MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Syracuse buried the ghosts of its season-opening scare against Villanova with a 40-3 blowout of Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon. Here are some fast reactions from the game.

Orange rush
Cooper Rush sent warning shots on Central Michigan’s first drive, but absorbed just as many from the Syracuse pass rush.

Rush’s threats were empty ones. The Orange hardly halted. Cameron Lynch led the Orange with 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss. His blitz with 12:47 left in the third quarter forced Rush into an intentional grounding penalty from the end zone, resulting in a safety.

Lynch’s forced flag extended SU’s lead to 19-3 and a steady mix of blitz packages kept CMU from even threatening to come back.

Covered up
When Rush had time to throw the football, he had nowhere to put it.

Julian Whigham shut down CMU’s top receiver, Courtney Williams. Brandon Reddish cleaned up underneath, wrapping up the few Chippewas’ receivers that Rush could find. Lynch nearly picked off the CMU quarterback on the hosts’ first drive.

The Orange’s coverage never picked off any CMU passes — mostly because CMU receivers were barely open enough to be thrown to.

No replacement for Rawls
Central Michigan’s standout running back, Thomas Rawls, didn’t play Saturday. The Chippewas had no viable alternative as Central Michigan reviewed an issue that came to the school’s attention on Friday night, according to a CMU release.

The Chippewas tried a by-committee approach with Saylor Lavallii, Devon Spalding and Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore all receiving touches. But they combined for 39 yards on the ground.

CMU’s inability to replace the man who had 56 of his team’s 78 carries going into Saturday’s game forced the Chippewas to fight SU in the air — where they lost.

Rawls had 278 yards and three touchdowns through two games. With five minutes left in Saturday’s game, CMU had three points.

Published on September 13, 2014 at 3:35 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_