Good and Bad to Come Out of Dino Babers’ Debut

All in all, it looked like a successful debut for Dino Babers as SU Head Coach. The team looked incredibly fast out of the gates, put together a touchdown drive in one minute and forty-five seconds and ended up scoring 33 points in a blowout win. The defense looked good, for the most part. The special teams were strong, save for a roughing the punter penalty on the first drive of the game.

Eric Dungey looked better Friday night than he did at any point last season. He completed 85% of his passes and threw for 355 yards, while using his feet to gain yardage as well as keep plays alive down field— see: the touchdown pass to Erv Philips. Speaking of Philips, he tied a 39 year old record set by Art Monk with 14 receptions. Transfer receiver Amba Etta-Tawo caught 12 passes for more than 210, nearly chasing down a 31 year old record of his own.

The offense looked good, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

The running game wasn’t good. Take out the 49 yard touchdown run and the Orange had just 68 yards on 34 carries. That’s two yards a carry. Not good.

After the game, Dino was asked about the pace and said “That’ll be the slowest game you’ll ever see us play. Did you see the paint dry? I did.”

He wasn’t happy with the running game either, but said he thought Colgate was looking to take away the run and lived with whatever SU got through the air, which happened to be a lot.

There were also problems anytime the Syracuse offense got inside the 30 yard line. The team slowed down significantly, and aside from one drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the team could not advance the ball within the Red Zone.

Both offensively and defensively, there were problems along the line. Offensively, there weren’t many holes for running backs to get through. Eric Dungey was also pressured a bit too much for my liking. Defensively, I don’t think the Orange got enough pressure on Colgate, there were a few sacks, but SU seemed to blitz a bit more than I expected. I hate to say it so bluntly, but if they couldn’t get pressure on Colgate, what happens next week against a top 25 Louisville team.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot to like. If this offense was paint drying slow to Dino Babers, I cannot wait to see what it looks like at even 50% speed.

The game brought enough excitement and optimism to want to know what is next and what will continue to happen. It looked like the Orange took the foot off the gas very early in this one. While much of the game may have been too slow for Dino’s liking, the Orange went 79 yards in one minute and forty-five seconds on its first drive of the game. That showed legitimate speed to me. And while it may not have been as fast as they want to go when everything is in place.

To me it looked like the Orange may have taken its foot off the pedal a bit right after that drive. SU went down field fast, answered Colgate’s touchdown, tied the game, and knew that it would be able to go up and down the field without too much trouble.

With that said, it is smart to then pull back, get the win, do it convincingly, set a record in your passing game, look good enough in the win, and keep something in your pocket for when a top-20 team comes to the Dome next weekend. I think we got a glimpse of near full speed on the first drive.

Regardless of where the team stands, it was a good start. Dino and his team came out and got the job done. The Orange did exactly what it needed to do, and that was win big against Colgate to open the Dino Babers’ era.