Syracuse Football: Top 3 keys to victory vs Western Michigan in Week 4

Our Paul A. Esden Sr provided his top three keys to victory in Week 4 for Syracuse football vs the Western Michigan Broncos.

Football is a game of inches.

You may have heard that before but it was never more evident than it was in the Syracuse football vs Clemson game in Week 3.

Inches or an inch or 2.54 centimeters can make or break a game. That is often the difference between a thrilling game and a blowout.

Up until the first few minutes of the third quarter, the Orange played the No. 1 team in the country and came up an inch short. The picture that drove this home was the first play after Tommy DeVito’s horrendous interception where the Clemson player’s foot found a triangle of green where the greenskeeper missed painting it.

A better paint job or the foot 1 inch the other way and the score is still 17-6 and Syracuse still has a fighting chance. This game had flashes of brilliance but ended in a humbling defeat.

Enough looking in the rearview mirror time to keep our eyes pointed forward with the revised goal of bowl eligibility.

Before we start breaking down the game let me digress. A few years ago I gave the Orange faithful a hard time about supporting our team in a series of articles.

Last Saturday you showed up and proved me wrong packing the Dome to capacity. Let’s keep this momentum going.

This week’s game is the annual Military Appreciation Day. Come out to the Dome and thank the people who put their lives on the line so we can have freedom.

Good news for the Orange faithful is during my research for this week I came across some startling info that on Vividseats.com there are hundreds of tickets to this week’s game priced under $10 some going as low as $6 !?!?! I implore you not to lose your spirit and come out and support the Orange.  But I digress …

Enough of the past on to the future.

As the Orange faithful recall, the Broncos game last year was a tale of two halves.

In the first half, the OITNF dominated and led by 34-7. Then the team from WM went off for 28 points in the third quarter alone! Dino Babers brought in Tommy DeVito a tad early and Eric Dungey had to come back and save the day, with the Orange winning 55-42.

Here are my 3 keys to the game:

• Mike Cavanaugh needs to live up to his resume. Don’t know who he is? He is Syracuse’s offensive line coach. He joined Dino’s staff in 2018 as an accomplished line coach most recently at Nebraska. I get it Syracuse has had injuries and played against a stacked Clemson D-line. But Tommy needs time in the pocket. He spent Saturday night constantly on the run, most of the time running for his life immediately after the snap. If we don’t have an improvement in this area we will be lucky to win four games this season.
• Andre Cisco needs to be on the alert if he sees No. 7 trot onto the field and line up on the other side of the ball; that number belongs to D’Wayne Eskridge Sr. who was the primary driver for the Bronco comeback last year going off against the Orange for eight receptions for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He has been converted to defensive back this year but expect him to get some snaps on offense. If he comes in the game Andre and his defensive comrades need to key in as he has lightning speed (4.33/40) and can have significant impact on the game.
• The defense must play all four quarters. They came out against Clemson fired up and put on a phenomenal display of aggressive hard nose football. Lakiem Williams Sr was flying around the field distributing punishing hits. They were unable to sustain this pace as the offense struggled. They need to put together 60 minutes of football.

Onto the prediction; Western Michigan may be one of the most experienced squads on the Syracuse schedule this year with 17 returning starters!

So Dino will need to have the team ready to rock the Dome. This is a must-win game for ‘Cuse as we push reset on the 2019 campaign. I predict the Orange will rebound and win this game 31-24.  As always Be Loud, Be Proud, Be ORANGE!