Cincinnati and Syracuse’s Halloween kickoff will, like Rutgers and UConn’s, also be at noon. The game is one of only two remaining for the Orange at its home Carrier Dome this season and it will be aired on ESPNU.

The October 24 meeting between Akron and Syracuse will kick off at 3:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. That’s the fifth of Syracuse’s six straight home games (Cincinnati comes to town on Halloween) and tickets are still available at SUathletics.com and 888-DOME-TIX.

Shame this one isn’t at West Virginia. Greg Paulus could try the shoe-on-the-other-foot thing, and maybe even in front of Cam Thoroughman. 

The last time Paulus took on West Virginia, he was one of the blue blooded elites (re: the point guard of a Duke team that counted eight McDonalds All-Americans on its roster). West Virginia was an aspirant, led by a first-year head coach who happened to also be an alum.

The NCAA Tournament bracket pit Duke and West Virginia in a second-round match-up in Washington, DC, the Blue Devils went up five at the half and then West Virginia pulled out a stifling, life-taking man-to-man defense.

Duke missed 15 straight threes, tiny reserve guard Joe Mazzulla gave Duke’s backcourt fits and the ostensibly no-named, low-regarded Mountaineers upset Duke, 73-67.

“I do remember that well,” Paulus said today, speaking on the weekly teleconference that’s part of the duties of his new gig, as Syracuse’s starting quarterback.

Paulus recapped the game that ended his junior basketball season, he wouldn’t be baited into calling West Virginia’s celebration uncouth (“They definitely celebrated” was all he’d offer) and he made only a benign transferral, saying “playing in all those big games, I think that has helped.”

Yes, but now, look at what this match-up is. Paulus is the underdog Joe Alexander was for West Virginia: Alexander barely played as a high school senior at Hargrave Military Academy, Paulus hasn’t played football in the four years before this one. Doug Marrone is in his first year at his alma mater, just as Bob Huggins was in Morgantown two years ago. West Virginia has definitely recently been the Big East’s fancy recruit-filled elite. (I’m not going to force the blue blood tag. I’ve been to Morgantown.) Syracuse hasn’t had many recognizable names on its locker stalls in the last few years.

If Paulus needs any sort of reminder of the power in all that, he can just pull up this old game story. It’s the one where Thoroughman, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound reserve forward heard about the eight All-Americans and asked if Paulus was one of them. And when told yes, he said, “Oh my God, are you kidding?”

So what’s Paulus these days? Blue blood or blue collar?

Ed note: Cam Thoroughman is no shrinking violet. Here he is decking one of Paulus’ old teammates. I’d wager he’s probably one of Puskar Stadium’s better hecklers.  

Syracuse has just announced it will officially name the field at the Carrier Dome Ernie Davis Legends Field. The school will have a naming ceremony and the accompanying pomp next Saturday, when West Virginia comes to town, and this is pretty neat because I just asked coach Doug Marrone about tradition yesterday.

When I chatted with lineman Arthur Jones last week, he said being coached by a Syracuse alum makes a big difference. He said when Coach Marrone’s words resonate, it’s less because he’s a former NFL player and more because he’s a former Syracuse player. The first-year head coach has indeed made learning program history and returning to program traditions a cornerstone of his rebuilding project.

There have been little things, like a directive on the first day of training camp to find a barber and team photos taken in shirt and tie, not sweaty uniforms. And there have also been bigger things, like the shoe-burning in March, reviving a tradition forged by Marrone’s own Syracuse days.

When we talked about this yesterday, Marrone first said, “I don’t go into every meeting thinking, ‘I have to make sure they know I played here.’” But then he admitted his “biggest goal” is educating players on their collective program’s history and he conceded that yes, he does talk about when he played and that it probably does resonate that “I sat in the same chair they’re sitting in.” The tradition part is all of that, and focusing on it is a reminder, he said, of what came before and what is expected and what is possible.

Now, having future Orange players trod out on a field that will permanently entrench one of Syracuse’s greatest alums in their consciousness assures that. Davis, the country’s first African-American Heisman winner, was memorialized in “The Express” last year (yes, if you care, I did get weepy watching it) and Syracuse’s release today calls him “a true role model for Syracuse University student-athletes.”

Sam and Carol Nappi proposed the idea and made the gift to make the field naming possible. In the statement, they said, “The Syracuse University football teams from 1959 to 1961, led by Ernie Davis, were comprised of men of many different ethnic backgrounds, but they were one team with one spirit. They were united as students of Syracuse University, citizens of the United States, and human beings in striving for a better future. It is our hope that Ernie Davis Legends Field at the Carrier Dome will remind people of the courage, athleticism, honor, dignity and grace of a man and his teammates who gave their all to make this world a better place. Ernie Davis Legends Field at the Carrier Dome is America’s field.”

I like it.

His little brother is a mixed martial arts fighter and his littlest brother is a 6-foot-6 behometh of a defensive end. But Arthur Jones is still sure he’s stronger than either.

“Oh yeah I can take them,” Syracuse’s 6-3, 295-pound senior defensive tackle said. “I’m the oldest brother. There’s psychological power in that.”

There’s power in just about everything Arthur Jones is – and does. He’s a senior captain, who’s playing to some of the biggest crowds in his five-year career, for a team with some of the most promise. He anchors a defense that shut down mighty Penn State’s run game. He has a smile that Syracuse Post-Standard columnist Bud Poluquin compared to Julia Roberts’ and Magic Johnson’s – and then said that Jones made that pair’s grins look like “broken windows.”

“Wow, that was nice of him,” Jones said when I repeated the line. (Apparently, he doesn’t read the sports section of newspapers.)

Jones played every game as a redshirt freshman, he had 17.5 tackles for loss while starting 11 games as a sophomore and last year, he started 12 games, had 60 tackles, was much more vicious in his 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage (he racked up 60 lost yards) and he earned a spot on the All-Big East first team. He was an obvious choice to leave for the NFL. Until Doug Marrone was hired.

“Just having a guy who’s an alumni makes such a difference,” he said of what ultimately became an obvious choice to stay. “I felt incomplete because we hadn’t won. And the NFL isn’t going anywhere.”

Then, as these things tend to happen, it became the most fortuitous of decisions. In February, Jones tore his pectoral muscle in a freakish weight room mishap (“I was trying to lift the whole weight room,” he laughed). Instead of missing the combine, he rehabbed. Marrone said he was wholly impressed with how hard Jones worked, if only, he joked, because defensive linemen tend to sometimes get squishy when they’re hurt. (Marrone, it’s worth mentioning, was an offensive lineman.) Marrone also said he trusts Jones so much, he has him playing nearly 100 percent of the Orange’s snaps and there’s good reason the 23-year old Endicott, N.Y. native is already being talked about as one of the top five defensive linemen in this year’s upcoming draft. Jones called NFL talk “a huge distraction” and said it was something to think about later. Of course, with the fun he’s having now, why rush anything?

So, without further ado, Arthur Jones…

One thing I don’t do enough of is… “sacking the quarterback.”

Best thing I cook is… “steak.”

I hate when people say… “I can’t.”

Best pre-game song is… “a little Kelly Clarkson.”

Song I don’t want to admit is on my iPod… “YMCA.”

My teammates envy my… “smile.”

I hate playing at… “nowhere. I’ll play anywhere.”

My high school mascot was…”a tiger.”

My most creative date was… “at the park.”

My Guitar Hero song is… “Eye of the Tiger.”

My DVR is full of… “football games.”

If I didn’t play football, I’d… “wrestle.”

Easiest position in football is… “the snapper. Definitely.”

Mama always says… “Get up.”

My best color is…”Orange.”

Commercial I could star in… “Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.”

Favorite Halloween costume was… “a baby. I dressed up as a baby last year.” (Ed. I asked for a picture. Arthur said no.)

The non-Syracuse Big East player I’d want on my team is… “George Selvie.”

My advice to Coach Marrone is… “keep doing what you’re doing.”

Previous Keep it Briefs: Louisville LB Jon Dempsey, Pitt TB Dion Lewis

Who does the Bulls’ hair?

Okay, that out of the way, there’s B.J. Daniels, South Florida’s brand-new starting QB. He makes his debut Saturday, at Florida State, and then, he’ll become the Big East’s third one-time hoopster to start under center. Daniels played in 19 games, averaged 2.8 minutes and finished the season with three field goals, seven rebounds, four assists and, uh, 12 personal fouls.

Of course, football success isn’t predicated on basketball success. West Virginia’s Jarrett Brown played hoops for the Mountaineers two years ago, quit, and is now not only the starting QB, but a player Louisville Lb Jon Dempsey said he’d like on his own team.

Greg Paulus started three years on Duke’s hoops team, lost his starting job his senior year and then came up to Syracuse, won the starting QB job and has helped revitalize Orange football.

As for other basketball-turned-football players playing today…

USC WR Jordan Cameron went to BYU to play basketball, transferred to Ventura JC and is now a two-sport guy for the Trojans. He played in three basketball games last year.

Louisville WR Josh Chichester spent his football redshirt season as a reserve for Rick Pitino.

TE Jimmy Graham put in four years on Miami’s hoops team, earned a degree in marketing and management and is now spending a fifth year playing for Randy Shannon.

DE Matt Lagrone played basketball at Nevada for two years before transferring to Oregon State to play football with his younger brother.

Houston TE Fendi Onubon has a Paulus story – he played basketball at Arizona for four years and then went to Houston for a fifth year and football.

Baylor’s leading receiver, Kendall Wright, spent the off-season as a reserve on the Baylor basketball team.

This is making me think of Shaq’s show and when he played football “against” Ben Roethlisberger. I have to think basketball players are better athletes than football players… what do you think?

How about Syracuse’s 37-34, last-second field goal-thriller over Northwestern? How about the 40,251 who packed the Carrier Dome and then stayed for that time-expiring 41-yard kick from Ryan Lichtenstein?

We’ve talked before about how first-year coach Doug Marrone has cultivated fans and how he believes their continued engagement is absolutely vital. After Syracuse put together a tough showing in the opener against Minnesota and a genuinely decent outing at Penn State, I asked Marrone this past week if he’d done enough to get a repeat of Week One’s crowd support, if he’d done enough to sell fans on this six-game stretch the Orange have at home.  

“I don’t know,” he said. ”The fans here have been so good, they’ve been so supportive. They understand the direction that we’re heading.”

But then, almost as if he knew that might be a little optimistic, he sighed and said, ”I think we have to win games to keep people coming back. That’s not a question in my mind of what we need to do to keep them coming back.”

Well, the Orange did it. For only the 10th time in that last 50 games. The fans certainly helped and now, it seems the Syracuse community has more than faithful loyalty pulling it to the Carrier Dome. It seems Syracuse has some players who might be worth the price of admission alone.

Greg Paulus and Mike Williams both earned helmet stickers from Rece Davis on last night’s College Gameday Final. Williams hauled in 11 balls for 209 yards and two TDs and he’s one of four nominees for AT&T’s All-America Player of the Week. (The winner will be a fan vote and Sue Edson up at Syracuse very conveniently passed along how to vote for Mike: text ** VOTE to 345345 on your cell phone.) It was the first time a Syracuse receiver has hit 200 yards since David Tyree did it in 2002 against Virginia Tech and the first time a receiver caught 11 balls since Kevin Johnson did in 1998 against West Virginia.

Paulus, meanwhile, showed why exactly the Green Bay Packers thought there was enough potential to warrant a plane trip to Duke last spring. The Packers worked him out, Paulus suddenly found out he could get a fifth year of eligibility playing another sport at another school and this past week, I wondered if Paulus was done being a headline-grabbing anomaly and officially a Big East quarterback. Marrone very frankly responded, “I know that he is our quarterback and that he’s getting better for us every week.” Make that way better.

Paulus was 24 of 35 for 346 yards and two TDs. He rushed in another one (Syracuse hasn’t had a QB do that in three years) and over at the Syracuse Post-Standard, Bud Poliquin sounds like a believer: “… there was Greg Paulus, the kid out of Manlius who was fairly marvelous.” 

Something just might be brewing up at Syracuse. And all that talk from Marrone about Syracuse being New York’s team, not Rutgers… the league’s certainly getting more interesting.

There was a day when Syracuse owned the northeast. Then Paul Pasqualoni was fired, Greg Robinson was hired and Greg Schiano’s dogged efforts took hold.

But now Doug Marrone’s in charge at Syracuse. The former Orange lineman and Bronx native made a splash at his first Big East Media Day, pledging to win the New York metro area back. Marrone’s boss, AD Daryl Gross, then got him three games at the new Meadowlands before even Rutgers booked one. And then this weekend, Syracuse announced all its games will be on air in the New York City market. AM 970 The Apple joins what’s an already extensive 25-station network, putting Syracuse games on radios all over New York and into Canada, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New England.

Of course, the question is: will the Orange make anyone WANT to listen?

After keeping it close in the first half against No. 9 Syracuse, the Rutgers men’s basketball team completely fell apart in the second half and lost their fifth consecutive game 82-66. The Knights truly lived and died by freshman Mike Rosario’s jumper in the game as he made just six of his 22 shots in the loss.

The Orange outscored RU by 15 points in the second half as Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn contributed 15 points including two spectacular dunks, seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists.

For Rutgers, senior guard Anthony Farmer led the way with 18 points, followed shortly by 15 from Rosario despite the fact that he was 3-for-15 from three point range.

The Scarlet Knights finally get a bit of a break Tuesday as they face Cincinnati, their first game against an unranked opponent since Jan. 29 against NJIT.

Oh what a difference conference play makes.

Bobby Gonzalez’s one game suspension for the Big East opener or no, the Pirates got whacked by Syracuse on Tuesday night. The 7 percent mark from three point range was a nice kick in the rear too, especially considering the Hall’s general success from long distance this season.

In the end, a loss really could have been anticipated. Syracuse is an elite team, Seton Hall is not – pretty simple math. It’s, as usual with the Hall, the how that really grinds things home. The Pirates were never in this basketball game, and looked entirely overmatched in every aspect.

Worse, in Mike Davis’ first chance to really impress he looked like… well, Mike Davis. It seems quite apparent to me that until John Garcia returns, the Hall will need a minor miracle to beat the Big East teams with legit big men.

Fortunately for the Hall, they won’t be outsized all that much by West Virginia in tomorrow night’s contest. The Mountaineers are good, but sheer size isn’t their game.  That said, Da’Sean Butler could still eat the Hall up in his homecoming (he hails from Newark, so I’m envisioning quite a following for him at the Prudential Center).

I’ll have more on the game itself tomorrow, now that I’m back from my unfortunate hiatus.

That’s all for now, y’all.

-Skip