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Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer called his second season at SU a disappointment. The Orange is 3-7 and eliminated from bowl contention after a 27-10 loss to No. 22 Duke on Saturday.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. — The pent-up frustration from a season in which little to nothing has gone right seemed to all come out in one dropping of the fist.

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After Syracuse's 27-10 loss to No. 22 Duke on Saturday, Shafer was asked by a reporter if he thought the season, a 3-7 one to this point, should be classified as a disappointment after the head coach set eight wins as a goal before the season.

"Yes," Shafer responded, "because we didn't reach our goal. Those questions are hilarious to me. I don't know where you come up with those."

A red-faced Shafer pounded his right fist onto the podium, splintering the wood as he continued.

"We wanted to win eight (pounds fist) and we didn't win eight, so you're disappointing. Interesting question right there. You'd like to win eight. You'd like to win 12, 13. When you come up short, you're disappointed unless you make excuses. So that's why."

The loss to the Blue Devils eliminated the Orange from bowl contention. Shafer spoke about how the program will try to utilize that extra free time in the winter. It offers a chance to "find silver linings" like extra recruiting efforts and more time spent developing younger players.

Still, it's not the future he or anyone on staff wanted.

"It hurts," Shafer said. "A difficult situation because that was one of those goals that we wanted to come back and reach. But we didn't, so what are you going to do? You're not going to cry over spilled milk. You're going to fight."

Podium damage from Shafer: pic.twitter.com/WPrrhZYRzp — Stephen Bailey (@Stephen_Bailey1) November 8, 2014

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