I’m not sure if ‘Cuse fans are even aware of that any longer. So much off the football field stuff. The basketball team gets humiliated. It’s hard to blame them. This has been crazy.

Mike Williams quitting was related to a pending suspension, but not academic as I speculated. It was about going to a casino Saturday night in explicit violation of what their coach had told the team. And they would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for the meddling trucker.

According to state police, Syracuse football players Torrey Ball, Antwon Bailey, Andrew Tiller and Williams were in a Ford SUV that was rear-ended by a tractor trailer. The accident took place at mile marker 259.1 of the Thruway in the town of Lenox. That’s 6.4 miles from the Verona exit and the Turning Stone Casino.

…

The crash was entirely the fault of the tractor-trailer driver, said state police Capt. James Land. Nathan Primrose, of Clyde, was driving a tractor trailer westbound on the Thruway when he came up behind the vehicle Tiller was driving.

The tractor trailer struck the Ford, forcing it off the road.

Tiller, the driver of the SUV, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Everyone else was luckily unhurt.

The rest of the players on the Syracuse team are closing ranks behind the coach at this point.

Syracuse players seemed uncomfortable during their media opportunity on Tuesday trying to express their feelings over the events of the last 48 hours. All the players requested for interviews came in together. Typically, they filter in one by one over a 30-minute window.

“We’re coming together as a team, man,” said receiver Donte Davis. “That’s what we do. We’re going to stick together and stay close. You always have tests here and there. We’re OK. We’re brothers out here. We’re going to stay together.”

“It’s a team issue thing,” said Syracuse offensive lineman Ryan Bartholomew. “We all have to understand we have team rules and we all have to abide by them.”

“Coach has rules and guidelines,” said Syracuse starting quarterback Greg Paulus. “Those are the things this team is going to do. Coach always talks about doing things together, doing things as a family. He sets the standard through his example. It’s a great example for us to follow. I know we’re going get this thing going. Playing hard for him and our teammates, that’s what we’re working towards.”

“We’re focused on Pittsburgh,” said snapper Dalton Phillips. “We have four games left. We have to win three. We can’t let these distractions get to us. We need to press forward.”

Well, if they are focused on the Pitt game let’s see what else there is.

Tiller was the starting guard on the Syracuse O-line. That suspension hurts as much as Mike Williams’ quitting in my view.

DE Jared Kimmel is out for the Orange as well with knee surgery. Couple that with the suspension of Torrey Ball — a reserve DE — and the depth for a ‘Cuse team that was already very thin is inching closer to non-existent. That front four could well be  worn down to nub by the end of the game.

Syracuse’s scholarship roster was down to 66 before the injury, suspensions and quitting players (including a JUCO that never actually played). So it could well be that the number would be around 60 dressed scholarship players for the Pitt game.

The Pitt players and coaches swear they are laser-like focused on the game.

“We can’t overlook this team,” said senior tight end Dorin Dickerson, who leads the Big East with nine touchdown receptions. “They have nothing to lose. They are going to go out and hit people and try to win the game.”

Whether it’s coincidence or not, Pitt has tended to struggle the week prior to its biggest games of the year. In each of the past three seasons Pitt lost the game it played immediately before meeting rival West Virginia, falling to Connecticut in 2006, Rutgers in 2007 and Cincinnati in 2008. Pitt also lost the week before what was arguably last year’s second-biggest game (Notre Dame), losing to Rutgers.

But with Pitt off to its best start since 1982, the players understand a loss to Syracuse would diminish the importance of those same games they were tempted to look ahead to.

“We didn’t look past (any) team we played this year,” fullback Henry Hynoski said. “We focused on what we had to do at that time. If we didn’t do it all year, there’s no reason why we should do it now.”

Okay, then.

Meanwhile,  I guess I’ll peak ahead a bit.

The Pitt-Notre Dame game Nov. 14 is on the short list of games being considered for ESPN’s “College GameDay.” If chosen, the GameDay crew would do the show from Heinz Field.

Nothing like everything coming full circle.