Syracuse Football: UVA review, Wagner preview & meeting Coach Babers

Hello Orange Nation – the sky is blue, Syracuse football is undefeated and I got to meet Head Coach Dino Babers in person…life is beautiful sometimes.

Syracuse football is 4-0 and undefeated in September. I love hearing that even the most optimistic of fans probably didn’t see this coming. Well, except I kind of did…here on Inside The Loud House…in July.

Also, I’m on cloud 9 as I randomly ran into Coach Babers and I felt like a kid who just saw Santa Claus for the first time. Thank you coach for humoring me and being as friendly as possible to a long-time fan like myself.

And now for the portion of this post where I discuss a few things about the Virginia win and talk about the upcoming game against Wagner.

Let’s look back and look ahead as Syracuse football gets ready for week five.

Virginia Review

Apparently, Syracuse winning isn’t good enough for some

So Syracuse football beat Virginia 22-20 but based on some reactions, you’d be hard-pressed to know that. I get that we all watch and view things differently but for me, I’m just happy my team won. I don’t need to over-analyze anything, panic or complain about what went wrong…I’m very happy and satisfied they won.

As a big-time fan of Hofmann’s sausage, I’ve never asked how it’s made…I’m just happy it turned out so delicious. Syracuse football is 4-0 folks, so just enjoy it and relax.

P.S. I’m not asking anyone to change who they are. I realize I’m not that guy who over-analyzes play calls and such but I do think sports are more enjoyable sometimes if you just relax and enjoy it.

Gadsden Grande

Standing 6-foot-5, Oronde Gadsden II has because not just a large target but as reliable as a grande size of coffee when you’ve got a gift card in your pocket (I’m told grande means large but actually isn’t but I drink Mountain Dew so I have no clue what that’s about).

In a season when the receiver position was wide open and many thought Sean Tucker would likely be the number one option, Gadsden has become the leader. In 4 games, he has 300 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns including the game-winner against Purdue.

Lockett is out for the season

Coach Babers revealed in his Wagner week press conference that defensive lineman Terry Lockett is unfortunately out for the season due to injury. Lockett joins Chris “Rhino” Elmore, Stefon Thompson and Isaiah Jones as key players lost to injury already this season.

If you would have told me that this team is 4-0 minus Stefon and Rhino, I’d say wow but you add Isaiah who was making some big plays at receiver & now Lockett? I still believe this team can be special but the road just got a lot bumpier. My prayers and positive energy go towards all 4 so that they feel better soon.

Szmyt got 4-star recognition

Before this season, I hyped up the fact that one of the biggest assets this season was the coaching hires. One such hire was Bob Ligashesky as special teams coach and that seems to be paying dividends for kicker Andre Szmyt.

Szmyt was acknowledged by the Lou Groza Award committee for his 5-5 field goal effort against Virginia. Fans can even vote for which performance was the best. Congratulations to Andre!

Wagner Preview

With great power comes great responsibility

Syracuse football is ranked 25th in the Coaches Poll this week, and that’s great. The AP poll voters don’t think as highly apparently but their system is flawed and ridiculous in my opinion anyway so that’s a matter for another time.

But the purpose of bringing this up is to share what many are saying in that now Syracuse isn’t sneaking up on anyone anymore. You’ve been recognized and people are now watching so what are you going to do with that Block S on your chest being a bullseye?

Do you think Wagner players aren’t going to come in looking to make a moment they’ll tell their kids about when they knocked Syracuse out of the polls? Do you think 4-0 and ranked No. 25 is the pinnacle of success or are you hungry to prove you’re better? Games are won on the field, not by perception. Do you want to show you’re better than many who said you’d only win 3-4 games this season? Keep showing up and working for it.

Wagner is 0-3

So yes, this is a Wagner program struggling to find wins. Rutgers beat them 66-7 two weeks ago so I’m sure many fans think Syracuse football should score 100 on them. But with injuries adding up and a bye week next week, can this team find a balance of not injuring anyone else and allowing backups to get plenty of playing time while still winning impressively?

In my opinion, even if they win 20-10, as long as we don’t lose any more players to serious injuries and go into that bye week 5-0, I’ll be satisfied.

Famous Wagner alumni/students

Did you know some famous people attended Wagner College? Necessary Roughness actor Robert Loggia, “Basketball Diaries” author Jim Carroll, former Florida Gators head football coach Dan Mullen and former NY Jets/Philadelphia Eagles head coach Rich Kotite are amongst those with ties to sports.

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere

It’s Syracuse football versus Wagner at yes, I double-checked this time to be sure, 5 pm! The game is in Syracuse in the JMA Wireless Dome so home team advantage will help too. If you want to go watch it in the Dome, as of this writing, a quick Google search shows websites selling tickets as low as $4 a piece (though there may be service charges and tax as well) so this is a good game to take the family if you want to save money.

If you want to listen to it on the radio, it’s on TK99 locally and most likely also on the Varsity app. If you want to watch it, I believe you’ll need an ESPN+ subscription (I miss the days when the local station used to air these games).