A little bit more about: Syracuse

Whenever a new season begins, it's hard to know where our beloved ApostroCats will have improved and where they will have declined. Which players will have blossomed in the spring and which graduates we will unexpectedly miss. Which condiments will have been left out of the Ryan Field refrigerators for 10 months and which will have been left out but topped off with fresh supplies.

So, I'll keep things brief today and just give three players who have to show up Saturday to give the Cats a win.

• Adam Hahn - A lot has been made in the off-season of NU's revitalized attacking defense, and with John Gill out to suspension, you can expect Corey Wooton to earn a lot of blocking attention from the Orange offense. Hahn (as well as the rest of the D-Line) needs to make the solid stops as well as the more glamourous sacks and hurries to give the LBs a chance to execute the way Coach Hankwitz has designed.

• Stefan Demos - The sophomore kicker/punter has a year's experience and an off-season of conditioning under his belt now. He needs to do his part to improve what was a poor kick coverage unit in 2007. If Demos and his coverage team can keep SU to poor starting field positions, it will give the defense great momentum from the start of every opposing drive.

• Ben Burkett - Who touches the ball on every play? The center and the QB. While Bachér will be the man who operates our no-huddle offense, the red-shirt freshman Burkett must lead a patchwork offensive-line though any early quavers so they can quickly become a strength of our attack rather than a weak link. The more that C.J. gets a chance to run the offense normally, the better our chance to win this weekend and in the future.

Whether Report tomorrow, along with my pick!
Let's go Cats!