Syracuse Football finished another dismal campaign in 2016 at 4-8. Some parts of the team were more responsible for how bad the team was last year than others. Inside the Loud House grades each position’s performance last year.
More from Syracuse Football
- Syracuse Football: Cuse boils Purdue, turns attention to Army on Saturday
- Syracuse football only team in country with top-5 scoring offense, defense
- Syracuse Orange: Looking at On3 NIL Valuations of top-five ‘Cuse players
- Syracuse Football: Alumnus Noah Eagle to call Purdue game, that’s dope
- Syracuse Orange: Head of Orange United ready to ‘vie for championships’
It’s been awhile since we saw Syracuse Football contend in games. When Dino Babers got hired as Head Coach we expected good things to happen fast. Boy were we wrong, but as we all know, good things come to those who wait. So last year we can write off as a learning year in preparation for next year.
Still, let’s take a look at how each position did on Syracuse’s Football team last year.
Quarterbacks
Before Eric Dungey went down with injury, with three games remaining on the season he was having a statistically great year. Dungey threw for 2,679 yards and 15 touchdowns, according to ESPN.com. Rushing the ball, he also chipped 293 yards and six touchdowns on 125 carries. He threw seven interceptions in twelve games, which is not bad all things considered.
Some of those were results of drops or missed plays by his mediocre receiving core. Syracuse’s backups did not fair as well. Zack Mahoney passed the ball 82 times for 943 yards and eight touchdowns. He paired that with four interceptions. Worse, most of those numbers were achieved in Dungey’s absence, as Mahoney was the starter in that last three games of the season. Still, Dungey’s play is good enough to give this position a respectable B+ grade.
Running Backs
The running corps was downright awful this year. I thought going into the season, Jordan Fredericks would have a decent year after a respectable freshman year, but he didn’t. Instead, he lost his grip on the starting job to Dontae Strickland who wasn’t much better. Strickland had 162 carries for 566 yards, and four touchdowns last year, according to ESPN.com. That’s about 3.5 yards per carry, which is really bad.
Moe Neal, a freshman, had a respectable year as a backup, let alone a freshman RB, with 68 carries for 357 yards and two touchdowns. That’s an average of about 5.9 yards per carry, which is much better. Jordan Fredericks barely had any carries and the 28 he did amounted to 139 yards.
Those three combined for 1,062 yards in 12 games as a unit. That’s about 88.5 yards per game. When you have that many yards per game, its hard to take pressure off the passing game. Hence why this unit as a whole got a D grade for the year.
Wide Receivers
I wish I could give this receivers unit a “A” grade because of Amba Etta Tawo’s season alone, but one man does not make up the unit. As a whole, this units stats for the 2016 were not great. Etta Tawo had 94 receptions for 1,482 yards, and 14 touchdowns, according to ESPN.com. In the process, he set multiple University receiving records, according to Cuse.com.
Ervin Phillips, in more of a slot role, had a decent year as well with 90 receptions for 822 yards, and six touchdowns. After those two though it was all downhill. Steve Ishmael, the presumed go-to receiver entering the season, only had 48 receptions for 559 yards, and one touchdown in 12 games. Brisly Estime was not much better with 48 receptions for 518 yards, and three touchdowns.
After that, the receiving core did not have a player catch more than 132 yards (Dontae Strickland). You know this unit is bad when you’re third options and lower (role players) do not produce good numbers to help your starters out. Therefore, this unit only got a little boost above a failing grade because of the tremendous efforts of Etta Tawo, and Phillips.
Tight Ends
This unit is barely worth talking about as they barely had any catches at all. The only two tight ends who had any statistics for Syracuse Football were Cameron MacPherson and Kendall Moore, both seniors. MacPherson had five catches for 34 yards, while Moore had one catch for 15 yards, according to ESPN.com.
They combined to score zero touchdowns on the season. That comes out to six catches for 49 yards on the season for the tight ends combined. In my book, that’s pathetic; especially in a run and gun offense like Dino Babers has set up. The key is to throw and throw quick, and who better than your closest options: the tight ends? That is why this unit is barely worth mentioning in my book and why I gave them an F grade.
Defense
This team had few highlights during the season. Led by Linebacker Zaire Frankin the Orange gave up chunks of yards in the rushing game. They allowed opposing to teams to average about 225 yards per game on the ground, according to ESPN.com. The Orange also allowed an average of 276 passing yards per game. That number is not nearly as bad, but still is not where it should be.
Although the really bad stat is that the Orange Defense allowed 38.6 points per game to other teams, according to ESPN.com. That number is atrocious! The only reason I didn’t give this unit an F grade is because of their mediocre pass defense and the fact Zaire Franklin had 101 tackles to go with one interception in 12 games, according to ESPN.com. These numbers have to improve next year though if this team is to win more games.
Special Teams
Cole Murphy was not bad at kicker this season, but he wasn’t great either. He made only 10 of 18 field goals in 12 games, according ESPN.com. That’s good for about 56% success rate. In addition he also missed three extra point attempts in 39 attempts. Extra points are gimmes, which makes this even more of a disappointing performance.
Next: A Conversation With Amba Etta-Tawo Following #CuseProDay
Brisly Estime, Syracuse’s kick/punt returner did not have touchdown return. He did have one punt return for 74 yards, but that’s about as good as special teams got. This unit was mediocre all year and needs to step up next year to put Syracuse’s offense in better situations. In the meantime, I must give this unit a C grade for their 2016 performance.