Syracuse Football: Week 7 NC State Wolfpack crystal ball predictions
Ryan Lee, Contributor (4-1)
Syracuse football reopens ACC play when they head to North Carolina State on Thursday. They will only see ACC opponents here on out; the chance to make or break the season is here. It starts with a team on Tobacco Road that has given Syracuse fits not only since joining the ACC in 2013 but historically.
The Wolfpack is 10-2 all-time against Syracuse with the Orange’s wins only coming in 2013 and last year in 2018 in one of the most exciting games of the season. In last year’s 51-41 shootout a pair of experienced quarterbacks went to work.
Quarterbacks Ryan Finley and Eric Dungey combined for 884 yards through the air with six total touchdowns. This year it will be different with Tommy DeVito and newly named starter Bailey Hockman under center. From a pair of senior signal-callers to a pair of redshirt sophomores; both teams will need to rely on other aspects of the game to get the win in Week 7.
Both of these teams are coming off bye weeks that seemed to be scheduled perfectly to help both teams. Hockman received an additional week of work with the first unit game-planning for the Orange defense. The Orange seemed like they needed it to just get healthy, however, it did not work as well as planned.
In his press conference, Monday coach Dino Babers didn’t shed too much positive light on the medical report. DeVito, who left the game early against Holy Cross, is the lone exception as he is expecting to return for Thursday.
The biggest let down wasn’t just McKinley Williams who many thought this was his target date to make his season debut, but the lack of good news on Andre Cisco and Ifeatu Melifonwu as well. Melifonwu was playing at an All-ACC level when he went down and missed the past two contests and losing him at the same time they lost Cisco, a legitimate All-American type performer.
When you break down the Syracuse roster – even with all the talent they have all over the field – Cisco might be the best all-around player Syracuse has seen since Justin Pugh or Chandler Jones, both first-round NFL talents. I cannot judge if Cisco is going to be seen as a top NFL selection but his impact in reading the quarterback’s eyes in zone coverage to deliver takeaways for the defense or coming up and being a true hard-hitting safety against the run has made him invaluable for SU.
Losing Cisco, Melifonwu, Williams on the defensive side of the ball and Sam Heckel for the offense, Syracuse is going in to a major game shorthanded. The Wolfpack are not world-beaters this year but starting a new quarterback at home sometimes can deliver the spark a team needs. So I am going against what I thought just a week ago and saying NC State topple the Orange.
NC State 28 Syracuse 17.