Syracuse (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) and head coach Dino Babers are coming off the Orange’s 28-20 victory over Boston College, the team’s second straight win. SU gets a bye this week to rest up.

Check out what Babers said on the ACC teleconference Wednesday.

Both staffs handled the scrum against Boston College the right way

Despite Syracuse Director of Football Operations Brad Wittke receiving a public reprimand for shoving a Boston College player on the sideline on Saturday, Babers thought the situation was handled correctly for the most part by both staffs.

“I think if you really watch the video, it was a positive video except for the one thing that came up,” Babers said later. “If you watch what the Boston College coaches did and you watch what our coaches did … there was no blows, no fists. I thought both staffs handled it the right way except for the one incident that’s been handled.”

The play started when Eric Dungey threw an interception on Syracuse’s first drive of the game. Dungey dragged BC William defensive back William Harris out of bounds to prevent a touchdown on the interception return, but then proceeded to spin and throw Harris head first into the ground well beyond the boundary line.

Eagles linebacker Matt Milano stood over Dungey on the sideline before Dungey shoved him into Harris and to the ground. Harris got up and Dungey charged forward with Wittke beside him, both combining to knock Harris over a table and to the ground again.

“While trying to prevent the situation from becoming worse I made contact with William, causing him to fall to the ground,” Wittke said in a statement. “I take responsibility for that and regret that it happened.”

On the teleconference Wednesday, Babers declined to comment further on Wittke, referring back to the statement Syracuse and the ACC made Monday.

“That stuff has already been handled by the ACC. They’ve made an announcement. Our athletic director has already made an announcement. And I’m just gonna leave it at that and make no comment on the rest of that stuff.”

Bye, bye, bye week

Syracuse tallied its first win streak under Babers after its 28-20 win over Boston College. The bye week separates the win from SU’s next game, which comes against No. 3 Clemson. Babers said the week will give coaches time to work with SU’s “twos and threes” and heal up before it goes to Death Valley.

Wide receiver Devin Butler and cornerback Cordell Hudson were both listed as out last week, but are two of the likelier players to come back and play this season. Butler has gotten limited run with the offense while Hudson has started multiple games this season for SU’s depleted secondary.

“We really needed the bye. A lot of times when you have the bye, you start off the next game a little bit slower, but we really needed the time to heal,” Babers said. “The Boston College, Virginia Tech, the Connecticut, those were physical games. We’re banged up and we need our guys to get some rest.”

Published on October 26, 2016 at 2:06 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati