Rutgers at Syracuse: The Best Player You Don’t Know About

Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib boasts pure accuracy and stellar decision-making as a simple redshirt junior from West Chester, PA. Miraculously, though, he is unnoticed by virtually everyone affiliated with or cheering for college football.

Believe it or not, the Big East’s best quarterback does not attend West Virginia, Cincinnati, or USF. No, the conference’s top signal caller is the true leader of Syracuse, one of the most underrated offensive players in the country, junior Ryan Nassib.

It took a little while for the West Chester, PA native to prove how legitimate he was. Before taking the first snap against Kansas State in the 2010 inaugural Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, Nassib was known as another Big East quarterback. There really was no in-depth look at his importance to the Syracuse organization; what attention that was paid to the Orange’s return to semi-eminence in football had to do with star running back Delone Carter and confident head coach Doug Marrone.

But after that first snap against the Wildcats, a handoff to Carter, Nassib caught fire. It all began with a fifty-two-yard hook up with Marcus Sales – their first of three touchdown connections – to tie the game at seven late in the first quarter. Later in the game, after Syracuse had taken leads of 14-7, then 21-14, then 27-21 before Kansas State rallied to jump in front 28-27. It was Nassib’s final touchdown pass of the day and it stuck Syracuse ahead for good, onwards to a 36-34 victory.

Nassib finished 13-of-21 for 239 yards and three touchdowns. His Hello World outing was a top reason the New Era Pinstripe Bowl was all it was cracked up to be. His importance to the victory was great for the Syracuse fans, but, in the real world, Nassib was still about as unpopular as car antennas.

It was Nassib coming off an 8-5 season in which he threw for nineteen touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Yet it was still Nassib rated behind four of the Big East’s quarterbacks come Phil Steele’s 2011 preview and behind five come ESPN Big East correspondent Andrea Aldeson’s quarterback rankings.

Perhaps the reason was Syracuse was still just Syracuse, regardless of their return to winning consistency. And, subsequently, Nassib is just the quarterback of Syracuse. Many publications have Syracuse trailing distantly behind the Big East’s best and as is Nassib. Is BJ Daniels of South Florida really a far and away better quarterback then Nassib. Daniels was even more inconsistent the gas prices. And it wasn’t the exciting kind of inconsistency portrayed by Jose Reyes on the base paths or Mark Sanchez in the pocket, as it was the confusing inconsistency, very much reminiscent to reactions to different liquor. Daniels contributed to the Bulls by screwing up when it counted. Luckily, his very solid defense bailed him out of trouble a handful of times, leading to another successful season for South Florida.

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But Daniels wasn’t the only bizarre name topping Nassib. Pittsburgh’s Tino Sunseri, the master of playing the background, is somehow expected to produce this season to a great extent. What information could that be based off of? The fact that he is on Pittsburgh? Sunseri has been vital to their running game over the prior years…as in he successfully gave the ball off to a very good running tandem. This season the spotlight is on him to carry Pittsburgh, but I don’t see any proof that he will impress. In fact, he is already off to a wonderful start in proving my theory – through five games he has thrown four interceptions.

Nassib, not to be compared to Sunseri or Daniels, has done more, but has been considered worth less. The reality is that Syracuse depends on Nassib far more than South Florida does on Daniels or Pittsburgh on Sunseri. Syracuse has lost their superstar running back in Carter to the NFL. Their defense remains extremely vulnerable and Nassib – as he did two years back as a platoon freshman with Mike Williams – does not have an NFL-caliber wide receiver to rely on. The closest thing is tight end Nick Provo.

Nonetheless, Nassib has brought Syracuse to a 3-1 start, headlined by escapes over Toledo, Rhode Island, and Wake Forest. The instrumental part Nassib has played in the success is difficult to put into words. From the unpopularity as a sophomore last year, Nassib has established himself as the Big East’s best prostyle quarterback. His accuracy and decision making has him leading the Big East in completion percentage and touchdown passes.

But I can almost guarantee you have never heard of him.

But he can roll like that. Ryan Nassib: the silent assassin.

Defenses will be shocked how much it is going to take during Syracuse game-week preparations. Said Rutgers DT Justin Francis: “You need to get him out of his comfort zone, and right now his comfort zone is that pocket. He’s a great quarterback. He’s coached to do a lot of things that a lot of quarterbacks nowadays don’t have to grasp. No doubt, we need to get after him.”

Francis had his own encounter with Nassib after Syracuse defeated Rutgers 13-10 in a high-emotion go-all-out battle in Piscataway a year ago. “When I talked to him after the game, he said, ‘You were really coming after me,’ ” recalled Francis, then a starter at defensive end but now one at defensive tackle. “ And I said to him, ‘ I had to. You ’ re a hell of a player. ’ ”

But even since then, when Nassib had thrown sixteen touchdowns to six interceptions following that game, the Orange signal-caller has improved greatly. He is unpopular, but noticed by the Knights defense. The pressure they put on Nassib a year ago – six sacks – would need to be repeated to slow him down.

By: Justin Sontupe
BigEast-Fans Rutgers Scarlet Knights Correspondent