SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -The Blue Devil wears orange now. The trick for the Minnesota Golden Gophers is not to let Greg Paulus and his Syracuse teammates send them home with red faces.
“I have watched the videotape and evaluated the kid coming out of high school,” Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said of the former Duke point guard, who will start Saturday’s opener at quarterback for the Orange. “He could have played football at any university in America and you would have been very excited to have him on your team. He did not forget all that he knows about football.”
Apparently not.
After playing four years of basketball for coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils, Paulus decided to give football a shot this year with his one remaining year of eligibility, received an NCAA waiver to play at Syracuse while taking graduate courses, and was tabbed the starter early in preseason camp by rookie head coach Doug Marrone.
‘ Minnesota defensive tackle Garrett Brown said with a smile.
The 2004 Gatorade High School National Football Player of the Year harbors no illusions about the challenge ahead.
“It’s going to be a hard-fought game, one where there’s a lot of emotion, some big plays, negative plays, a game of momentum,” said Paulus, whose unique athletic experiment prompted a local company to design an orange shirt with his number “2” on the front and “The Devil Wears Orange” emblazoned across the back.
“We have to do our best to handle those situations,” Paulus said. “We need to stay together as a team and make plays together because no matter what happens, we’re going to need each other out there.”
Both teams know the game plan already.
“Having guys chase after him and getting hit, that’s going to be something different that he’s going to experience and probably will get him out of his mindset,” Minnesota wideout Eric Decker said. “That’s going to be our challenge for our defense. It’s a different level, from high school to college. I think the competition is better. The opposing teams are better.”
defensively – among the worst in the country.
Syracuse regularly attracted crowds of more than 49,000 during the Donovan McNabb era (1995-98) but hasn’t had a home crowd of more than 49,000 in nine years. The team’s poor performance under Robinson hurt the school financially. In 21 homes games over his first three seasons, more than 260,000 seats were not sold, and last season average attendance fell to 33,474, a 22-year low.
The fledgling Marrone era already has produced signs of change. Associate athletic director Scott Sidwell said at mid-week that he expected a near-capacity crowd in the Carrier Dome for the noon kickoff. Capacity is 49,262 and more than 40,000 tickets already have been sold.
At least the Gophers are used to playing inside. Ironically, they will open their season in a dome after just finishing 28 seasons with a dome as their home stadium. (They open at home in a week outdoors against Air Force at new TCF Bank Stadium).
“To go on the road and open up there is a tremendous challenge,” Brewster said. “The crowd is loud. They are going to be very excited. We’ll see a lot of orange. I think it is a great opener for our football team to go on the road into such an environment like we’re going to see at Syracuse and see whether or not we’ll be up to the challenge.”
, and Brewster is expected to rely heavily on the running game under new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. Marrone and offensive coordinator Rob Spence are expected to do the same with tailbacks Delone Carter, Antwon Bailey and Averin Collier in an effort to take the pressure off Paulus.
The Orange’s rookie coach is ready and he’s treating it like any another game, even if it isn’t.
“Every game, if you told me in my career from wherever I’ve been as a player or coach, every game that week was the most important game for me,” said Marrone, who played offensive line at Syracuse in the mid-1980s. “Whether it’s the first game or the last game … every game was the most important game. If I start putting, as a player or a coach, one game being more important than the other, I’ve sold my team short.”
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