Syracuse Football Report Card: Who stood out in loss to FSU?

Alright, I am going to start this off by saying yes Dungey is a warrior and I have the utmost respect for him and the beating he takes week in and week out. With that being said, there is still a TON of room for improvement for Dungey. He makes plenty of mistakes, and had a couple of plays turned out differently last week Syracuse would have likely won.

First, Dungey has to do a better job of taking care of the ball in the beginning of the game. He has turned the ball over on the first drive of the game three times this season, that cannot continue to happen. It’s almost as if Dungey and the offensive staff have plays scripted for the beginning of the game, and Dungey follows them to the script. His interception in the beginning of the game, targeted Dontae Strickland, on a play where he was double covered and absolutely nothing was there.

Later on in the game, at the end of the second half, Syracuse got the ball on the Florida State 11-yard line after a muffed put by the Seminoles. Syracuse got the ball with 1:18 on the clock down by 7 with a good chance to tie it up before halftime. The first two Orange plays went for 7 yards and brought up a 3rd-down and 3. Dungey then had his pass batted down at the line of scrimmage, but completely missed a man wide open on the other side of the field.

This is where Dungey can improve most, look through his progressions to find the best option. I realize his offensive line is not good, but he gets happy feet too early and looks to scramble or misses the correct option that would take just a few more minutes to find. This was Dungey’s second big mistake of the game, and Syracuse went for it on fourth down, coming away with no points, inexcusable out of the Syracuse offense.

Dungey’s third critical mistake of the game came on Syracuse’s last drive. Syracuse was six yards away from midfield with 1:01 left down three points. Dungey had plenty of time in the pocket to either find an open receiver or scramble and try to get out-of-bounds. Instead, he took a sack and Syracuse was forced to call their final timeout, effectively ending any chance to score a touchdown and win the game. I cannot stress enough how big of a play this was.

Dungey simply cannot take a sack here:

But now lets focus on the positives for Dungey. He correctly identified the wide open Jamal Custis on a 4th and 3 from midfield, that went for a 47-yard touchdown. Dungey also threw a nice ball to Steve Ishmael along the sideline and only put it where the 6-foot 2 wide receiver could make a play on the ball. Dungey executed a great bootleg play fake for a two yard TD to bring the Orange to within three points.

On the day Dungey had a great stat line especially for coming out of the game and missing a series or two. He finished 24/43 for 278 yards passing, 2 TD’s and 1 INT. On the ground Dungey ran the ball 22 times for 109 yards and a TD. He did a nice job and kept Syracuse within striking distance, while battling through an apparent ankle injury. But those mistakes are unforgivable. Grade: B-