The 2023 season is only a few weeks underway, and Syracuse football hasn’t played tough opponents so far. Regardless, though, following this past weekend’s action, the Orange leads the country in scoring defense, according to the NCAA’s Web site.
Last Saturday, at home, the ‘Cuse throttled Western Michigan, 48-7. In the Orange’s 2023 season opener, also on the Hill, Syracuse football destroyed Colgate, 65-0.
Let’s get this out there. Colgate is a FCS team. Western Michigan was predicted to finish at No. 6 in the west division of the Mid-American Conference. The Orange’s 2023 docket starts to get more competitive when the ‘Cuse travels to Big Ten Conference member Purdue this Saturday night.
With that context out of the way, I don’t care who the foes are. Syracuse football has outscored its first two opponents by a combined 113-7. In my book, that’s an impressive margin for the Orange, which is looking to make a bowl game for a second term in a row and has picked up some super early bowl projections for 2023.
Syracuse football has stormed out of the gates hard in its first two encounters.
At this juncture, the ‘Cuse is allowing 3.50 points per game, which is No. 1 nationwide. Yes, this is going to change sooner rather than later, but it’s still encouraging. On offense, Syracuse football is averaging 56.5 points per contest, which is No. 3 around the country.
Here are a bunch of additional statistics for the ‘Cuse through two games, and how these stats rank on a national scale:
•Tied for No. 1 with two defensive touchdowns
•Tied for No. 5 with 22 first downs made by its opponents
•No. 13 with 60 first downs made
•No. 9 in net punting, with 46.60 yards per punt
•No. 6 with 374.5 passing yards per game
•No. 13 with 136.5 passing yards allowed per contest
•No. 1 in red zone defense
•Tied for No. 22 with 75.5 rushing yards allowed per game
•No. 28 with 212.0 rushing yards per affair
•No. 14 with a 3rd-down conversion percentage of 56.7
•No. 9 with a 3rd-down conversion percentage defense of 23.5
•No. 14 with a team passing efficiency of 183.31
•No. 7 with a team passing efficiency defense of 83.48
•Tied for No. 16 with 3.50 sacks per game
•Tied for No. 26 with 7.5 tackles for a loss per contest
•No. 6 with total defense of 212.0 yards per game
•No. 3 with total offense of 586.5 yards per contest
By the way, Syracuse football is understandably at or near the top of numerous statistic categories within the Atlantic Coast Conference, and you can check those stats out here.
A recent press release from SU Athletics hit on themes similar to what I outlined above, stressing that the Orange is faring well on offense, defense and special teams, while taking a balanced approach to all three units.
I’ll say this over and over again. These national stats that the ‘Cuse has put forward in two victories to commence the 2023 stanza are stellar, but let’s see how Syracuse football does on the road this coming Saturday evening versus a Big Ten group.