team we play.’’
On Saturday, the Orange almost beat the No. 2 team in the nation. Down 21-3 in a half-empty stadium that had more USC than Syracuse fans, the Orange threw a roundhouse right that clocked the Trojans right on the side of their helmets. Suddenly it was 21-16 and all of the USC players were off the bench, cautiously watching the next few possessions.
This didn’t look like the Syracuse team it beat 38-17 last year in Los Angeles. The Orange didn’t play like that team.
“Amazing,’’ said USC wide receiver Marqise Lee. “They are a way better team, but we knew that coming out. They did an amazing job.’’
They did, just as they did an amazing job in the opener, when Syracuse trailed Northwestern 35-13 in the third quarter before storming back to take a 41-35 lead with 2:45 left. The Wildcats scored late and Syracuse lost 42-41, a loss Marrone took responsibility for by going for two late in the game when he didn’t need to. That’s revisionist history, but if the coach wants to fall on his sword, so be it.
Bottom line, ’Cuse shouldn’t have fallen behind Northwestern by 22 and it should have stopped USC from making the six big plays that were the difference in the game. Syracuse is 0-2 because it deserves to be 0-2.
If you’re a Syracuse fan, you can swallow that reality and wallow the week away in Coleman’s, drowning your sorrows in cold ones. You can shrug and say, ‘Same old Syracuse.’ But that’s where you’d be wrong.
This is not the Syracuse teams of Greg Robinson, or even the last few teams of Paul Pasqualoni.
Marrone didn’t face a rebuilding job when he took over 2009. He faced a gut renovation.
The once Permabond strong relationship between Syracuse football and the high school coaches in upstate New York and Long Island and the five boroughs were as thin as a moth’s wing. The accountability and trust that is the foundation of any successful program was nowhere to be found in the Iocolano Petty Football Wing. The talent is now that of a legitimate BCS program.
“I look forward to coming back here when I’m a dad and people know that this team played every game the full 60 minutes whether it was against the best team in the country or the worst,’’ said defensive tackle Jay Bromley. “The days of people circling us on the schedule as a win are over. We’re going to fight you to the death.’’
Syracuse is 0-2 but anyone who suggests the Orange quit need to take a swim in Lake Onondaga in February.
“Never,’’ said Lee when asked if ’Cuse quit. “Never. They played their hearts out.’’
It’s easy for the winners to shower the losers with glowing praise. It’s easy to take solace in a good effort, but football is not a game for those who believe in moral victories.
Syracuse needs to win its share of games. It can’t fall behind by 22 on its home turf. It can’t allow the nation’s No. 2-ranked team to make the plays that determined New York’s College Classic. But let me ask you this, you in the orange T-shirt:
Do you believe this program is heading in the right direction — quickly? Do you believe the man in charge is committed to the program because he bleeds it? Do you think Syracuse will have a chance to win every Big East Conference game this season?
“We want to be an elite team, a BCS bowl-caliber team and we’re going to be,’’ said Marrone. “Are we there yet? No. But we’re going to play the USC’s of the world, so we know exactly where we are. And we’re close. We’re really close. I guarantee you this: All those experts that said we were 25- or 26-point underdogs, you ask anyone of our kids if they believed that. Not one of them did. Not one.’’
Syracuse may or may not be the best 0-2 team in the country. It’s a worthless argument. But watching this team going forward? That’s going to be worth the price of admission.
*** The next 24 hours are critical for Tulane safety Devon Walker, who suffered a fractured spine on Saturday in a game at Tulsa.
According to team physician, Dr. Greg Stewart, who spoke with the Times Picayune, Walker had some feelings in his arms and legs. He will have surgery as soon as he’s stable. Walker, a former walk-on, had nine tackles last week against Rutgers.
It’s official: Nebraska, under Bo Pelini, is living off its reputation. UCLA got 653 yards in total offense on the Blackshirts … Michigan’s defense is reeling after getting crunched by Alabama and run all over by Air Force, which had 290 yards on the ground.