On Wednesday, TMZ.com reported that Heisman Trophy favorite Jameis Winston is under investigation in an open sexual assault case reported nearly a year ago. But Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer isn’t preparing for any scenario in which the Florida State quarterback doesn’t play on Saturday.

“That’s out of my control,” Shafer said during his weekly press conference Thursday. “I just play the guys on the field.”

FSU released a statement Wednesday that read that Winston’s status is unchanged for this weekend.

“We are aware of a matter that was investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department almost a year ago,” the statement reads. “Because the investigation has not been closed by TPD, we cannot comment further at this time. We look forward to a speedy resolution of the issue. There is no change in Jameis Winston’s status.”

For Syracuse, Saturday’s matchup invokes memories of the last time the Orange went up against a Heisman candidate.

In its first Atlantic Coast Conference game, the Orange was thrown right into the fire against quarterback Tajh Boyd. During this week, Shafer asked his team, “What was the last game that felt like this going in?”

Clemson.

There’s a “fine line,” he said, between being excited and getting too amped up. He admitted that he was probably too amped against the Tigers, but that game was a learning experience. SU now has a similar experience to look back to.

“The most valuable thing we need to do going into this one is learn from our past mistakes,” Shafer said, “so we’ve been trying to really do a good job going back through those different scenarios that came up.”

Shafer said that SU gave the Tigers 21 points when they played in the Carrier Dome. FSU’s offense is even better, ranking second in the nation behind only No. 4 Baylor.

But for Shafer, it’s still just a game of six-second wars — maybe eight seconds because Winston “does a good job of sliding around.” Syracuse will have to win its fair share of wars to pull off a stunning upset.

“We’ve got no chance in hell according to the stat books and all that other stuff,” Shafer said. “I still think we should go play them, though.”

Published on November 14, 2013 at 11:44 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2