Syracuse Football: In-depth look at total second-half dominance vs. Army

Syracuse football defeated fellow Empire State foe Army on Saturday afternoon in Central New York, as the Orange pulled away in the second half for a 29-16 conquest of the Black Knights.

The ‘Cuse is now 4-0, having wrapped up its non-conference docket and about to embark on Atlantic Coast Conference competition. The Orange will host Clemson (2-2) next Saturday afternoon, and the Tigers lost this past Saturday afternoon at home to No. 4 Florida State, 31-24 in overtime.

It didn’t look all that promising this Saturday afternoon on the Hill, as the ‘Cuse was dominated in the first half by Army and trailed the Black Knights, 10-3. In the second 30 minutes, Syracuse football outscored Army, 26-6, to come away with a solid 13-point win.

Let’s review the first half vs. the second half for Syracuse football in its victory over Army.

Before the break, the Black Knights boasted 149 yards of total offense. Army, in the first half, ran the ball 33 times for 129 yards.

On the flip side, the Orange tallied just 77 yards of total offense in the first half, and that included 59 passing yards and 18 yards on the ground.

Here’s the second-half turnaround for the ‘Cuse, though. Per ESPN statistics, for the entire game, Army collected 270 total yards, 145 passing yards and 125 rushing yards. If my math is correct, the Black Knights had negative four rushing yards in the second half.

Additionally, for the whole game, Army’s excellent rushing attack averaged a mere 2.7 yards per carry. That’s really solid for the Orange Mob defense, especially considering that the Black Knights possessed two drives of at least nine minutes in the first half.

Speaking of time of possession, in the first half, Army was impressive, having the ball for more than 23 minutes. But for the entire encounter, time of possession ended up at 33:20 for the Black Knights and 26:40 for Syracuse football. The ‘Cuse, clearly, made up a ton of ground in that department after the intermission.

As far as the Orange offense is concerned, after all was said and done, the ‘Cuse totaled 403 yards, including 245 yards through the air and 158 yards on the ground.

Considering that Syracuse football didn’t even register 80 total yards in the first half, for the team to eclipse 400 total yards for the game is strong.