Sometimes when James Mungro closes his eyes, he sees the past.

He sees Donovan McNabb and Rob Konrad and Quinton Spotwood – the recent legends of Syracuse football. He thinks about what they did and the high expectations they set for the program.

Mungro knows his teams haven’t yet lived up to that legacy and haven’t yet spun a heroic tale of their own. And he knows that when No. 13 Syracuse visits No. 1 Miami on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., it will be his last chance to cast his own legend.

‘This is the biggest game I can really remember playing,’ Mungro said. ‘Really, it is this team’s chance to put itself as a top team in the school’s history. I see what those guys before me have done, and I want to equal it.’

If Syracuse (8-2, 5-0 Big East) beats Miami (9-0, 5-0), Mungro and his teammates will be a regular-season-ending win over Boston College away from surpassing what McNabb’s teams did. Though McNabb led SU to Big East championships in 1996 (tied), 1997 and 1998, he never guided a team through the conference undefeated. No Orangemen team has gone undefeated in the Big East since 1991.

But no team has beaten Miami since Nov. 9, 2000. Since losing to Washington, the Hurricanes have won 19 consecutive games. During that streak, Miami has defeated five top-10 teams.

‘Obviously, they have accomplished a lot,’ Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘They are very good at every position. Even looking at the film, it is hard to find an area where they aren’t very good.’

Pasqualoni’s Orangemen haven’t exploited any Hurricane weakness in the past two years. In 1999, the last time Syracuse traveled to Miami, the Orangemen lost 45-13. Things weren’t much better last year in the Carrier Dome, a 26-0 whitewashing.

The quarterback who engineered both of those Miami blowouts, Heisman candidate Ken Dorsey, will again be at the helm. Dorsey, who’s thrown for 499 yards and four touchdowns in his two games against Syracuse, is primarily a passing quarterback and has never rushed for more than four yards in a game. The SU defense hopes Dorsey’s lack of mobility will make him more vulnerable.

‘I want to play right now,’ SU cornerback Will Hunter said Sunday. ‘It was real ugly last time we went there, but this is a whole new team now. I want to hit Dorsey. I want to hit him so bad. That would go on my highlight tape like five times. At the beginning, the middle and the end.’

While Miami head coach Larry Coker may be somewhat concerned about Hunter’s blitzing ability, he is focusing this week’s pass protection on defensive end Dwight Freeney, the nation’s sack leader with 16.5.

‘Certainly he’s good enough that you’ll have to be concerned about him and have to give players some help with Dwight Freeney,’ Coker said. ‘He has such a great first step. I don’t think you can hold up all day long just single blocking him.’

If any team can single block Freeney, it’s Miami. Its offensive line, lauded for its experience, has given up just one sack this year. Senior tackles Bryant McKinnie and Joaquin Gonzalez, and junior Brett Romberg are recognized as three of the nation’s top offensive lineman.

Defensively, Miami is equally talented. Safety Ed Reed leads the nation with seven interceptions, and the Hurricanes give up just nine points a game.

Regardless, the Orangemen are confident that if they execute a balanced offense, they can score enough to win.

‘We have to be able to do everything, and we’ll be fine,’ SU wideout David Tyree said. ‘We’re missing the break-out game. We’ll find a way to do it eventually, but if we start hitting these things on all phases, then people are going to understand what we’re talking about.’

Tyree and his Orangemen have only one more game to explain. One game to make people understand that this SU team can go down with the legendary teams of the past.

‘I don’t want to criticize the team from last year or before that, but the team this year, our expectations were a lot higher,’ safety Keeon Walker said. ‘We lost the first two games and actually picked our heads and said, ‘Either we can let the season go down the drain or we can pull this together and still accomplish some of the goals that we put up.’

‘Saturday is our chance to realize a lot of those goals.’

Published on November 15, 2001 at 12:00 pm