Syracuse football should take a page out of the Clemson playbook

Clemson took advantage of a key matchup vs Syracuse football in Week 3. Here’s why the Orange should take a page from that playbook vs Western Michigan.

When you win a football game 41-6, a lot of things probably went right.

That’s certainly the case for the Clemson Tigers who trounced the Syracuse football squad on a national stage in Week 3.

It was probably painful for Dino Babers and staff to rewatch the tape on Sunday, but hopefully, they were paying close attention to one matchup the Tigers kept taking advantage of.

Antwan Cordy.

Cordy returning for a sixth year of eligibility, thanks NCAA, was a huge coup for the Syracuse football squad this offseason.

Many pundits already thought the Orange secondary was oozing with talent and depth, for them to add an NFL talent to that was considered gravy.

Despite how talented Antwan is there’s a deficiency he possesses that he can’t control: his height.  On his tippy toes, Cordy is 5-foot-8 and sub 200 pounds.

The Clemson Tigers noticed the physical matchup and took advantage of it time and time again.

If you’ve ever watched football you often hear coaches and players saying they have to know where insert player’s name is on the field pre-snap because they’re so talented they can wreck a gameplan.

Well, Clemson did that for the opposite reason on Saturday night. The Tigers pre-snap tried to look around to see where No. 8 was on the field and picked on him throughout the game.

Two Tigers star receivers went off: Tee Higgins (7 receptions for 150 yards and averaged over 21 yards a catch) and Justyn Ross (5 receptions for 64 yards).

Both players stand at 6-foot-4 apiece, which means they’re eight inches taller than Antwan. If the quarterback throws a 50-50 ball up, it’s hard for Cordy to compete based on size alone.

Time for Syracuse to learn a lesson from the Week 3 matchup.

Since the Tigers made the Orange pay for the mismatch nightmare, it’s time for Syracuse to do it in Week 4 vs the Western Michigan Broncos.

Syracuse should try to look for No. 7 pre-snap early and often in this game on Saturday afternoon for a few reasons.

Western Michigan’s starting outside cornerback is D’Wayne Eskridge, he’s only 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds. Which is very similar size to Cordy.

The other reason being Dee Eskridge is relatively new to the cornerback position. This spring was the first time that he’s played corner in his life. Last season he played wide receiver and really made the Orange pay to the tune of 8 receptions for 240 yards and two touchdowns in the 2018 season opener.

According to the press release, D’Wayne Eskridge will be playing ‘almost entirely’ on defense. The Broncos coaching staff continues to say he will play both sides of the ball, but so far this season he has only registered one reception for 20 yards. So offensively his impact has been nullified.

While the Orange doesn’t have a 6-foot-4 receiver on the roster as Clemson does, they should try to get some mismatch nightmares on the inexperienced smaller corner.

Last year Syracuse had to know where Eskridge was on the field because he could hurt the Orange. Now the team wants to know where he is on the field so they can take advantage. It’s funny how quickly things can change in a year.