Syracuse Football: Top 3 keys to defeating the Clemson Tigers in Week 3

Our Paul A. Esden Sr. provided his weekly Syracuse football column breaking down the top three keys ahead of this Week 3 matchup vs Clemson.

I am going to lead this article off with one of Boy Green’s patented segments from Drive Time Sports on The Score 1260. I am here to confess my sins.

I will admit it, despite my better judgment I drank the Kool-aid and predicted an undefeated season for the Syracuse Orange.

We all know how that turned out now don’t we … good news is we will not be living in suspense, the bad news is after our showing on Saturday against Maryland we will be lucky to become bowl eligible.

In all fairness I did lay out the DaVinci code that would need to be cracked for us to prevail:

• Can Tommy DeVito fill the shoes of what will one day go down as perhaps the greatest Orange quarterback of all time?
• Can the offensive line, which lost three starters, protect Tommy who is more of a pocket passer than Eric was?
• For the second year in a row can we entirely rebuild our linebacking core?

Sadly we got the answer to all of the above as we got beatdown, embarrassed, humbled and ran off the field.

Shout out to my son Paul A. Esden Jr. who beat me to the article that Tommy is no Eric Dungey.

Before all of the ‘experts’ that jumped on him look to make the leap to me let me be clear.

They are different style players, different builds and surrounded by different teams. The thing that makes them different is all of those things and none of them are what I am talking about.

I watched the game on Saturday and well the biggest difference between Eric and Tommy for me is HEART.

At the end of the game on several occasions, Tommy looked like he just gave up on plays. As the leader of the team that can not happen EVER.

The QB is the leader of the team and everything that goes with it. They get all the accolades, money and all the glamour. To take the good with the bad they also get a lion’s share of the blame. In this case, it was deserved.

There is not much else to discuss related to this game except there is one player who deserves a game ball for his effort last week. The player that never gave up on a play, downed punts inside the 10-yard line, led the team in tackles and added another interception to his resume the one and only Andre Cisco.

Enough of the past on to the future.

The Orange squad will have to have the bounce-back game of the century. Maybe it was for the best the thrashing they received. It may have brought them back to reality, got them to stop reading their own hype.

Here are my 3 keys to the game:

Offensive play calling needs to be creative early.

The first three plays of the Maryland game were uninspired and ineffective. Overthrown wide receiver screen, run for two yards and rounded out with a running back dump-off pass for a single yard. Vanilla play calling is an understatement.

There was a very well designed play where a wide receiver double pass play but the ball was overthrown and incomplete. To win this game we are going to have to play to WIN and recognize we are playing the number one team in the country.

In Clemson’s first game, Georgia Tech punted twice on the Clemson side of the field (4th and 3 and 4th and 5). Those are the opportunities that Dino and the Orange must seize. Carpe Diem!

The defense must get back to basics.

Wrap up, play your assignments and hit someone. The past two games against Clemson the Orange defense has knocked out their starting QB and put the Tigers to the test for 60 minutes.

The team from South Carolina is going to make big plays it will be how ‘Cuse responds.

Tommy must live up to his 4-star hype.

He has been in the system for three years, so save you he is learning the position. This never rings truer than when he lines up against Trevor Lawerence who seemed to do just fine when his number was called. DeVito must get rid of the ball quickly and take what the defense and his patchwork offense line give him.

Onto the prediction.

This squad should not need any fuel to fire them up for this one, playing the No. 1 team in the nation in prime time at home.

The pundits are showing them little respect as they are four-touchdown underdogs in the Dome. I expect the Orange to show up in their home opener and Dino Babers to tune them up with one of his patented locker room speeches.

Call me a glutton for punishment but I have the Orange shocking the world again and coming away with a win. As always Be Loud, Be Proud, Be ORANGE!