Syracuse Football: Good, bad, and ugly vs. Western Michigan

The Syracuse football squad got a win in Week 1 vs. Western Michigan. Here are some reflections, both positive and negative from this road conquest.

Paul A. Esden Sr each week will look at the good, bad, and ugly from each of the Syracuse football contests. Here are his game reflections going over the key developments that must happen for the ‘Quest for 6’.

Let’s start off with the quarterback

Now for those of you who touted the QB controversy in the practices leading up to the season #ShutUp. This writer will be the first to tell Dino Babers, feel free not to listen to me. Over the past few years I recommended to our head coach to play it safe with Eric for his own good.

Well when he came out of the game with 3:11 left in the SECOND QUARTER with the Orange leading 34-7 in what seemed a blow out, I said hmm this is good but seems a tad early.

Flash forward to the third quarter when our Heisman hopeful came back in the game with the score 34-28.  Get this right, the entire team played differently on both sides of the ball whether he is in or out of the game. He was flat out brilliant. There still were several Dungey-ism’s that I wish he would stop.

One play he was headed to the sideline came to a dead stop and initiated contact head on with two defenders running out of bounds.

I applaud the sportsman in him, when during a play that several personal fouls happened after the play, he was hit hard by two defenders and he jumped up with his patented assist to the opposing player when his feet got tangled and they both fell back to ground.

Overall his play was inspiring and I pray that he can stay healthy for the entire season, if he can with a little help this Quest for 6 will be special.

Syracuse needs to establish a running game

At first glance if I told you we would have 330 yards on the ground at an average of over five yards per clip, we would be throwing a dance party. But alas we are still looking for a running back to step it up as 200 of those yards were by #Dungey4Heisman averaging over 13 yards a clip.

The running backs were somewhat less impressive averaging less than four yards a clip.  I will tell you, there were a few flashes of brilliance and toughness from both Moe Neal and Dontae Strickland but more production will be needed going forward.

The development of the receivers is key to success in 2018

This did not pan out as we had 11 receptions in the game. To make matters more concerning is that we only had eight receptions by two receivers the rest going to our running game.

Beyond the numbers there were several plays left on the table either through drops or effort. This will be a key that will need to improve over the next two weeks before we hit the gridiron in our first ACC game against the Seminoles.

The most concerning aspect of the game was the Orange defense

In the first quarter they played inspired press coverage hard nosed football. When Dungey left the game the air went out of the defense and they struggled the rest of the game.

Our hundredth ranked football defense who last year game up over 450 yards a game last year gave up … wait for it … gave up 621 yards of offense to a middle of the road team from the MAC.

Don’t get me wrong some of the gaps from yesterday are easily correctable in practice. Pursuit angles, wrapping up and staying in role are things we can work on during the week. The one item that we cannot fix is an area of concern, lack of speed.

This is an area that will only come with success for the Orange in the W-L to make Central New York more appealing in the recruiting area. For now we will play with the cards we have been dealt and play error free defense to keep the Orange in each game.

To summarize my game wrap up, overall grade for our performance is a C. If you take away the A plus that Dungey received, the average drops off significantly. I have said it before and I will say it again the key to our Quest for 6 and beyond this year is a healthy Eric Dungey.

This game if nothing else proved I was right. We are 1-0 with another tune up game ahead so onward we go Orange faithful.  Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Orange.  See you next week.