According to the N&O, Wolfpack QB Mitchell ’50-50′ for Saturday’s game.
Mitchell wore shoulder pads and a helmet but was in shorts at Tuesday’s practice while the rest of the team had on full pads. Mitchell said it felt great to get back on the field with teammates but he still hasn’t really tested his foot at full speed.
He’s one tough kid:
Mitchell threw for 93 yards and ran for 19 yards and led the Wolfpack to a pair of touchdowns on the first two drives of the season in a 40-14 win over Louisiana Tech on Aug. 31.
After the third series, Mitchell went to the locker room. He came back out in the second half and was on crutches. He said Tuesday he suffered the foot injury on the first series of the game.
Oh yeah, I knew it right away,†Mitchell said. “I kind of knew right then it was broken. I didn’t want to come out so I played the next two series.
The third series, it was just too painful to keep playing, so I pulled myself out.â€
Personally I wouldn’t risk him at all during the Syracuse game, get the bye week and then wait until after FSU pulls their starters before inserting him into the game so he can work the kinks out and be ready to go against *NC the next week.
More good news/bad news:
Mitchell was one of several key players missing from the offense in a 28-13 loss at Wake Forest this past Saturday. Receiver Rashard Smith, who tweaked his right knee against Wake Forest, did not practice on Tuesday.
Running back Matt Dayes (ankle) and receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (hamstring) are expected to play against the Orange.
Rob Crisp must have the mother of all concussions.
Left tackle Rob Crisp will miss his fourth straight game with concussion issues, Doeren said.
Meanwhile Brett Friedlander says Wolfpack expectations, at least the realistic ones, don’t change with loss at Wake.
Also, Bud Poliquin has the Orange fitting in perfectly with the mediocricy that is ACC football as The Syracuse football season is about to enter the ACC’s ‘Land of the Middling’.
Assuming we can agree that knocking off No. 6 Florida State next month in Tallahassee would amount to the bug shattering the windshield, that would mean triumphing in at least four of the six 50-50 games remaining on the schedule. That would give this Blue squad the 6-6 record it would need to earn postseason eligibility for the third time in four years and inspire another round of huzzahs.
And, why not dream? None of those half-dozen opponents — North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Maryland, Pittsburgh or Boston College — looks at all like Peyton Manning’s Broncos. And while it’s true that SU doesn’t, either, there are these two facts:
(1) After five contests with, pretty much, preordained results, there bodes to be those half-dozen affairs stretching from here through Thanksgiving Weekend, that promise more than a bit of intrigue for Shafer’s gang and the fans who follow it. And,
(2) Because those six foes, all ACC brethren, are an unremarkable 19-11 with losses by scores of 63-0, 56-7 and 35-7, and with victories over Elon and Old Dominion and Presbyterian, the Blue can and should take on each of them with an optimist’s assurance. A pearl in every oyster, right?
“We came real close to making it an interesting ball game,” Macky MacPherson, the senior center, maintained after Clemson had racked up 624 yards of offense and could have —could have — hung 13 more points on the board that would have given the Tigers 62 altogether. “There are a lot of learning experiences that we got out of this.”
Macky and his mates will probably need to call on them this weekend in Raleigh where the first real “who’s-gonna-win?” bout of the campaign will be waged against N.C. State, which has already fallen to Wake Forest, which has already been slammed by Boston College, which has already lost twice … blah, blah, blah. More such tilts will follow in the ACC’s “Land of the Middling.” The mystery, the fun, begins.
Syracuse isn’t immune from the injury bug either, Syracuse loses senior starter CB Keon Lyn for the year.
Scott Shafer said Lyn has a “lower-body injury that is going to require some surgery” and the school confirmed that the rehabilitation process will keep him out for the rest of the 2013 season. The senior cornerback from Mirmar, Fla. has been a three-year starter, and at this point in the season it is likely that his career with the Orange is over.
Fellow cornerback Brandon Reddish was listed as a game-time decision to start against Clemson. The junior dressed for the game but did not play in the 49-14 loss. With Lyn gone, he may have to start opposite Ri’Shard Anderson. If not, Syracuse will likely move sophomore Julian Whigham, Lyn’s backup on the depth chart, into the starting lineup.
