Syracuse Football Report Card: Who shined for the Orange against Pitt?
By Andrew Carey
The Syracuse football team is back to .500 after their 27 to 24 victory over Pitt. But who shined for the Orange? ITLH breaks it all down.
The Syracuse football squad held on to beat out Pittsburgh this past weekend. The Panthers got off to an early lead in the second quarter, but Syracuse scored a touchdown late to tie things up at 10 going into halftime.
After the break, Syracuse Football once again came out of the locker room on fire; a developing trend throughout the season. The Syracuse offense was moving the ball more effectively due to a surprising surge in the run game by Dontae Strickland and the Syracuse offensive line. Syracuse scored two touchdowns in the second half, while the Syracuse defense was solid all game.
The Orange offense ended up with 500 yards of total offense, according to ESPN.com, while the defense chipped in with great 3rd down defense limiting the Panthers offense to just a 3-13 conversion rate.
This Syracuse defense is much improved from last season, and in this game they were without arguably their two best pass rushers in Josh Black and Kendall Coleman. The improvement of the Syracuse defense is evident, and defensive coordinator Brian Ward and the rest of the staff deserve a ton of credit.
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Eric Dungey did not look great throughout much of the first half of the game. Syracuse committed completely to the pass game in the first half, and as a result the offense couldn’t get into much of a rhythm.
As a result, Dungey missed a couple easy throws. Overall though, the Syracuse signal caller showed great improvement in the turnover department. Dungey held on to the football, never throwing a pick or losing a fumble.
On defense, Paris Bennett is having an All-ACC type of season. He once again led the way for Syracuse Football in the tackling column. Let’s breakdown who impressed for the Orange.