Syracuse Football: Orange will live and die by its 2019 rushing attack

Syracuse football will reach its 2019 goals if and only if their rushing attack delivers this season. Here are all the details.

It’s opening week for Syracuse football as they head down to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on the Liberty Flames in their first showing on Saturday.

The offense this season hopes to start off firing on all cylinders. This can only happen if they can get all of the pieces in their run game to gel together smoothly.

This game will provide the first look at Syracuse’s weapons for 2019. Especially, SU will look to showcase their weapons in the run game.

The Orange have new personnel in key positions across the offense. Most notably perhaps would be quarterback, Tommy DeVito, taking over the reins under center.

DeVito not only changes the passing game but he changes the run game significantly from a season ago. DeVito has the ability to use his legs to get out of the pocket and make throws on the run with ease. However, he simply can’t match the run production numbers of Eric Dungey from last season.

In 2018, Dungey totaled 754 rushing yards and tallied 15 touchdowns while using his legs. This leaves a major hole for this year’s team to fill. The big question without Dungey is who is going to get all of the goal line carries this season?

Another key loss in the run game is that of Dontae Strickland. Last season, he essentially split carries with Moe Neal and added 588 rushing yards and six touchdowns to the Cuse offense.

Syracuse recently released their Week 1 depth chart for the game against Liberty:

• This headlines Moe Neal, the Doak Walker watch list candidate, atop the depth chart. Following him is Abdul Adams, the transfer from Oklahoma. Not listed on the depth chart but sure to follow them will be Jarveon Howard who was featured in goal-line carry situations last season.

This year’s offense looks to be electric with DeVito at the helm and Moe Neal with another year under his wing. With an addition of a few new weapons, Syracuse hopes to have their up-tempo offense light up the scoreboards all season long.

But for this to happen they have to establish their run game.

Moe Neal is going to be the workhorse back this season for the Orange. He has been nationally recognized as one of the best in his position in the entire nation. Heading into his senior year Neal looks to take an even larger step forward this season.

The one constant with Neal is that he is seemingly improving every season. In his first three seasons, his rushing totals have continued to increase. This season for Neal looks to be an even bigger breakout year.

After Neal, Abdul Adams is the most intriguing name in the backfield this season. Adams transferred from Oklahoma and appeared in the Camping World Bowl for Syracuse where he found paydirt twice. In 2017 Adams rushed for 542 yards and scored two touchdowns, one rushing, and one receiving for Oklahoma.

With Neal being the featured back it is up to Adams and Howard to compliment him in order to cohesively execute the run game.

Adams should be used in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Jarveon Howard may be featured in a fairly similar way due to his success reaching the end zone last year.

Syracuse is going to have to monitor their success early and simply go with the hot hand behind Moe Neal.

This week Syracuse will take on Liberty for their first action of the season. In 2018 Liberty was bottom 15 in the FBS in rushing yards allowed. Syracuse needs to exploit the holes on Liberty’s defense so they can establish their running game for the season.

This game is not only important to win but it is an important stepping stone to expertly mesh their rushing pieces on offense and an opportunity for rushers to distinguish themselves in the run game.