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Football

Dino Babers on Eric Dungey: ‘We’ll see about next week’

Wasim Ahmad | Staff Photographer

Eric Dungey (2) missed his first game of the season on Saturday. He has never played in Week 10 or later in his career.

By Matthew GutierrezSenior Staff Writer

Moments after Eric Dungey was announced as a starter on the Carrier Dome videoboard, Zack Mahoney jogged out with the SU offense for the first series of the game.

Dungey, who was listed as questionable for Saturday’s game, did not play Saturday afternoon after sustaining an unspecified right leg/foot injury last week. The junior quarterback has yet to take a snap in a game past Week 9 over his three-year career.

After the game, Orange head coach Dino Babers said sitting Dungey was a game-time decision.

“Didn’t know until right before game time,” Babers said following Syracuse’s (4-6, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) 64-43 loss to Wake Forest (6-4, 3-3). “We all want him to play, but he’s somebody else’s son. You want to make sure he can defend himself out there. Just didn’t feel like he was able to totally defend himself, so we’ll see about next week.”

Dungey missed three offensive series last week in SU’s 27-24 loss at Florida State. He threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns, but sat out for parts of the first half. He returned and finished the game 24-for-43, two weeks after he was a season-worst 13-for-41 with four interceptions at No. 7 Miami.



Dungey wore a boot on his right foot after the loss to FSU. He walked into the Carrier Dome on Saturday with a boot. On Monday, Babers said Dungey would “be ready to go.”

“He’s not going to be able to do all of the reps,” Babers said Monday, “but he’s got a lot of game experience. We’ll just practice the other guys.”

But he stood on the sidelines against the Demon Deacons, in uniform and full pads. He looked on as backup QB Zack Mahoney ran the offense, going 33-for-60 with three touchdowns, all in the first half, and two interceptions. He threw for 384 yards and ran for 38 more. Mahoney said he discovered he would start about 14 minutes prior to kickoff.

As for Dungey’s future status, Babers said Saturday night: “Same thing. We need to keep getting treatment and keep watching him and seeing if he’s able to go or not.”





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