Win over Syracuse would be a turning point in Enos' career
Forget about stomping on Purdue. Forget about sneaking past Iowa. Forget about wins over the boat-rowers from Kalamazoo and that win in some cheesy bowl game.
A win against Syracuse Saturday would be the biggest accomplishment in head coach Dan Enos’ career.
Enos has a few memorable wins to be proud of. But to stay undefeated and beat the Orange in front of the home crowd would surpass them all.
While it shows toughness to go on the road and beat a good team, the feeling just is not the same as doing so in front of your own fans.
This week, a Power Five conference team will grace Mount Pleasant for only the fourth time in 20 years.
Like Purdue, Syracuse resides in one of the most competitive conferences in football. Yet, unlike Purdue, Syracuse has more than one win against an FBS (Division I-A) team in the past year.
CMU hasn’t had much luck against the ACC—they’re 0-11 in all-time games against teams currently in the conference—likely being part of the reason the Orange are six-and-a-half point favorites.
But Enos has the tools to contend.
He has a Big Ten-quality running back in senior Thomas Rawls, who proved he can boil over a defense from any conference with a monstrous 155 yards on 31 carries against Purdue. The man just doesn’t go to the ground.
One of Syracuse’s biggest difficulties when it scraped out a 27-26 double-overtime victory over FCS (Division I-AA) Villanova was stopping the run.
They won’t have time to be cute like they did against Purdue, when they gave Rawls only three carries in the entire first quarter.
Rawls needs to see the ball early and often.
Enos finally has a formidable defense. This defense gravitates toward the ball like a bunch of five-year-olds playing soccer. A defense that isn’t only stocked with playmakers, but has the ability to consistently force three-and-outs.
There is no reason not to be optimistic when you are 2-0. This can be the team to take down the Orange, to re-energize the Chippewa fan base and to silence the “Fire Enos” chorus once and for all.
Or at least for seven more days.
