ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Doug Marrone has repeated one message every day at practice this week: Bring the trophy back.

That would be the Schwartzwalder Trophy, which is presented annually to the winner of the West Virginia-Syracuse game. Or should we say, that stays annually in Morgantown.

The 63-year history of this rivalry has never been as one-sided in favor of West Virginia as it is now. The Mountaineers have beaten Syracuse seven straight times, last losing in Rich Rodriguez's first year as head coach. It's the second-longest current winning streak by one Big East team over another, trailing only the Mountaineers' 14-game dominance against Rutgers.

Making matters worse for Syracuse is that the trophy is named after their own legendary coach, Ben Schwartzwalder. It was introduced in 1993, and the Orange won six of the first nine hardware games. But most of the current Orange players couldn't pick it out of a trophy lineup.

"They showed us a picture of it," receiver Mike Williams said. "But I didn't see it up close."

Four of West Virginia's wins have come by at least three touchdowns, including a 55-14 shellacking in the last meeting at the Carrier Dome two years ago. Orange fans, though, would like to pretend that the Greg Robinson era doesn't count. Anyone who's paid even scant attention this season knows Syracuse is a much tougher out these days.

"This is a different Syracuse than the Big East was used to seeing in the past," Mountaineers linebacker Reed Williams said.

The biggest difference has come on defense, especially up front. Syracuse is ranked 15th nationally against the run and has not allowed a 100-yard rusher all year. That's a stat that will be put to the test against Noel Devine and Jarrett Brown.

"We have a lot of speed on defense," defensive tackle Arthur Jones said. "So far, we've done a good job containing fast quarterbacks."

The Orange still have question marks in their secondary, something the strong-armed Brown will surely try to exploit on Saturday. South Florida sure did last week in a 34-20 win.

On the other hand, Syracuse did not look outmatched athletically against the Bulls, who have as much speed as anybody in the Big East. If not for seven turnovers, the Orange may have had a chance to win that game. That's one thing they're banking on this week as they try to snap this seven-game losing streak and bring the trophy back.

"Coach Marrone told us we could change everything around with this one game," Williams said. "We could change the whole program around."