Syracuse Football: Georgia Tech's rushing attack is potent. 'We better stop the run.'

Syracuse football notched a win in its 2024 season opener, and now the Orange will prepare for a daunting task in week two.

This coming Saturday on the Hill, the 'Cuse will welcome fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Georgia Tech to the JMA Wireless Dome. When the major top-25 polls are soon disclosed ahead of week two, the Yellow Jackets (2-0) are likely to be ranked.

In week zero, Georgia Tech pulled off a stellar upset, defeating No. 10 Florida State in Dublin on a last-second field goal. The Seminoles won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 2023, and in the preseason media poll ahead of the 2024 campaign, FSU was forecast to capture the conference crown yet again.

Georgia Tech, at least so far, has demonstrated that it has an excellent ground game. Given the Orange's struggles this past Saturday afternoon in containing the run against Ohio, first-year head coach Fran Brown acknowledges that Syracuse football will have to do much better in that department if his program is going to knock off the Yellow Jackets.

Syracuse football will have a huge opportunity this Saturday to secure a marquee triumph.

To date in the young 2024 season, Georgia Tech has wins over the aforementioned Florida State as well as Georgia State, with the latter victory transpiring last Saturday at home.

According to statistics on the ACC's Web site, through this pair of contests, the Yellow Jackets are averaging an impressive 207.5 yards per game on the ground. Georgia Tech's leading rusher is redshirt junior Jamal Haynes.

In total, he's carried the ball 28 times for 159 yards and three rushing scores, while Haynes is averaging a strong 5.7 yards per attempt. But it's not just him that the Orange defense will have to contain.

Georgia Tech redshirt junior Haynes King is a talented dual-threat quarterback. At this juncture in the 2024 term, he's completing 77.8 percent of his pass attempts for 421 yards with two touchdowns through the air and one interception.

On the ground, King has rushed the ball 19 times for 91 yards and one score. The native of Longview, Texas, as a member of the 2020 recruiting class, was rated by ESPN as four stars, No. 46 nationally and the No. 3 dual-threat QB around the country in this cycle.

This past Saturday afternoon, the Orange beat non-conference foe Ohio, 38-22. After a slow start, the team's offense played well. But the 'Cuse defense allowed the Bobcats to rush 39 times for a massive 255 yards on the ground, along with a concerning 6.5 yards per attempt.

Undeniably, Brown, defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson and other Syracuse football coaches will make adjustments before the Georgia Tech encounter. It's not just that the Orange gave up so many yards in the rushing arena to Ohio.

What was more alarming to me is that the Bobcats' offensive line, which has a lot of new faces, often dominated the line of scrimmage versus the Syracuse football defensive linemen. 'Cuse defenders weren't efficiently setting the edge, while missed tackles enabled Ohio to turn short runs into much longer ones.

Brown, in his post-game press conference, said his defensive players have to do a better job of hitting, striking blocks and knocking the opponent back. "We weren't playing our game," he said.

When asked by a reporter about the team's ACC duel with Georgia Tech this Saturday, Brown said: "We better stop the run ... and the quarterback from being able to run."

By extension, Syracuse football will try to contain Georgia Tech's rushing attack without one of its defensive leaders. Star senior linebacker Marlowe Wax Jr. suffered a lower-body injury versus Ohio. In his post-game presser, Brown said that the Baltimore product could be out "for a few weeks."

In the interim, other linebackers will naturally have to step up. Even Brown acknowledged that when Wax is leading the Syracuse football defense, it's a different ball game for the Orange.