Syracuse Football: Top 3 keys to victory vs Holy Cross Crusaders

Our Paul A. Esden Sr shares the top three keys to victory for the Syracuse football squad in Week 5 vs the Holy Cross Crusaders.

The smoke has cleared and now we have the answer. No not if Tommy DeVito will live up to his hype with Syracuse football; no not to if the offensive lines have turned the corner; none of these.

The burning question that has been in everyone’s mind leading up to last week’s game versus Western Michigan:

Who would win in the battle of Universities located on top of a hill? Syracuse or the Hilltoppers of Western Michigan? 

Now we can move on to this week’s contest. But I kid…

Syracuse took a major step forward in last week’s game against the Broncos and executed their game plan for a solid win.

In the I told you so category the first three pass plays were to speedster No. 7 Dee Eskridge of WMU that may have had a greater impact in the game, except on the third play he was injured and did not return. This aided the Andre Cisco-less Orange on defense and helped the OITNF on offense as this had the Broncos without their starting cornerback.

On to this week’s opponent, Holy Cross plays in the Patriot league of the FCS.

They are considered a Division 1 school but have their own playoffs and are limited to the number of scholarships that they can give out. The FCS allows 65 total scholarships compared to the 85 allowed by the BCS. Members of the Patriot League, wait for it, further limit themselves to 15 scholarships!

So when the Crusaders trot out onto the turf of the dome they will be fielding 70 fewer scholarship athletes than the Orange. Vegas has the Orange Is The New Fast as 38.5 point favorites with an ESPN Matchup Predictor favoring the Orange to win at 97.7 percent.

Here are my 3 keys to the game:

The Orange will win this game hands down. 

The important piece is to seize the opportunity to fire on all cylinders prior to the schedule heating up against ACC opponents. They need to go out and dominate this game to help build chemistry on the offensive line, Tommy’s pocket presense and running game. These are the keys in the push for bowl eligibility.

Watch out for the deep pass.

Crusader junior quarterback Connor Degenhardt’s statistics are not putting him on the cover of Sports Illustrated anytime soon however one item to watch is the deep pass. He has completed a pass over 30 yards in each of the Crusaders first three games.

Not a key to the game but a key insight into the future of the 2019 game will be the Orange defense pitching a shutout.  

This is not a stretch, Syracuse has NFL level talent on the defense (Kendall Coleman, Alton Robinson, and Andre Cisco to name a few). This game will allow them to work as a cohesive unit and prepare them for the next eight games of the season.

Onto the prediction; this one is an easy one. I predict the Orange will tune up the New Fast for the first time this year and put a beat down on the Crusaders. The score will be limited to Dino’s mercy. I predict the Orange will win this game 56-0. As always Be Loud, Be Proud, Be ORANGE!