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Through three games, Syracuse appears to be at a turning point in its season. Two blowouts to top-25 teams left the Orange crawling out of the gates, but a dominant 37-20 victory over Georgia Tech gave fans reason for optimism. 

With its next two opponents, Duke and Liberty, being weaker on paper, SU can salvage a slow start. 

Ahead of the Orange’s bye week, The D.O.’s football beat reporters reflect on where the team stands. 

After three games, Syracuse’s defense has continually played strong, but the offense has been underwhelming at times. Do you think Syracuse is as good as its 37-20 win against Georgia Tech, as bad as its 31-6 dud against North Carolina or somewhere in between?

Anthony Dabbundo: There’s a real argument that too many of us, myself included, overreacted to the offense being as bad as it was against two top-25 opponents in the first two games. The Orange will only play two other teams with a defense anywhere near Pitt and UNC the rest of the season. But Syracuse’s offense has to be better than it was against Georgia Tech going forward. 

Yes, they hit some big plays. Yes, some offensive linemen may be returning. But I’m not sure relying on five opposition turnovers and two deep bombs is a viable long-term offensive strategy. Sean Tucker’s emergence as a consistent running back is the most important development in this offense thus far. If he’s able to grind out first downs, Syracuse’s offense will turn from very bad to just mediocre. Given how well the defense has been playing, mediocre is enough to win multiple ACC games. 

Danny Emerman: Syracuse’s offense is much more likely to resemble its Georgia Tech performance than its week one and week two duds, but that’s not saying much. If the North Carolina and Pittsburgh games are Syracuse’s basement, the Georgia Tech output is the first floor. 

For all the same reasons Syracuse’s defense collapsed in the fourth quarter of the season-opener, Georgia Tech’s defense faltered because of its offensive woes. Over and over again — five times to be exact — SU’s defense put its offense in a great position by forcing turnovers. The Orange had five scoring drives against the Yellow Jackets, and three were below 50 yards (one went zero). Still, Tommy DeVito was able to convert two downfield shot plays, which he’s struggled to do, entering the contest 0-for-14 on throws at least 10 yards downfield. 

Even after the GT win, SU has the second-least efficient offense in the nation. With a poor offensive line, mediocre running game and a conservative quarterback, SU will likely continue to struggle in the red zone and overall. 

Adam Hillman: My impulse is to say it’s somewhere in the middle — that UNC and Pitt both have multiple NFL players across their defense while Georgia Tech is improved but still rebuilding. But the offense’s performance Saturday was a drastic shift in strategy. They prioritized the running game, tried to involve the tight ends early and utilized DeVito’s athleticism to get him outside of the pocket. 

If Tucker can churn out yards on inside carries, as he did so well against Georgia Tech, opposing defenses will be forced to put more men in the box and leave holes in the secondary. The defense’s performance speaks for itself, so if the Orange can string together a decent running game, they may cobble together six wins. 

Tommy DeVito had his best performance of the season against Georgia Tech, completing 13-of-24 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Did that solidify his hold on the starting job for the remainder of the season over Rex Culpepper? 

A.D.: DeVito should absolutely be the starter for Syracuse. I know that Rex Culpepper completed a long touchdown pass to Taj Harris when he had good protection in the loss to Pittsburgh, but DeVito showed he can do the same in the win against Georgia Tech, twice. 

If Culpepper brought anything different to the Orange offense, such as improved accuracy or running ability, then it would be up for consideration. But what does Culpepper do better than DeVito? DeVito has had plenty of struggles and processing issues. Sometimes he holds the ball too long. But he’s by far SU’s most talented quarterback with the best arm, and he should be the starter.

D.E.: I wouldn’t say DeVito’s job is necessarily safe. Throughout his tenure at SU, even with Eric Dungey, Dino Babers has kept his quarterbacks on somewhat of a short leash. If DeVito reverts to his Weeks 1 and 2 self — holding the ball too long, bailing on plays too prematurely, missing open receivers — Babers won’t hesitate to try another option. 

One thing Culpepper brings to the table is a quicker release and potentially faster decision-making. Many of his struggles against UNC were due to an understandable lack of timing with his receivers on out routes, but he was still getting rid of the ball quickly. Culpepper also wasn’t sacked in a game where DeVito took seven.

DeVito’s the most talented QB in central New York, but if he loses his confidence, Culpepper is a strong option to displace him. So no, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Culpepper back under center at some point this season.

A.H.: Yes, DeVito takes too many sacks and can be indecisive in the pocket, but his arm talent is unmatched on the Orange’s roster. This is only a conversation because of Culpepper’s 69-yard throw to Harris against Pittsburgh. But on his other eight passes, he averaged 2.4 yards per attempt, only 0.3 more than DeVito against the Panthers. 

DeVito’s rebound on Saturday ended any notion of replacing him. He took one sack, instead throwing the ball away or finding receivers within seconds to prevent the offensive line from blocking too long. Is he perfect? No. But he’s the best quarterback on Syracuse’s roster. 

Even without Andre Cisco — who was injured in warmups against the Yellow Jackets — the Orange’s defense forced five turnovers against Georgia Tech. If Cisco is out of the lineup going forward, how does that affect their defense?

A.D.: It’s a credit to Tony White’s coaching ability and the depth of the Syracuse secondary that its best player was injured an hour before the game and you wouldn’t have noticed it by watching the secondary. 

The biggest impact comes in the run game. SU’s linebackers had some issues with tackling on Saturday, and Cisco was often found in the first two weeks lurking around the line of scrimmage and tackling in space to help shore up gaps in the run game. Without him there, Georgia Tech was able to break open some longer runs. As a rover in the 3-3-5, he’s a playmaker and a tackler, two things SU relies heavily on in the long term. But without him, the Orange have enough depth to at least cover for him temporarily.

D.E.: I can’t overstate how impressed I am with White’s defense and his ability to implement it during a pandemic. It’s like he could teach a pack of lions how to swim. The 3-3-5 is on a string at each level of the field, even as the team learned the concept primarily on Zoom meetings over the summer. 

As for Cisco, the extent of his injury is unknown, but SU should be fine treading water without him for at least the next two games against weaker opponents Duke and Liberty. He’s certainly their most impactful defender, but Rob Hanna stepped up in his absence, and SU has more than enough talent to patch up the secondary while it awaits Cisco’s return. 

A.H.: Hanna was perhaps the biggest winner from Saturday. The relatively unknown true freshman didn’t appear in the first two games but totaled nine tackles on Saturday. Cisco’s absence was missed in the run game, as Georgia Tech broke off 275 yards and multiple carries over 20 yards, but Hanna stepped up in the passing game. He roamed around the middle of the field, catching his first interception and punished receivers, even though he checks in at 168 pounds. Hanna’s emergence helps mitigate Cisco’s knee injury.  

What’s one weakness that Syracuse needs to fix heading into the final eight games of its season? One hidden strength it needs to take more advantage of?

A.D.: Syracuse’s weakness through three weeks has to be the red zone. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the lack of tight end use is alarming. The lack of efficiency in the red zone is going to cost them games, and the offense has appeared unwilling to adjust at this point. 

Syracuse needs to find any way to be successful on offense, to the point where any play that is generating positive average predicted points added is a good idea. 

Through three weeks, one subtle improvement DeVito has made has been rushing. When plays break down, DeVIto has two tendencies: Last year, he often rolled back and to his right out of the pocket, settling for a sack or incompletion. This year, he’s run more often, but it’s still not enough. He’s looked to pick up some yards by breaking through a hole in the pass protection, and needs to run more when his first and second reads aren’t open.

D.E.: Even with Tucker’s breakout game, I’m still not sold on SU’s talent in the backfield. Relying on a true freshman can be hit-or-miss, and his emergence came against a poor rush defense. To develop into a true three-down back, he also needs to get more involved in the passing game (he had one catch for zero yards against GT). He could be the answer to Syracuse’s running game, but I’d like to see him do it again before we anoint him savior. If only SU could bring up 2021 commits who average 60 yards per carry.

One under-the-radar strength for Syracuse is its special teams unit. Nykeim Johnson has been tremendous through three games. I didn’t know what to expect out of the Orange’s return game that lost Sean Riley heading into the season, but Johnson’s already proven to be just as explosive as his predecessor. Through three games, Johnson’s averaging 14.2 yards per punt return and 26.3 yards per kick return, both astronomical numbers in the top-10 among players who’ve played more than one game. The fact that Johnson, as well as SU’s defense, continues to give the offense excellent field position shines even more light on Sterlin Gilbert’s unit’s struggles.

A.H.: A lack of experience is the Orange’s greatest weakness so far. SU has committed 20 penalties in three weeks for 198 yards. False starts, needless holding penalties and touchdown-denying blindside blocks have taken points off the board. Dino Babers constantly spoke about the team’s lack of experience during training camp, and he was proven right the first few weeks. True freshmen are in key roles across the roster, and this will only increase as the season progresses. The inexperience is a positive for seasons to come, but it may impact SU’s ability to win in 2020. 

Syracuse needs to start using screen plays more in the passing game. We saw an increase in its third game, but I’d like to see even more. The screen game is functional when the offensive line is overmatched. The offense’s tempo increases, and the offensive line has less pressure to hold blocks. There’s so many speedy receivers across the roster, and not putting the ball in their hands wastes their talent.

Published on September 30, 2020 at 10:44 pm