SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -It was business as usual Monday for Syracuse coach Doug Marrone, putting another road victory in the rearview mirror.
And if it was somewhat unusual to be talking about a bowl game with two games remaining in the regular season, Marrone was taking it all in stride.
“I don’t think I or any of our coaches are surprised,” Marrone said. “I’ve said it a million times. My job is to win football games. If I don’t win football games, I’ll be fired. That’s how I look at it. The people that are surprised, I’m happy for them. I don’t look down at them and say, ‘You shouldn’t be.’ I understand that, but this is what I do for a living.”
In just his second year as a head coach, Marrone has done it remarkably well. A team that won only four Big East games from 2005-09 finished this season 4-0 on the road in the conference, a first for the Orange (7-3, 4-2 Big East).
Of the 120 teams that play in college football’s top tier, a pair of unbeatens – top-ranked Oregon and No. 3 Boise State – and Syracuse are the only ones that have won five road games. Maybe that’s why Syracuse was the lone Big East team to receive votes in this week’s AP Top 25.
The Orange’s 13-10 victory at Rutgers on Saturday made them eligible for the postseason for the first time in six years. It also assured them of their first winning record since Paul Pasqualoni’s 2001 squad finished 10-2 after beating Kansas State in the Insight.com Bowl.
An extra 15 days of practice in December is something the Syracuse seniors probably never could have imagined after the Greg Robinson era. He departed after 2008 with a 10-37 record, the worst four-year stretch in school history.
“The seniors are going to be able to go out with a winning season and a bowl game,” said Marrone, who played for Syracuse in the 1980s. “That’s what pleases me the most because of the amount of focus that was put on me at a young age by coach Mac (Dick MacPherson). Winning is part of the experience because it’s something that you’re going to have in life.”
Marrone said the Orange emerged from the Rutgers game in relatively good health. Wideout Alec Lemon and nose tackle Bud Tribbey are listed as starters on the depth chart for Saturday night’s home game against Connecticut (5-4, 2-2). Though neither saw action against Rutgers, Marrone said both were cleared to play.
Syracuse will take the Big East’s best overall record into the game against Connecticut (5-4, 2-2), which needs one victory in its final three games to become eligible for a bowl game.
Amazingly, the Orange also have a shot at the conference title and a BCS berth. Motivating them for Connecticut doesn’t figure to be something Marrone will have to worry about. Last November, the Huskies scored two touchdowns in the final minute and beat Syracuse 56-31 to become bowl eligible for the third straight year under coach Randy Edsall, a Syracuse alum.
Marrone says that’s old news.
“You need to move on,” he said. “There’s no story line behind this game. No grudge.”
Sure.
Notes: Freshman kicker Ross Krautman won Big East special teams player of the week honors and linebacker Derrell Smith earned honor roll accolades for their performances in the Orange’s 13-10 victory over Rutgers. Smith had 10 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks and Krautman’s 24-yard field goal with 67 seconds remaining won the game. Krautman also kicked a 48-yard field goal and has missed only once in 16 attempts this season. That leads the Big East and is fourth nationally among kickers who have made at least 10 field goals.
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