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The Daily OrangeFB | McCullough: For Syracuse football, nothing but sadness left
By Andy McCullough
Posted: 11/10/08, 3:59 AM EST Section: Sports
He will probably be gone soon. Tomorrow, next week, next month, who knows? Robinson can take it. He knows the score and he knows the situation facing Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross. Robinson is an adult and a professional and owns a couple Super Bowl rings. But he has been dreadful as a collegiate head coach and he will soon lose his job. And that is sad.
Really, there is little else to say. Seriously. For this team, for these fans, for these next three games, there are few subplots left to consider.
There's Curtis Brinkley's quest for 1,000 rushing yards. That hit a snag against the Scarlet Knights, but wasn't derailed. Brinkley was bottled up early and the Orange offense never got into a rhythm. He finished with 67 yards, snapping his five-game 100-yard streak.
Brinkley has 966 yards with three games to play. He will get there. A great story. Not much suspense.
There's an apparent quarterback battle, as Cameron Dantley and Andrew Robinson compete in an inverted game of "Can You Top This?" It was hard to call Saturday. On one hand, Dantley stunk up the joint, going 3-for-12 for only 19 yards before an ankle injury knocked him out of the game. He was sacked four times.
On the other hand, Robinson sputtered all over Rutgers Stadium, too. In his first appearance since September, Robinson completed 2-of-7 passes, with a fair mix of balls that sailed high or spiked into the turf. Not that interesting, either.
There's the ongoing saga of these players throwing their weight behind this coach. It would have been easy for the players to lie down. Greg Robinson has been on the chopping block since Day One this season. Since before Day One, actually.
But this team hasn't succumbed to that outside stress. Not yet. Younger players like Graham and Kevyn Scott and Mike Holmes have committed to learning on the fly. Older guys like Brinkley and Nick Santiago and Bruce Williams have thrown themselves into this final season.
It's just not enough. This team can only offer its best, and that isn't good enough.
Which brings us back to sadness. Watching Dantley struggle to explain his struggles is sad. Watching linebackers continue to miss tackles is sad. Watching Robinson, week after week, lose his enthusiasm under the weight of his failure is sad.
In a weird way, saying goodbye to Greg Robinson will be sad. Watch. If you can bear it.
Andy McCullough is the enterprise editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. You can reach him at ramccull@syr.edu.
Really, there is little else to say. Seriously. For this team, for these fans, for these next three games, there are few subplots left to consider.
There's Curtis Brinkley's quest for 1,000 rushing yards. That hit a snag against the Scarlet Knights, but wasn't derailed. Brinkley was bottled up early and the Orange offense never got into a rhythm. He finished with 67 yards, snapping his five-game 100-yard streak.
Brinkley has 966 yards with three games to play. He will get there. A great story. Not much suspense.
There's an apparent quarterback battle, as Cameron Dantley and Andrew Robinson compete in an inverted game of "Can You Top This?" It was hard to call Saturday. On one hand, Dantley stunk up the joint, going 3-for-12 for only 19 yards before an ankle injury knocked him out of the game. He was sacked four times.
On the other hand, Robinson sputtered all over Rutgers Stadium, too. In his first appearance since September, Robinson completed 2-of-7 passes, with a fair mix of balls that sailed high or spiked into the turf. Not that interesting, either.
There's the ongoing saga of these players throwing their weight behind this coach. It would have been easy for the players to lie down. Greg Robinson has been on the chopping block since Day One this season. Since before Day One, actually.
But this team hasn't succumbed to that outside stress. Not yet. Younger players like Graham and Kevyn Scott and Mike Holmes have committed to learning on the fly. Older guys like Brinkley and Nick Santiago and Bruce Williams have thrown themselves into this final season.
It's just not enough. This team can only offer its best, and that isn't good enough.
Which brings us back to sadness. Watching Dantley struggle to explain his struggles is sad. Watching linebackers continue to miss tackles is sad. Watching Robinson, week after week, lose his enthusiasm under the weight of his failure is sad.
In a weird way, saying goodbye to Greg Robinson will be sad. Watch. If you can bear it.
Andy McCullough is the enterprise editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. You can reach him at ramccull@syr.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
BeantownKnight
posted 11/10/08 @ 4:19 PM EST
I've got to tell you, this is the most depressing story on college football (on a team, a player, or a coach) that I've ever read. Seriously, I've seen Ingmar Bergman films that are more joyous than this. (Continued…)
Olin MacGregor
posted 11/10/08 @ 5:39 PM EST
the sadness started with Nancy Cantor's stupid decision to hire an AD with no familiarity with anything East of the Mississippi, other than slurping BBQ Sauce on nat'l TV. (Continued…)
Marc LeVine
posted 11/11/08 @ 11:25 AM EST
This is no time to be sad an impressed. On Saturday, Syracuse will play one of the most important games in recent memory - Connecticut. The NY Times recently proclaimed that Connecticut program has already surpassed Syracuse's. (Continued…)
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