[ubnplayd]

Syracuse in a shocker on Saturday! Greg Paulus is the real deal, first game out of the way, this kid will get it together. Syracuse by 3

[SoonerBS]

Are you a Cuse fan?

[ubnplayd]

I'm a cuse fan, but also friends with a lot of the players on the team, and I have never heard the type of confidence exuded by this years bunch regarding the chances they have with paulus at the helm. They said this guys confidence level is contagious and he has everyone in that locker room believing they can make a statement tomorrow afternoon. Granted the team as a whole has much to improve on, but everyone on that team feels PSU is overlooking them. The game will be a shock to the college football world

[cakasmaloy]

I think paulus is going to have a wakeup call... It doesn't matter how much confidence he has. When it comes down to it 'cuse will get stomped.

[hova24e]

This guy is crazy if he thinks SU will win this game.................................

[mcbaseball10]

Are you a Cuse fan?

What was your first clue Sooner?

Hope your buddies do well, but don't drink too much of the Orange Kool Aid. They couldn't beat Minnesota at home and you think they have shot at Penn State?

[polson22]

Cuse also has mike williams back from academic hiatus. fantastic WR.

can OP comment on all the lettermen leaving? were any of them key starters??.... only star i know of on syracuse is arthur jones (name?) and he's still there.

after blowing up badly last week on minnesota, the cuse might be exactly the kind of team to jump on..... you certainly can't argue nothing has changed from their hellish last 5 years. fanbase might come back pretty quickly and carrier dome used to have excellent HFA

[khaden]

Just for the record I live in State College which is where Penn State is located--I am NOT a Penn State fan. I would love to see the cuse come in here and beat the piss out of Penn State.

Having said that I can tell you this there has been much talk from the coaching staff this week about the disappointment in the second half play last week. Penn State went up early 31-0 and was shut out in the second half. Penn State is not Minny and I think Penn State will have an easy go this week and will be focused on playing hard the entire game and will not take their foot off the gas. PSU has a huge advantaged in talent and they are playing at home. Paulus played well last week against an average defense (and I'm being nice by rating Minny defense average) Paulus will make for a nice story in college football this year but the reality is he hasn't played football since high school and it will show when he plays against better teams.

I rarely play PSU to cover big spreads like this but I think this is a good spot to drop some cash on the lions to cover.

[MartinBlank]

Nothing would make me happier that to see SU beat PSU. But it ain't happenin'.

[MurrDogg4]

First Post... Graduated from Syracuse this year, so I too am a 'Cuse fan. Most of the lettermen that left the program left because they couldn't handle Marrone's style of coaching (Greg Robinson really let the guys get away with anything). It was dumb stuff like keeping hair cut to a certain length that actually made those guys leave. So clearly they did not lose anyone of any importance.

That being said, there really aren't too many guys on the team that are important to begin with. Greg Paulus will be an improvement over what they have seen at the position, but that isn't saying much. I would be absolutely shocked if Syracuse even made this a close game (no chance of winning)...but I don't necessarily think Syracuse will lose by more than 4 TDs. Yes, Penn State is not Minnesota, but I don't expect Syracuse to be giving up too many freebies like they did at the beginning of that game (you want to suck the air right out of a crowd? Try hiking the first snap of the season 10 feet over your QBs head.)

I don't think Paulus will be any more or less rattled in this game than in the last, and one more week of working with his receivers (Mike Williams is decent) means one more week of getting the rust out. Even if Penn State pulls away early, I don't think Syracuse will quit like it has in years past, so staying within 4 touchdowns is not farfetched. I am making a small play on Syracuse with the +28.5 pts.