We start your week by reminding you that the Syracuse Orange is 1-0 to start the new football season! Not only that, but they won against an ACC foe in Louisville that has dominated SU in recent seasons.
Now, there are a lot of things that could be attributed to the win: an improved offensive game plan, great contention on Cardinals QB Malik Cunningham, and three key turnovers all come to mind. Instead, I’m going to go with something that may sound familiar to long-time ‘Cuse football fans: a fake quote used by Louisville.
During the ACC Kickoff, LB Mikel Jones was asked about the opening matchup against Louisville. This is what was actually said…
Q: You look at week 1, you have Louisville. How tough is that challenge on defense with an explosive offense and an explosive quarterback like Malik Cunningham?
A: We see it as a good opportunity. We don’t think it will be a difficult challenge. We’re excited to play those guys the first week.”
…with the recorded press conference to prove it:
However, a reporter from Louisville television station WDRB incorrectly tweeted the quote, changed the wording and deleted part of Mikel’s response. Not long after, Cunningham posted this image on his Instagram story:
If that was really what Jones said, it would be valuable material for the bulletin board. But considering that a) he wasn’t, and b) that same reporter has doubled and tripled his stance, it stands to reason that he failed completely and that Malik had one of the worst games of his career.
What I understand from Mikel’s response is that the defense was taking an optimistic view (“good opportunity”) rather than a pessimistic one (“difficult challenge”). I’ll admit I could have worded the second sentence better, but since there are multiple clips of him and others on defense praising Cunningham, I highly doubt they were taking his abilities lightly.
In Saturday’s post-game press conference, Jones spoke about the quote and Cunningham’s reaction:
“He’s a very nice quarterback, and I’m aware of the appointment. They messed up my ACC Media Day response a bit, and the Louisville fans wouldn’t let me live with it. They’ve been on my phone for the last two months, so it’s something that’s been on my mind. He is a great quarterback and I am happy that the defense was able to come out and contain him.”
(The final stat line for #3 was nine tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. Think he got the last laugh?)
The irony is that a similar situation occurred almost a decade ago. Late in the 2012 season, a 9-0 Cardinals team entered the Dome to face Orange 4-5. You’d think the #11 AP/#9 Coaches Poll team wouldn’t need any more motivation to stay undefeated, but they came up with something anyway: a cardboard cutout of then-Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib that they proceeded to throw in the trash. before the game. .
Do you notice something? if that is other bogus quote that the Cardinals thought was a good idea. I would call this the most egregious as it was pulled out of nowhere. If you take five seconds to look into this, you’ll find out that Orange actually lost their previous two Senior Days before this, so I really don’t understand the desire to temper fate.
Sure enough, Syracuse scored 31 points in the first half and never gave up in a 45-26 victory. There were absolute magicians in every position. Orange not only blew the Cardinals’ bid for perfection, but also started a four-game winning streak to close out the campaign (including a Pinstripe Bowl victory over West Virginia).
Now all we need for the rest of the season are fake tweets from Sean Tucker calling out other racers instead of evaluating himself. As if our Heisman ever did that…