In a matter of minutes, Doug Marrone went from signs of a panic attack to a jubilant head coach congratulating his players. The Dougie could finally breathe once Ryan Nassib kneeled to run out the clock. The Orange held off Pittsburgh in its Big East opener 14-13, leaving fans with a burst of much needed optimism. Syracuse takes a huge step forward, snapping a seven-game losing skid against the Panthers and getting that oh-so crucial first win in conference play. Here’s our weekly Fizz Five, the five most important story lines of the win against the Panthers.
1) The SU offense took the initiative and scored early.
It looked as if the Syracuse offensive attack was in for a breakout performance after converting on its first drive to put the Orange up 7-0. Jerome Smith got the bulk of the carries on the opening drive, but it was Adonis Ameen-Moore capping it with a goal-line score. Ameen-Moore had just 12 career carries entering the game, and fans have been curious as to why he’s been MIA. But the offense went stagnant after the first quarter and didn’t score another point. Nassib put together a decent game, spreading the ball out to a variety of players. Syracuse‚Äôs top three receivers, Marcus Sales (63 yards), Alec Lemon (42), and Jarrod West (50), all found a rhythm collectively in spurts, but not enough to finish off drives. Hats off to the trio of RBs to seal the deal and run out the clock as well. SU was fortunate to have its defense play lights out, but last night showed the offense is capable of jumping out in front.
2) The defense turned in a season-saving effort.
Bravo to this ballsy performance by the Syracuse D. It became very obvious the unit was getting tired, having been on the field for a majority of the game. Dyshawn Davis’ fumble recovery TD sparked SU to a 14-0 lead. The pair of Brandon’s, Brandon Sharpe and Brandon Reddish, had big games. Sharpe pounced for four sacks on the night, and the Loudhouse was at its craziest when Reddish came out with a huge sack late in the 4th quarter. It was a huge moment for Reddish making an immediate impact after returning from injury. When your offense goes 5-14 on 3rd down, an inspiring effort by the defense is needed. The D gets the game ball for to almost singlehandedly pull out the victory.
3) Ray Graham played more like Moonlight Graham, disappearing all night. 
Graham did get on the board for Pitt’s only TD, but was held to a meager 57 yards on the ground. Big ups to the SU defense forcing Graham to move to outside and try to gain yardage that way. Graham was going laterally all night, rather than between the tackles to grind out 1st downs. The Orange defensive line gets the nod for this one. Jay Bromley and the Brandons managed to hold Pitt to a limited running attack. Focusing on the run defense was one of Marrone’s priorities, and the effort certainly showed.
4) Ashton Broyld was a mystery once again.
The fact Ashton wasn‚Äôt on the field for a single snap is mind-boggling. Yes, the team got the W against a very important opponent, but Broyld is just too talented to be on the bench, especially in red-zone situations or short 3rd down plays. Is Marrone lacking confidence in his versatile, freshman weapon? On a night where the offense couldn’t create big plays, you have to figure out a way to get him the ball. The Orange can‚Äôt expect its defense to repeat that performance each week. SU will need a big game from its offense, and Broyld is the perfect weapon. If he’s underutilized, what type of message does that send big impact recruits?
5) Scary moment for Shamarko Thomas, inspires the win.
Shamarko got slammed in the 4th quarter trying to make a tackle, and his helmet quickly flew off. It put SU and Pitt players on one knee in respect. Thomas lead all Orange players with nine tackles, and being a fan favorite, his injury left the Dome silent. However, the Orange used Thomas‚Äô injury to finish out the game with inspiration. The team played like it didn’t want to let Shamarko down. The offense sealed the deal at the end for the win.
Finally, the eight-gaming FBS losing streak comes to a halt, and the Orange proves once again its love for Friday night magic. Last year’s win over West Virginia was a similar cause, and last night showed SU played with a clean-slate mindset. So let the talk begin: The Orange is undefeated in the Big East. An encouraging win absolutely, but let’s see if Marrone and company show some consistency next week at Rutgers.
Posted: Brendan Glasheen
35 responses to “Week 5 Fizz 5: Shamarko Inspiration, Legendary Defensive Effort Lifts SU”
@Brendan Glasheen;good post makes for good reading Brendan.
I often have asked when Syracuse is in 4th an 1 maybe 2 yards for a 1st down,why don’t they try for it. In last nights game to my surprise it was 4th and 9 for a 1st down and Syracuse lined up and made the 1st down to keep the drive alive. Why don’t they do it more? Are they afraid of not making it and turning it over to the other team. I think if they would have done it more in the NW game the results would have been different. Last night was one of many big plays by Syracuse during the game. I hope they keep up the good work.
Ron the call to go for it on 4th and 9 was a very good call as they were just outside of field goal range and they most likely would have punted it in the end zone as they have all year. The Section 129 crew took wives to the game Friday night, the last time we took them WV game. Told them after the game dont make plans your going to the UCONN game. LOL. Loved the emotion Marrone showed on the sidelines. Special teams will improve once Kobena returns. Lets beat Rutgers and then put 45,000 in Dome for Coach P’s return.
@Section 129 Smitty;that’s great news,I envy you and your friends for taking your wives to the game. I hope you all enjoyed the game.
Smitty I was trying to make the point(they have the horses) that when short yardage is needed especially when they are behind on the score board that they should try for the 1st down more.
I agree Marrone was more animated than usual. If we go 3-3 on Saturday I believe that the dome will be full for Coach P’s return. I was part of the group who thought he was well respected by a large part of the upstate population who was sad to see him leave.
The second season has just begun and I still think Syracuse will go bowling this year. You and your wife enjoy the UCONN game.
@Section 129 Smitty,my son and I used to have seats in section 129. We played North Carolina back in 2001 and was setting there with my nieces and their husbands and in come Coach Hopkins who accompanied Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the Syracuse 2003 National Champion Basketball Team. It was one of those days that you don’t ever forget.
In 2002 we changed our seats into section 307 and have been there ever since. If you look up over the tunnel you will see people wearing Orange tee shirts that read “C”-“U”-“S”-“E” in large white letters. That is where we set. We have a great view and wouldn’t change them for anything.
Ron I’ll be looking for you guys at the UCONN game. The basketball team used to sit there all the time. I love section 129 only problem is there are still some people who get upset when people stand but that doesnt stop us. I always tell them when the players are waving the arms they are not doing jumping jacks they are telling us to get loud and stand. I want this Rutgers game bad, they are the team I despise the most. Hope S. Thomas is healthy and Kobena returns. He supplys the big play with his speed and opens up the field. In my mind he is a major reason the offense has slowed down. He stretches the field with his speed like no one else on the team can. I’m a big fan of Kobena, Sales, West and Lemons on the field and having Flemming back is good news. Clark has gone quiet but I like his food speed. How about Clark on punt returns or . D.A the Section 129 Crew would love for the orangefizz to come to our pre-game tailgating at the UCONN game or visit us in 129 during a game.
@Section 129 Smitty,I was told last night at work that Shamarko Thomas is ok and ready to go. I hope he has a tremendous game against Rutgers.
When we get to the game next Friday and put our shirts on we’ll stand and start waving towards Section 129. If you see us stand and wave back to us and maybe we can join up and have a conversation about Syracuse Football.
Can’t wait for Saturday to come. Russell no hard feelings but I really hope that we kick Rutgers butt.
@Ron,u no Im watching for any anti-Jersey bias..HaHa,but Im a “Cuse” fan first but having family in both schools don’t make it easy to keep the peace in family lol..When RU ain’t playing Cuse I root for them to win and never hid it!!Same even goes for Uconn!!I love eastern style hardnosed football and hate those pundits who dont know their ass from there elbow on espn!!Ive been following “Cuse” since Jim Brown was a kid!Heck half SUs students are from Jersey!!
I think we have a decent shot 65/35% chance to win but it wont be easy at RU!Its gonna be viscious but I think 24-20 the wrong way but win the UConn game 16-13 and hope we stay healthy!!I think if we win one of those two the rest of the season will be easy!Next big upset?SU 34 Mizzou 17..!!Mizzou is so overrated!!But so was NW and Minny!!well go 4-3 or 5-2 in BE…
[…] Ashton Broyld’s role is still a mystery […]
Ron. Sounds like a plan. Russell thats like rooting for the Red Sox when they are not playing the Yankees.
@Russell MacEachern, We have to be in the same age bracket Russell. There will never be another Jim Brown running the football. “Greatest running back that ever has played the game”. I also enjoyed watching Larry Czonka run.
Well you know Russell, Rutgers is in the meat of their schedule now and won’t be playing any of those “cream puffs” any longer. Looking for their season/record to change dramatically.
Go Cuse;
we need to score points period. thats what this is about. we score points we will win games if we don’t score points we’ll lose games. we must consume the clock with our offense, where we must score points. our defense has played great all year, lets give them a break and play lights out on our offense. go orange
Smitty,not if ur my age Smitty,SU was bigtime when I was growing up in Jersey and RU was 1AA till the mid 70s but still beat teams like UT in the SEC and overachieved w/lesser talent!!RU was the local team but most Jerseyans rooted for ND or PSU ..I just liked SU and Jim Brown and so much of our history comes from LI/NYC and Jersey kids!!You have to understand NYC/NJ history to relate!!Some of my nephews and nieces either go to SU or RU so its like a family civil war..HaHa..all jerseyans are Yankee fans and S.Jersey mostly Philly fans!!Funny state in middle of 2 BIG media Markets!I hate BC cause they are Red Sock fans…Should u root for Buffalo Bills cause u live upstate?No most are Giant or Jet fans!!Same difference..
Ron,my second favorite SU RB was Lil “Joe Morris”..
@Russ, A poll done in the state of ny showed that the buffalo bills had more fans then jets fans and where slightly behind NYG fans. Make no mistake Rochester and Buffalo along /w the surrounding area’s are firmly Buffalo Bills country. If you head towards Syracuse and beyond you get into jets and Gmen country.
Carlton,I knew ud notice this post but most of Fizzfam posters like Ron,Dip,and people in Albany/west to Onandaga are NY/NJ team (Jets-Jints) fans as their summer camp “Giants” is in Albany now but I know Rochester cty west are basically Bills county…hell even I like them!!HaHa..but the Giants are my main team!I kicked azz on my fantasy team this weekend 154-73!!Im 3-2 in my league now!!Tough night in Tally Saturday huh?They’ll make up for it and run the table but I don’t think the Irish flounder this yr!
Carlton,I just don’t get these “friends” questioning who I should or should’nt like…I respect everybodys opinions and don’t like to have to explain myself!!Im not talking about you!…I was’nt implying the Bills lacked solid support,that poll is probably correct!!
btw Carl Fla’s hs Cocoa is playing Bergen Catholic,NJ this friday as NJ/Fla games are becoming a tradition recently!!Bergen’s always a top 10 hs football team in NJ…I think #1 this yr so far?…but they did lose to St Joes “montville” NJ by a point!!
MontVale..my mistake!
I was at Cuse with Little and Csonka. Knew them both.. Hung with Murphy, Fitz and LeMess…offensive line. It was a different time. Less press coverage and lots of Athletic “privileges” at Cuse. It helped many of us graduate.
Syracuse and it’s academic and off field requirements have changed the game. For the better at Cuse.
It’s a pleasure to hear our kids interviewed. They represent us well…problem….they don’t weigh 300 pounds and run the 40 in 4.5 sec.
Other schools are getting there. Stanford, sometimes ND. Tough task to compete and play BCS top level ball with our requirements and our location. Basketball only needs 10 guys and the cream still live in the East not Fl. The guys we loved to watch back then couldn’t get in. Neither could I.
Our future in the ACC is best recruits we can get, mistake free football and every now and then we get enough good kids to win big.
I just don’t think this Coaching staff gets us there. Their great guys and well intended..their trying hard…they were a NE/Big East experiment.
Wish otherwise but I hope we make some good choices.
Hope we win this weekend!
Same old babblers on this site!!! Yeah did I like dougie’s emotion on the field!! Where has that been??? But Rutgirls is no PITT. Their WR’s are tall and quick. So look out!! Thomas is out for at least the Rutgirls game. DA your boy Axe called that hit by ST stupid. That was his style of hit so I do hope he learns. But any way ST is not a great cover guy anyway so it won’t matter on pass coverage. It will matter on the run though. So look out for that.
@Cuse17; Russell it looks like we have another “seasoned citizen” in our group making some interesting comments.
a)Syracuse and it’s academic and off field requirements. Cuse17, people like the Terries of the world will never understand the type of player that Syracuse looks at and goes after when recruiting them.
I can remember seeing Kevin Mitchell setting with his tutor in a dinning hall studying and doing his homework so that he could graduate on time. Look at players like,the Nate Helmsley’s,Donavan McNabbs,Chris Gedney,Tim Green’s,Qadry Ismail’s and others to numerous to mention that have graduated and are successful from Syracuse University. Syracuse will never ever shy away from trying it’s hardest to get players like those and yourself to come here for an education. In May we will be adding Ryan Nassib and others from this team to the list of intelligent/distinguished people who have played football at Syracuse. It’s too bad the the local media doesn’t report any of the good things that these young men do while they’re here.
b)they were a NE/Big East experiment. You talk about the coaching staff in the past tense here. I don’t accept your line of thinking on this one because I believe that Coach Marrone and his staff will turn the corner and start winning again and I believe that Syracuse will do fine in the ACC.
Welcome aboard Cuse17,it’s nice to know that Russell and I aren’t the only seasoned citizens enjoying this web site.
Ii’m very proud of these kids…we apologize to no one over the way Cuse has worked to create a standard of both good kids and hard work. If I were a parent, I’d feel safe sending my kid to Marrone and his staff. Coach P before him. Not perfect but in a less than perfect world..we have nothing to be ashamed of….
Yes, I speak in the past tense about Marrone and his staff. We will wait to long because Cuse alway gives its own more time than we should, but he will go. He and his staff wont compete on or off the field with the ACC elite. We struggle with location, I’m originally from Fl and loved it, but the ACC recruiting world makes Cuse a tough sale for football. Marrone was sold on his NE connections..that gives you nothing in the SE.
I live in Fl in the winter. I watch and attend high school games. These kids are really something. Great coaching and great athletes. We get the leftovers. The little guys. The two/three stars. We occasionally get lucky but we need one of “THEM” to sell Cuse, it’s history , it’s education, as a place to make a boy a man…. Marrone can’t win these arguments with his coaching or background ….in their world.
@Cuse17,football was invented in the NE and gravitated to the midwest with eastern Irish,German,Slavic and other 1st generation kids and Fla was’nt much of a football state untill our “snowbirds” started to move down south in the 60’70s and made it a football state!!Even today my hs Don Bosco Prep and several others go to Tex,Cal,Ala and Fla and still take ur best to the woodshed…Ill admit they play better football in NJ than upstate NY now cause either the base left for warmer climes (Fla/Ga/NC) or there moms make them play soccer or Larosse cause its safer!!Were becoming to soft as a society!!
#2,Marrones problem ain’t NE kids but he inherited a situation left by Grob who thought he could neglect ol ties with downstate and NJ HSs and recruit out of his traditional base in Tex,Cali,and points west but it was a disaster and HCDM still has’nt repaired the rift but he will and his recruiting’s improving….give him a yr.!!Of course we still need some Fla/Ga kids but we can’t rely on their leftovers down there for full classes after the southern schools finish with them…recruit from ur base out!!
btw Cuse,who are these elite ACC schools that your talking about??We think thats a myth in the east if u go by performance recently!!Outside of FSU its mostly VaTech an ex BE school that used to be good…look at BC who beat most of ur schools till a few yrs ago,..what good did the ACC do them?Look at the U..what happened to them in the ACC?Heck even the B1G is a joke recently,…I laugh at outside of money that people still buy into the “grass is greener” myth!!GREED is gonna kill the golden goose!!When will FSU ever get back to the Bowden yrs?
@Ron,believe it or not I think we’ll win more in a “soft” ACC than we do in the BE!!
@Russell MacEachern; wow russell it looks like Cuse17 has got you all fired up here.
I agree with just about all of what The Cuse had to say except the point he made about Coach Marrone. I think Marrone will change things at Syracuse and all will be for the better after he’s finished.
But Russell your history lesson was fascinating and I learned a lot from reading them. So I guess I’m agreeing with the both of you on this one except for the Marrone issue.
Russell,I too believe that we are going to do well in the ACC,better than what a lot of people are giving us credit for.
@Cuse17;excellant points made in the first paragraph of your 6:06 pm post. When you have a chance to meet and talk with these players,at that moment,you come to find out exactly what Syracuse is all about when recruiting their athletes that represent the community and Syracuse University. And your right in saying that we don’t have to apologize to anyone for who and what we have playing.
Go Cuse; Let’s beat Rutgers on Saturday.
I can’t believe someone supporting a Big East team called the ACC soft…..
Fl St, Va Tech, Clemson, Ga Tech , ND part time and Miami is on the way back. Golden is one good coach. He Will build a program. Maryland with all the underarmor support will be our Oregon. I like their coach! Compared to what?
The Big East espeacially without WV has sucked for years. Not ACC’s best year for sure but these are serious programs.
Syracuse, Pitt have been bad for years, Fl had a year or two. Ct, Cinncy come on. Rutgers, Louie-ville never speacial but respectable of late…both loosing coaches. Big East’s version of Kentucky/UVa
Come on .. Soft…next to SEC sure.. Next to Big East..not so much!
@Cuse,its not much of a secret?Have u checked out RESULTS lately?The ACC has’nt performed!!WATCH the scoreboard Cuse!!Heck even espin admits it!btw the BE has a winning record against the SEC since “98”when the BCS started!!Educate urself before u babble!!Does the ACC have a winning record against anyone??What a Clown!!
Outside of FSU the ACC is the BE!!BE south!!and little sisters of the poor!!
Big Al Golden,jersey boy…if he can’t fix it ,..it can’t be fixed!!Just another example of NE football!!
C17,again educate urself …Locksley’s recruiting saved REs job and underarmour had little to do with it!!
Blah blogger are breeding here again. You all sound like preppies. Please keep it to good old honest sports talk, not your portfolios!!! Thank You!!