(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
Syracuse was beaten up, beaten down, beaten left, and beaten right by the West Virginia Mountaineers. What appeared to be a better matchup from the week before apparently wasn't, and Syracuse was not competitive in a 34-13 beatdown.
But, of course, that isn't the story. The story is not the dropped passes from the receivers, not the blowout to West Virginia, not even the 0-2 start to the Big East season for Doug Marrone and the Orange. I was afraid of this happening, but the debate is on, both in the media and within the Syracuse fan base.
Should Greg Paulus be the starting quarterback next week?
As a comfort, this debate is not going on in the Syracuse locker room. Doug Marrone has already openly said that Greg Paulus is the starter. While a quarterback debate would definitely be normal with the play of the past two weeks with the starter, it is being magnified because of who our quarterback is.
Even more than the question of who should be the starter, there is now the question of "Did Syracuse bring on Paulus as a marketing tactic?" While this is completely ridiculous, it is being asked.
The focus being on Greg Paulus is not his fault, but it is there nonetheless. Many people insisted before seeing a down of football that Greg Paulus gives us a better chance than Ryan Nassib, and after this past week, those same people are abandoning ship a little bit.
Amidst the chaos, I bring a question of my own. If we play the rest of the season out like this, win a couple more games with Paulus at the helm, and finish not bowl eligible, was it worth it?
The main reason that I was against this experiment was because in the long run I don't think that this does anything to help the team. If he could get Syracuse bowl eligible, I would be all for it, but I did not think that would be the case.
This isn't a team that was in the verge of achieving something great but missing that last piece to the puzzle. This was a team that was and is rebuilding.
To answer the starting quarterback question, I say you have to start Paulus now. You can't sign him, make him your team captain after two weeks of practice, then bench him after two bad games. Like it or not, he is the face of Syracuse football this year, and we have to stick with him.
There have been games where he has exceeded expectations (mine anyway), and although the teams he had good games against are shaping out to be not as good as predicted, they are still division one football teams nonetheless.
Bottom line, Syracuse fans. Greg Paulus IS Syracuse Football this year. Love him or hate him, he is the captain of our team and is going to be the starter. I will be the first one to admit that I was not a fan of bringing him on to begin with, but he's wearing Orange so we have to rally behind him.
-KShaw as written http://thesaltinewarriors.blogspot.com
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