Syracuse (4-7, 2-5 Atlantic Coast) is on the road to play its last game of the season against Pittsburgh (7-4, 4-3) Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Orange comes off a 45-14 loss to then-No. 17 Florida State, while the Panthers beat Duke, 56-14, last week.

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers went on the ACC coaches teleconference on Tuesday. Here are three things he said.

Syracuse is right on, maybe a little ahead, of schedule

Going into the season, Babers expressed that implementing his new system would take time and patience. He didn’t set many public expectations, other than that midway through his second season is when the team should be up to the level he expects.

With the Orange sitting at 4-4 one month ago, there was a decent chance for the Orange to make a bowl game. SU needed two wins in four games to guarantee a spot, and it’s something Babers acknowledged. After a three-game losing streak, he still says his team is where it needs to be.

“When you look at our 12-game schedule, and we being favored in the very first game of the year and us being underdogs in all 11 other games,” Babers said, “and for us to have an opportunity to win three of those games and to have an opportunity to win one more on Saturday, I think this football team’s probably exactly, or maybe even a little ahead, of where people thought we would be.”

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Dino Babers provides no update on Eric Dungey’s status
• Syracuse finishes with 2nd-lowest football attendance in Carrier Dome history
• Stock watch: Whose trending which way after SU’s loss to Florida State

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Babers is hoping the administration would accept a bowl bid for more practice time

If Syracuse wins one more game, it might have the chance to make a bowl game. Last year, three 5-7 teams played in one. If not enough six-win teams make it, those 5-7 schools fill the remaining spots, and the tiebreaker was their standing in the academic progress rate.

When asked whether he thought SU would accept a bowl bid at a 5-7 record, Babers said it would help to have the extra time practicing.

“A lot of that stuff is up to the administration and the university and the chancellor,” Babers said. “But the one thing that I like to always point out is that, anytime you’re rebuilding a new football team, the more practices that you can get, the faster the rebuilding job happens.”

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

Dino Babers has fond memories of his time spent at Pittsburgh

For one year, in 2003, Babers spent time as the running backs coach for Pittsburgh. He shared some anecdotes from his time there with two future NFL players.

“The things I remember about Pitt … Lousaka Polite telling me that he wanted to be a tailback and I told him he wasn’t a tailback, he was a fullback,” Babers recalled. “And how many times he came in to my office trying to convince me he was a tailback and how many times I’d look him dead in the eye and say ‘you’re a fullback, and you’re going to be an NFL fullback and you’re going to make a lot of money.’”

Polite went on to have a career spanning nine seasons with five different teams, including stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.

Babers also has memories of a former standout wide receiver who will probably end up in the NFL Hall of Fame.

“I think back to Larry Fitzgerald, dropping his first pass while I was a member of that staff, and hearing all the media people, cameras go off like someone had just broke their leg,” Babers said. “And I asked them what was going on and they said, ‘Hey, Larry Fitzgerald just dropped a pass.’”

Babers said that moment came in a spring game, and that in the regular season he saw Fitzgerald drop only one pass the entire year. Fitzgerald is currently in his 13th season in the NFL, all with the Arizona Cardinals. He’s 70 yards away from 10th all-time on the NFL receiving yards list and is three receptions away from moving in to the top five in that category.

Published on November 22, 2016 at 12:43 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer