Let’s play the hyperbole game, shall we? The game in which coaches egregiously and grossly overstate their next opponent. Take it away, Doug Marrone:

‘For us, with the direction we have as a football program,’ Marrone said, ‘we’re playing the best team in the country this week.’

Right. Fair enough. It’s coach-speak. It’s nice. It’s cute. It’ll shape the focus of the week around how Syracuse isn’t taking Maine lightly. And it’s probably the right thing to say, coming off a demoralizing 21-point loss to Washington after a dominating start to the season against Akron.

But this talk doesn’t stop at Marrone. His players have bought in, too. At least that’s what they’re saying. Take it away, Van Chew:

‘Coach Marrone has told us to think about every team like it’s the No. 1 team,’ said Chew, a junior wide receiver. ‘We’re looking at Maine like we’re playing against Alabama.’

No. No, no, no. Because no matter what he says, there’s no possible, sane way Chew can watch Alabama — the defending national champion and class of NCAA football — and then watch film of Maine, and compare the two. And though Syracuse has the right idea in not taking any opponent lightly, it’s this over-the-top mentality that leads to 21-point blowout losses.

There’s a difference between taking every opponent seriously and preparing for a team with the wrong combination of letters (FCS) like it is the A-class of the FBS.

The Orange has been here before. Two years ago, the team was preparing for Akron to come into the Carrier Dome in SU’s home opener. Still under former head coach Greg Robinson, strong safety Max Suter said Syracuse didn’t take Akron seriously. The team had a casual week of practice, planning for a cakewalk and a simple enough start at home.

‘We definitely took them easier,’ Suter said. ‘(We thought) with a Division I-AA school (sic) coming in here, it was going to be an easy road. And we got beat. You can’t do that. You have to come in with the mindset that we have to play as hard as we can on every play.’

That’s the mentality the Orange should have going into this game. Chew developed that mentality from his days on the junior varsity squad at Centreville High School in Clifton, Va.

An opposing team came into Centreville’s stadium riding a 10-game losing streak, as Chew recalls. Chew and his teammates slacked off in practice. No one took practice seriously. The entire team goofed around, expecting an easy victory. Whoops.

‘When the game came, we were lost,’ Chew said. ‘We were turning the ball over. I had two fumbles. It was horrible.’

That’s when he decided he was never going to take an opponent lightly again. Any opponent. And as a football player expecting to win, that’s the only approach to take.

But it’s another step to cynically look at each opponent like the No. 1 flavor of the week. For obvious starters, Alabama has the returning Heisman Trophy winner lining up at running back. And for kicks, Maine lifelessly lost its home opener 3-0. To Albany. Needless to say, the Crimson Tide would turn the Black Bears black and blue.

Those types of words try to preemptively put the program leaps and bounds ahead of where it is. And it’s why losses like the sorry one to Washington happen. It takes a different mindset, a different approach, to face Washington than it does Maine.

It takes something extra to get ready for Jake Locker as compared to Akron’s Patrick Nicely. Extra preparation on the practice field and extra time in the film room to decipher a Heisman frontrunner is a must.

‘Akron and Washington are two different teams,’ senior cornerback Da’Mon Merkerson said. ‘They do two different things, and they’re two different offenses. … (Washington) had a few more playmakers on the team. Their playmakers made plays, and we didn’t stop them from making plays.’

And treating Akron like Washington is a big reason Syracuse got run over last week by those playmakers. Now, learn from it. Take this week’s home opener against the Black Bears and next week’s home contest with Colgate as what they are. Take them with a dose of reality.

Because in reality, they are both must-win games if SU will end up where it wants to be at the end of the season — a bowl game. Syracuse has everything to lose and nothing to gain, except a required two wins. Nothing more, nothing less.

No hyperbole.

Brett LoGiurato is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at bplogiur@syr.edu.

Published on September 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm