Syracuse Football: Analytics on offensive line struggles this season

Syracuse football has struggled in the trenches so far this season. How bad has it been? Here’s a deep dive on the analytics in 2019.

The roof seems to be falling around the Syracuse football team; even though I do not believe the season is lost and neither should you. Although after back to back resounding losses to Maryland and Clemson we can start to digest what is going wrong here.

At first glance, there are several units that just have not played up to expectations yet.

On offense, nothing seems to have clicked. Whether it is quarterback play behind first-year starter Tommy DeVito, the receiving core not being as productive as we had hoped, or the offensive line who seems to be struggling with communication this is not “The Orange Is the New Fast,” we expected.

DeVito has been sacked 14 times so far this season. This ranks tied for second in most sacks allowed at the Division 1 level this year with ACC for Miami. 8 of the 14 sacks were against Clemson Saturday.

DeVito was under fire all game from the Tigers pressure which led to him ultimately not having enough time to release the ball before the pressure came, or at times making poor decisions like his interception deep into Clemson territory down the sideline. DeVito made a similar play forcing the ball against Maryland that also resulted in a pick; instead of throwing it away.

According to Football Outsiders, Syracuse rank 93rd in the nation with a 7.6 percent Sack Rate; which also jumps to 9.8 percent in Standard Downs Passing Rate.

Most of this has come without starting center Sam Heckel. Heckel left in the first half of the Maryland game leading to left tackle Airon Servais moving to center, right tackle Carlos Vettorello to left tackle, and Ryan Alexander slotted in Vettorello’s place.

With the loss of Heckel, the line is greatly different than what was expected at camp this year. Heckel also missed time early on so the offensive line has been rotating without consistency the whole season, and this could be leading to confusion upfront.

The calls are back to Servais as he moves back to the starting center role after occupying it the previous two years but this has not protected the Orange from missed assignments. Clemson disguised coverage well against the Orange leading to several pass rushers untouched when heading to the backfield.

The run game has also taken a hit from the offensive line reshuffle. Moe Neal ad Abdul Adams have been both known as prolific yard producers in the past but have struggled this year averaging far below their career averages.

As a team, Syracuse has 277 net yards on 115 attempts, which is only 2.4 yards per carry. The team as a whole has performed better than that if you take away the 90 yards lost by DeVito sacks. Without DeVito the team is at 87 rushing attempts and a net of 317 yards and 3.6 per carry.

An average of 3.6 per attempt is still not impressive as that would still tie South Florida, Louisiana Tech, and BYU for 102nd in the nation. A factor causing this is Syracuse Stuff Rate, which is 19.6 percent or 99th in the nation according to Football Outsiders. This means on almost 20 percent of Syracuse run attempts by running back are stopped at or before the line of scrimmage.

Syracuse still has nine games to improve and the amount of success they can muster will largely factor in with the health and production of their offensive line. It could only take two good weeks to see the Orange become a favorite through their final seven ACC contests. Depending on how Virginia and other Costal schools do this believe it or not means Syracuse could still make the Orange Bowl.