I think so but the performance of other teams will decide if it will last unfortunately. Each week I do my own personal Top 25 which I factor in current results, overall record, strength of schedule, head to head results, previous week's AP poll and my Top 25 from the previous week. I use the AP because for one, its a human poll and two it takes the emotion out of me being the one deciding who should be in the Top 25 based on my personal feelings, likes and dislikes of other teams (I am a fan after all). Honestly this week there were 4-5 teams deserving of # 25 but I did put put Rutgers at # 25 because I couldn't find a reason why I should put a three loss BCS team ahead of them. UNC could easily have been there coming off of their impressive home win vs Miami. Even at 7-3, they were only one vote short of cracking the Top 25. Also right there is Nebraska who is hosting K-State this weekend and is coming off of a win at Kansas and is also at 7-3. Cal is also right there at 7-3 following their win at Arizona.

My feeling though is that even if we win convincingly at Syracuse this weekend, there are no guarantees when the new AP poll comes out on Sunday. If UNC wins at BC this weekend, they could very well pass us because voters would view their win over a 7-3 Eagle team as more impressive then a potential RU win over the 3-7 Orange. Another concern I have is Cal coming off of their win at Arizona is now facing Stanford in the annual "Big Game." If Cal wins, there is no reason why voters wouldn't put them past us in the polls. The emerging theme here is that Big East teams are at a disadvantage in that they consistently need to have one less loss then other BCS conference schools in order to be viewed on an equal basis in the minds of the voters. The bottom line is this: Rutgers right now is deserving to be in the Top 25 and, as long as they continue to win they deserve to stay there. However, whether they actually do stay there doesn't depend so much on what they do but it depends largely upon what the other teams around them do this weekend. I find it hard to imagine an 8-2 BCS conference team not ranked in the Top 25 at this stage of the season but it certainly seem like a very real possibility.

Doug Marrone has been cleaning house since he took over the Syracuse football program in December. Gone from the GRob era of Syracuse Football are 21 scholarship players (25% of the 85 maximum NCAA allotment) who either weren’t buying what Marrone was selling or simply couldn’t cut it in the new Syracuse era of accountability.

Included on the casualty list is star receiver Mike William’s who decided to hang it up following a post game visit and subsequent car accident outside of the Turning Stone Casino near Syracuse on November 1st. While I am sure that many of these departures as well as the 2-2 start (including a 37-34 win over the now 7-4 Northwestern) caused hope for the future, the injury bug over the past several games has not been kind to Marrone and the Orange. Gone for the year are nine players on both sides of the ball including All Big East DT Arthur Jones who suffered his season ending knee injury during the November 7th Pittsburgh game in which Syracuse was able to travel with just 55 healthy players.

Staring into what has now become a 3-7 record with Rutgers and UConn left on the schedule, most coaches would have resigned the season and begun preparing the team and its younger players for the future. That kind of “sacrifice now for the future” attitude just isn’t part of Marrone’s make up though.

“We're still going out there to win games, not to give people experience for next year,” Marrone said. “It's not next year until the last game is over. The way people are getting experience now on this team is through injury."

The kind of attitude Marrone is trying to instill in this team comes from what he learned as a player under Dick MacPherson during the early 1980’s.

“I've always played to win," Marrone said. "I think this team will always play to win. Coach Mac ... I don't want to speak for Coach Mac, but we always played to win. I think that's what you do here at Syracuse - you play to win."

It wasn’t too long ago that a 34 year old first time coach came into Piscataway with the same kind of rhetoric talking about winning the Big East and going to bowl games. We all thought that guy was crazy when he got up at his introductory press conference and started talking about his vision of the State of Rutgers. We all know it can happen and why can’t it happen again. After all, a good, competitive Syracuse would be a good thing for the Big East.

If Rutgers plans to show us more then just a “W” against the Black Knights on Friday, it must cure its schizophrenic offense by getting back to being a run first throw second team. That’s the same formula that worked so well during the 2006 season when Teel was a first year and unproven sophomore starter. I’m not saying that any one of four RB’s is Ray Rice but being able to collectively pound the ball inside with a sustained running game while showing a threat to break off the long run is the first step in solving this apparent identity crisis and opens up Savage to make his down field passes to Sanu, Brown and the chorus line of potential third WR options. O-line Injuries: Although the running game against Pitt produced only 38 yards on 20 carries, 29 of which came from Sanu via the wildcat, the o-line seemingly had it’s best of the year against BCS competition in terms of QB protection. Could this unit finally be coming together without the services of season opening starter Caleb Ruch and Desmond Wynn?

Will the rocket take off finally? Everyone else has pretty much beaten the drum on this one but it’s worth mentioning once again. The cover is off the Schiano’s new offensive sports car and the kid’s red shirt has been burned. Give the kid a chance against FBS competition and make him part of your running game for more then just fourth quarter mop up work.

Wildcat Offense: Whether this is just a gimmick conceived by Schiano and the OC’s or if there is a vision of having the wildcat become a strategic piece of the offense, I do not know. If it is the later, integrate it into the offense and use it consistently (the polar opposite of how it was intermittently used during the Pitt loss). Use it when you need a wrinkle play inside of the red zone but remember, run first, pass second. It’s time to end the gimmicks and regain a semblance of an identity for this offensive unit.

Penalty Mistakes: Although the penalty line from the box score of the Pitt game shows 6 penalties for 55 yards, it seemed very clear that we committed many of these penalties in key third down situations both on offense and defense that ended drives for us or extended drives for Pitt. This undisciplined play has got to stop if this team is going to go anywhere looking ahead to Connecticut, South Florida and West Virginia. The truth is we do not score a lot of points and every possession is precious.

Devin McCourty: Not enough has been said about Devin’s play on defense and special teams this year. The development of his game is one of the few positive stories that have developed this year. His line on Friday was 11 tackles, 1.0 for loss and a blocked punt. Look for # 21 all over the field at Michie Stadium on Friday.

No matter how you spin it, Fridays 24-17 loss to the Panthers seals the fate of the Scarlet Knights to a December bowl appearance assuming they are able to achieve the seven wins required to become bowl eligible (Since only one FCS win can count towards bowl eligibility). The difference between championship teams (see Florida’s 23-20 win vs Arkansas) and the “also ran’s” is that the coaching staff and players on championship teams find a way to win games like Friday night so that they don’t have to spend their offseason thinking about things that could have been. While there are still some “nice” things we can achieve this year in spite of the 0-2 Big East start, how long we as are fans can tolerate 7-5 seasons followed by the St. Petersburg Bowl remains the be seen, especially for a team that entered the season with BCS dreams but is effectively eliminated from the running by middle of October.

Expectations are a very dangerous thing, but its managing them, meeting them and exceeding them that separates top flight programs from everyone else. Right now, this team is trying to do too many things at once, constantly tinkering with personnel as it struggles to find it’s offensive identity both on and off the field. While changes surely need to be made, it seems that we are falling into the trap of mistaking these changes for actual progress and not making the kind of changes that give us the “best chance to win”. The decisions made along the sideline this year have at times left many fans wondering if 2006 was just an anomaly and whether or not it is realistic to think that we can ever get back there (or further) again. The bottom line is this….Just because we’re doing something doesn’t mean we’ve done anything. As the great John Wooden once said “don’t ever mistake activity for achievement.”

Finally, redemption is about to arrive in the form of a Big East matchup vs the Pittsburgh Panthers (5-1, 2-0). Hard to believe 46 days will have passed since the humiliating defeat against the Bearcats once the Scarlet Knights suit up on Friday night. Dave Wannstedt enters the game riding a four game losing streak vs Rutgers but guides a squad that is vastly different from the defensive focused teams that have faced the knights over the four years of his tenure.

The 2009 edition of QB Bill Stull looks nothing like the player who managed just 9 TD’s and 10 INT’s including an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Oregon St. in the Sun Bowl to close the 2008 season. Through the first six games of 2009, Stull has thrown for 1,256 yards and 13 TD’s against just 3 INT’s and has elevated his game over the past three weeks in which the Panthers have faced consecutive BCS opponents. With superior pass protection provided by the Pitt O-line, Stull currently holds the nations 4th highest passer rating trailing only Jimmy Clausen, Kellen Moore and Tim Tebow.

Leading the receiving corps is freakish sophomore Jonathan Baldwin. The 6’5” Baldwin not only towers over opposing CB’s and possesses NFL caliber physical tools, but he is also blessed with 4.4 speed that he uses to separate from coverage and gain 532 yards on just 27 receptions including 3 TD’s. The Panthers also hope to exploit several advantages at the TE position where Dorian Dickerson leads the team with 7 TD’s. "We have a great matchup with our tight ends," Stull says. "With Dorin (Dickerson) running down the middle of the field against their linebackers, we like that matchup. They play a lot of man-to-man defense. If we protect well, with their man coverages, we can have some great matchup advantages."

Freshman RB Dion Lewis enrolled at Pitt in January and quickly answered the question of who would replace LeSean McCoy. Lewis was virtually assured the starting roll following a stellar spring and hasn’t looked back since bursting out of the gate with consecutive 100 yard games on the way to 738 yards and 7 TD’s through the first half of 2009. Lewis is a classic thickly built, low center of gravity runner who bounces between would be tacklers and quickly accelerates to full speed. Joining Lewis in the running game is fellow freshman Ray Graham (step brother of Khaseem Greene) who has 176 yards on 32 carries and is more of a downhill, workhorse straight line back who provides a strong complement to the cutting, slashing style of Dion Lewis.

Notes: Other then Big East standings implications, Friday night’s game could also help sway the balance of powers in local Big Eat recruiting pecking order. Pittsburgh boasts 11 current players from New York and New Jersey but more importantly has made some significant inroads recently by receiving non binding verbal commitments from 5 players from the NY/NJ area in its 2010 class.