What a year has made (10 months, if you’re really counting) for Syracuse football.
The Orange, with its new assistant coaches helping to facilitate a better passing attack in 2022 as compared to a stanza ago, totally dominated Louisville in this year’s season opener on Saturday night from the JMA Wireless Dome.
In November of 2021, in Louisville, the Cardinals crushed the ‘Cuse, 41-3. But something about the 2022 roster for the Orange has me and legions of other Syracuse football fans energized, and the ‘Cuse got off to a great start in 2022 by besting Louisville with ease, 31-7.
According to ESPN, the attendance at the newly renamed Dome was a solid 37,110. The Loud House did appear to be rocking. And the Orange delivered the goods to begin the 2022 season with a dose of optimism and excitement.
Syracuse football did a lot of positive things on Saturday evening versus Louisville.
Okay, let’s get the bad stuff out of the way. Per ESPN statistics, the ‘Cuse (1-O) committed a whopping 18 penalties for 107 yards. That is embarrassing and has to get cleaned up asap.
Also, three injuries that are concerning to the Orange and its fan base were suffered by star running back Sean Tucker (he played in the second half, though), fullback Chris Elmore and linebacker Stefon Thompson.
Hopefully, everyone will be good to go when the ‘Cuse next plays, this coming Saturday, Sept. 10, at UConn, with the kick-off slated for 7 pm.
Syracuse football won the turnover battle, 3-0, including two picks of Louisville’s stand-out quarterback, Malik Cunningham. The Orange defense, touted by some experts as one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s best in 2022, backed up that hype by containing Cunningham and the entire Cardinals offense.
The ‘Cuse offense, meanwhile, prevailed in the time of possession by five minutes, which was huge, because it helped keep the Louisville offense off of the field, while giving the Orange defense ample rest.
Syracuse football quarterback Garrett Shrader was the team’s star on Saturday evening, completing 18-of-25 passes (72 percent) for 237 yards with two touchdowns in the air and no interceptions.
Plus, both he and Tucker ran for just under 100 yards on the ground a piece. Tucker also caught six passes for 85 yards and a receiving touchdown.
All in all, the Orange offense proved high-octane on Saturday night in Central New York, not the Cardinals’ one. In total, Syracuse football had 449 yards of offense, compared to 334 yards for Louisville (0-1).
On defense, a shout-out to linebacker Marlowe Wax, cornerback Garrett Williams and linebacker Mikel Jones, each of whom had at least nine tackles. Williams also had a pick.
CB1 in the #ACC G Willy! @CuseFootball
— Eric Mac Lain (@EricMacLain) September 4, 2022
“It was a complete win. We left it all out there,” Orange head coach Dino Babers said in an Associated Press article on the ESPN Web site, as Syracuse football improved to 5-2 in season openers during his tenure on the Hill as the ‘Cuse boss.