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    • Syracuse Beat Writer answers five questions about the Orange
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    Syracuse Beat Writer answers five questions about the Orange

    Pabio Posted on

    Each week, we ask a reporter who covers Cal’s upcoming football opponent to answer five questions about that opponent.

    This week, we asked Syracuse Post-Standard sports editor Chris Carlson five questions about Syracuse (6-3, 3-3 ACC), which faces Cal (5-4, 1-4 ACC) in a noon game Saturday at Berkeley.

    We provide a clip of each of Carlson’s answers, but you may want to watch the entire video for each question to get his full answer.

    — 1. What impact did first-year head coach Fran Brown have on the Syracuse football program?

    “You could probably say that about most first-year coaches, but he brought a lot of energy to a program that didn’t have any and where a lot of people thought mediocrity was the norm. He came in and said, “This is not acceptable to me.” The way he said it, you tend to believe him.

    “His immediate recruiting, it’s the best we’ve seen at Syracuse in the recruiting and rankings era.”

    “There’s kind of this hope that, for the first time in a long time, Syracuse can maybe be better than average.”

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    — 2. How would you rate quarterback Kyle McCord’s season after transferring from Ohio State?

    “I thought Kyle would be good or pretty good – he’s been great.”

    “He’s the reason they’re 6-3.” I don’t know if they would have won two games without him.

    “He gets the ball out so fast it hides the problems they have on the offensive line. They were able to protect the defense by running that ball-control passing attack, which is rare.

    “That’s the only reason Syracuse has a chance on Saturday.”

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    — 3. How important would it be for Syracuse to finish with a conference winning record, since it has only done so once since 2012?

    “Pretty big…They’ve crashed and burned every November except one since they joined the ACC. To do that, they’ll likely need to finish November as strong as possible, with the exception of this season in 2018. That would be a good sign that Fran Brown is on the right track.

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    — 4. Syracuse’s defense was good against the pass, but not as good against the run. For what?

    “The last two games were horrible. Boston College (last week) ran for 313 yards and pretty much told them they were going to run the ball every play.

    “Elijah Robinson, the defensive coordinator, came in, he uses a more traditional 4-2-5 and they don’t have the defensive linemen right now to do it incredibly well. And they had some injuries.

    “They are not particularly well equipped to defend their run this season.”

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    — 5. Who are Syracuse’s best players?

    “McCord is at the top of the list.”

    Carlson also mentioned tight end Oronde Gadsden III and the remarkable touchdown he had against Boston College.

    He also mentioned receivers Trebor Pena and Jackson Meeks on offense.

    “On defense, the pickings are kind of slim.”

    But Carlson mentioned linebacker Marlowe Wax and defensive end Fadil Diggs.

    “When they won, (Diggs) made some big plays.”

    Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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    Pabio
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