Introducing Your 1st-Place Syracuse Orange

The Syracuse Orange pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Big East Conference history Saturday when they went into Louisville and beat the Cardinals 38-35.

Of course, 'Cuse could not just pulverize the Cardinals and come away with a multiple possession victory. Instead, Andrew Robinson fumbled twice late in the game and the Cardinals converted the turnovers into TDs to make it a game.

Despite that, the Orange made many of their fans eat crow.

The forums have been chalk-full of messages calling for Greg Robinson's firing. 'Cuse fans have been impatient with the third installment of the G-Rob Orange. Syracuse started 0-3 for the first time since 1986, as opponents outscored them 128-32. The offensive line had allowed 18 sacks. Attendance for the last home game against Illinois was reported at a generous 34,000. AD Daryl Gross was reportedly upset with the lack of progress shown. All signs pointed to 0-12, and yes, that would include a loss to Buffalo.

The Orange came into Papa John's Stadium as 37-point underdogs. Thirty-seven points! According to Donnie Webb of the Post-Standard, the largest underdogs on record to win an NCAA football game were the 1985 Oregon State Beavers (+36, beat Washington 21-20) and the '85 UTEP Miners (+36, beat BYU 23-16). Now, keep in mind the Appalachian State-Michigan game had no line as odds makers just couldn't figure out how badly the Wolverines were going to crush the Mountaineers. Despite that, Syracuse's win over the Cardinals will probably go down as one of the biggest upsets in NCAA football history.

Now for the fun part...a look at one Louisville fan's pre-game blog:

I stray away from disparaging Syracuse too viciously. My best friend is a longsuffering Syracuse alum, with whom I have a yearly bet of a bottle of wine on the outcome of the football and basketball game. (The latter is usually a more heated affair -- which drained his senses after the Cards' unbelievable comeback victory at Freedom Hall last year.) The football game generally requires a hefty sum of points put up on my end in order to reap any oenophilic reward. He's shied away from the 37 points laid down by the pros; so if I want a dry Italian red Saturday night I'm going to have to put up 40 points. And so I did -- owing much to the Cards' need for vendetta after the loss to Kentucky...

Card fans have to deal with the Kentucky loss and future, if any, losses. Saturday's game against Syracuse won't be one of them. Jody Demling's weekly column The Book wasted no time in drawing a 70-7 analogy to hapless Murray State. I'm banking on a 63-14 win -- and a bottle of Sangiovese.