Syracuse Football: Top 3 bittersweet oranges from season opener

There were a lot of pros and cons from the Syracuse football season opener. We talked about the pros, time to talk about the cons.

Some optimistic Syracuse football fans may say we’re nitpicking here in a 50-7 win Week 1. I think it’s good to get the full scope from every game and there were a few negatives that deserve more discussion.

Every week we’ll give our top 3 Orange Peels from each game, highlighting the positive things we noticed on and off the field. ICYMI, Moe Neal made a SportsCenter top-10 worthy play and the offense lit it up. SU more than tripled the Blue Devils offensive yardage in the contest.

While defensively the Orange did work:

"The Orange defense was especially stingy on third down against Central Connecticut State. The Blue Devils were 1-of-15, including 0-of-8 to start the game, per Cuse.com."

A sneak peek into the bittersweet Oranges in this game include an injury that could cost the Orange big time. A baseball technique that could do wonders for one player on the team. Finally while this offense is ‘Orange is the New Fast’, it could be faster if they fixed one more element. Plus bonus content, one tradition was messed with that should’ve never been, we discuss next ITLH.

3. Antwan Cordy Goes Down Again

Heading into the season opener for the Orange, a big plus was that the defense was getting back one of its’ best players. That was Antwan Cordy. While small in stature, he can lay the lumber with

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the best of them.

Unfortunately he didn’t get the chance going down early in the first quarter. It looked terrible, Cordy was clutching his ankle writhing in pain. He had to be helped off of the field. In the postgame, Dino Babers didn’t provide much of an injury update, but may have hinted at the worst.

After the game Babers said that they’ll do further medical examinations, but said he likes the depth at safety. That could be what we call in the business foreshadowing. This can’t be undersold, this would be a tough loss for the Cuse. But there’s a reason these are called ‘bittersweet oranges’ because it’s not all bad.

The Orange are used to playing without Cordy, they did that all of last season. Additionally when looking at the position and considering what Babers said, they do in fact have some depth at the position. Jordan Martin is a senior grad-transfer from Toledo. He brings some veteran savvy to the position and would likely be the guy who steps in.

2. Eric Dungey Can You Please Slide? – Sincerely, Orange Nation

We live tweet every football game and I’m not sure how many times we tweeted out to stop with the ‘designed quarterback runs’. There’s nothing you can do in terms of Dungey deciding to scramble, but when you put him in additional harm’s way, that’s when we have problems.

Dino Babers said last season that they took out all of the designed quarterback runs before the Clemson game. I guess Babers is a liar or I’m blind, I’ll let you decide. Dungey ended up as the leading rusher for the Orange (more on that later) with nine carries for 51 yards.

More times than not, those carries were either direct quarterback runs or a style of read/zone option. This bittersweet orange concerns me because if Babers was willing to do this against a lowly opponent like Central Connecticut State, imagine what he’d do against a tougher opponent.

While the aforementioned baseball technique is a bit of a rare concept, it’s called SLIDING. I highly recommend that Dungey watches some MLB playoffs this October and takes diligent notes. In two seasons in Orange, Dungey has yet to complete a season. The way this thing has started, he won’t make it through half the season.

1. Can A Running Back Please Stand Up?

POP QUIZ: When’s the last time the Orange had a 1,000 yard rusher?

Take your time. I’ll be here. Okay you have your answers ready?

Jerome Smith, 2012, over 1,100 yards. That’s a problem. While leading up to this game, I predicted that one Dontae Strickland would get 200 carries this season. A lofty goal, no doubt, but I thought Babers understood how important a running game is to an offense.

Especially one that loves to pass the ball all over the place. High-octane, fast pace and all. Well if Strickland is going to make me look like a genius, he has a long way to go. He’s on pace for 120 carries on the season, not nearly enough.

While the Orange have a plethora of options to choose from: Markenzy Pierre and Moe Neal to name a few. If the Orange are serious about ending the bowl drought, then get serious about pounding the rock. If you had problems running against Central Connecticut State, it’s going to be a long season.

BONUS CONTENT:

Oh look at that, there’s one more bittersweet orange in the fruit basket. While I realize this isn’t the biggest fruit to yell about, but it’s important. For years to lead the team out of the tunnel they heard the Elmira Express train whistle. The train whistle that pumped up not only the team, but the fans as well.

Next: Syracuse Football: Top 3 Orange Peels from season opener highlights

For no worth while reason, they’ve switched to a bell that can barely be heard. While I’ve always thought even the train whistle’s volume was too low and now they switched to something worse. Just a small rant, hopefully enough of the fans who were yapping about it on Twitter let the right people know.