Editor’s note: This column was in response to the question: Can this Syracuse offense be above average in the Atlantic Coast Conference with Terrel Hunt at the helm? This column answers “yes”, click here  for the column that answers “no.”

Syracuse already is a better-than-average Atlantic Coast Conference offense. The Orange averages 450.5 yards per game, good for fourth in the ACC and just four yards per game behind Florida State.

Yep, No. 1-team-in-the-country, thoroughly-above-average Florida State. The Seminoles do score a lot more than SU, as does every team in the conference with the exception of Wake Forest. Syracuse is good at everything except avoiding drive-killing penalties and actually scoring.

It’s not a question of whether or not Terrel Hunt can lead the Orange offense to the top half of the ACC. He’s doing that right now, leading SU to all but the end zone. What’s stopping him, he’s improving on. What’s stopping the rest of the team, is fixable — especially with Hunt on the field.

He makes the slow-to-start running backs better. Every week, opposing coaches have to game plan for the physical fact that Hunt can run when his backs can’t find holes and his receivers can’t get open.

“You just know he’s going to stand in there,” SU wide receiver Ben Lewis said. “He’s going to come out with confidence and you can always rely on him.”

As the rest of the Orange’s most talented offensive players drop with injuries, Hunt, the man to lead SU into ACC relevance, remains. He also runs, throws and absorbs tackles. He plays through a sore hip and leads an offense that, without him, wouldn’t be suited for a television audience.

Sure, there are cute, embarrassing stats to laugh at. Syracuse punter Riley Dixon has as many touchdown passes as Hunt this season. Dixon — bless his heart — was also the team’s leading rusher against Notre Dame.

But while Syracuse is without Brisly Estime and Ashton Broyld and protection in right tackle Ivan Foy, it regains Josh Parris, a player who teammates and coaches alike have singled out as having an uncanny connection with Hunt.

More than a target, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound tight end can give the Orange a calm it’s has lacked when it nears the end zone.

“Just a sense of comfort,” Hunt said Tuesday of what a healthy Parris provides. “Because this whole camp I was just putting the ball anywhere I wanted to and he was catching it. His confidence helped him a lot. He became a great player and he’s got a lot to prove, so I’m just excited to watch him do it.”

It’s hard to be excited about tight end depth chart minutiae if you’re a Syracuse fan. That lifestyle choice makes a lot of things difficult this time of year.

Hunt isn’t the one not scoring, though. If Scott Shafer and the SU coaching staff can’t get their offensive lineman to wait to move until the ball is snapped, then this isn’t a quarterback problem.

But Hunt and offensive coordinator George McDonald said they’re simplifying snap counts.

SU struggled against Villanova because Hunt punched a linebacker in the facemask. He doesn’t do that anymore. Untimely penalties and simple incompletions shut Syracuse out of games against Maryland and Notre Dame.

Still, every week, quarterbacks coach Tim Lester praises Hunt’s improving decision-making.

It’s important to remember that Syracuse wouldn’t have been in those games against Maryland and Notre Dame —one of the best defenses the Orange will face this year, executing its game plan to near perfection — without Hunt.

“I think it’s easy to hate a quarterback if you don’t like the quarterback,” SU offensive coordinator McDonald said.

So don’t hate the man who’s carried SU farther than anyone else this season, producing among the ACC’s best. All that’s missing from Syracuse’s offense is points. Hunt’s the one who will score them.

Published on October 2, 2014 at 11:42 pm