Syracuse Gets Away From What It Does Best

Through four weeks, the common refrain has been “that Syracuse defense has looked terrible” or “if only the Syracuse defense could stop someone.” The Tampa-2 system came under attack. The defense became the target with pitiful performances against Louisville, South Florida, and Notre Dame.

That is not what happened against Wake Forest on Saturday night.

Instead it was the offense to blame for the loss against Wake Forest. A unit that had averaged 29 points through the first five games and thrown for more than 300 yards a game through five weeks scored just 7 points against Wake Forest and threw for just 168 yards.

The offense was atrocious. The play calling pathetic. The unit lifeless.

Everything it wasn’t through five weeks. At least after each of the first five games we could say, “Well, at least this team is easier to watch than last year’s.”

That is obviously not the case after Saturday night’s game. It is understandable if the play calling needed to be more conservative in the first half due to weather concerns and throwing the ball when there were winds whipping and rain falling. But then there was no adjustment made when it seemed the weather calmed down.

There needed to be an adjustment made. Eric Dungey should have thrown more than the 25 times he did. Amba Etta-Tawo wasn’t targeted on the same deep routes he was so successful on through five weeks. Erv Philips didn’t catch a pass! Eric Dungey was continually under pressure and didn’t have enough time to let downfield routes progress, but he also had plays where it seemed he held onto the ball far too long.

The playcalling was awful. There was too much faith in a running game that hadn’t been good all year. It was uncreative, and different than what had worked for the Orange so far this year. The play calling was incredibly conservative when it had been aggressive throughout the year up until this point.

Syracuse needs to get back to that aggressive style. The Orange defense is not going to play as well as it did tonight in many (if any) more games this year. SU needs points.

Get back to aggressive play we saw weeks 1-5. Air the ball out. Throw down field. Go for it on fourth down.

Do what you do.

But most importantly, be that team that we enjoyed the first five weeks. We know there aren’t many (if any) wins left in the season. But be that team that we can say “Well, at least they’re entertaining this year.”

Because that’s what Syracuse had been through five weeks and wasn’t tonight.