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Following a last-second, 24-21 win over Liberty last Friday, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said he was “excited” about the Orange’s 3-1 nonconference start to the season. Four weeks into the season, SU has picked up wins over Ohio, UAlbany and Liberty but lost 17-7 at home to Rutgers.

“We’re … disappointed about the one blemish, but we’re excited where we’re at. And now we’re ready to start ACC play, and we’re going to see how it goes,” Babers said.

Babers started Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader against Liberty and used Shrader’s dual-threat abilities to place more of an emphasis on a rushing attack. The Orange ran 53 running plays, while Shrader threw just 15 times — and only completed six of those attempts against Liberty. Running back Sean Tucker continued his hot start to the season, taking 32 attempts for 169 yards and a touchdown.

Here are three takeaways from Babers’ weekly press conference following the Liberty win and ahead of Saturday’s game at Florida State:

Shrader expected to start against FSU

Despite struggling to throw the ball against the Flames, Babers said that Shrader will be starting against Florida State, instead of Tommy DeVito, who started SU’s first three games of the season.

Shrader ran 16 times for 53 yards against Liberty and scored two touchdowns. But he also missed open receivers, including on the first play from scrimmage when he missed an open Damien Alford, who had beat his defender and was streaking down the middle of the field. Babers said he’s seen Shrader throw better than he did against Liberty, but he helped lead Syracuse to the win, “which is the most important thing.”

“My answer is that I just gotta make those throws,” Shrader said after the Liberty game. “For some of them, it felt like I was waiting a little bit long. It’s always hard to replicate exactly how it’s going to be in the game, but my answer is I gotta make them.”

Babers said he and the rest of the coaching staff will focus on creating an offensive game plan for Florida State that will emphasize being “two-sided” and not solely focusing on running the ball.

“Nothing’s simple. Everything’s complex, so we’re going to work at it as hard as we can,” Babers said of improving the passing game.

Babers told Shrader and DeVito that whoever plays the best in the team’s previous game will get the start in the next one. Since Shrader played the entire game against Liberty, he will be seeing the first snaps against Florida State. Babers wouldn’t reveal the specifics of how he will split the reps in practice between the two quarterbacks, or how he approached his conversation with DeVito, who was Babers’ starter in 2019 and part of the 2020 season.

“I need to have the ability to play all these guys on this team,” Babers said.

Servais struggles against Liberty

In Friday’s win, redshirt senior Airon Servais struggled snapping the ball to Shrader. This was especially true when Shrader was in shotgun — where Babers’ quarterbacks usually are in his up-tempo offense. Several snaps sailed over Shrader’s head, forcing him to jump and bobble the ball. In some cases, snaps went fully over Shrader’s head, leading to him having to jump on the ball to avoid a turnover.

Over his career, Servais has started at three different positions on Syracuse’s offensive line. He entered the season with a team-best 48 straight starts dating back to his redshirt freshman season in 2017. His first two years as a starter, Servais started 25 games at center but played more at right and left tackle in the previous two seasons.

Servais was listed as SU’s starting center before the Liberty game after redshirt sophomore Carlos Vettorello started at center in Syracuse’s first three games. Babers said he couldn’t recall Servais having four bad snaps total throughout his entire career at Syracuse, but his high snaps on Friday cost the Orange yards and forced broken plays multiple times.

“That was really unusual, because you’re talking about a very, very steady player, someone that’s got more starts than anybody around here,” Babers said. “So I consider that a happening, and I don’t expect that we’re going to see it again.”

Like with his quarterback situation, Babers said he has the ability to play multiple players at a position. Monday’s depth chart release showed Servais again listed as the starting center, with Vettorello listed as starting right tackle and both Dakota Davis and Darius Tisdale listed as starting right guard.

“We have the ability to move them around to have them in the best position for us to have a chance to win,” Babers said.

Tucker excels, Howard enters transfer portal

Syracuse entered the season with strong depth at running back after 2020 opt-outs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard returned to the team. But through four games, Tucker has gained control on the position. Adams only had two carries against Liberty, while Howard recorded none.

Stephen Bailey of 247Sports reported Monday that Howard was entering the transfer portal after just over three seasons with the team. As a freshman in 2018, Howard ran for seven touchdowns and 315 yards and added three touchdowns and 337 yards the following season. Babers didn’t give specifics for Howard’s departure, only offering that Howard “is no longer on my football team.”

Tucker became SU’s starting running back four games into the season. He finished the year with the third-most single-season rushing yards by a Syracuse freshman and made seven starts. Now, Tucker has the second-most rushing yards in the country with 536 and has garnered buzz for the Heisman Trophy and as a candidate to wear the number 44.

“If you’re really, really good, you shouldn’t have to tell anybody — everyone else is going to tell that for you,” Babers said. “The really good ones don’t have to say a word. Everyone around them will say how good they are. And Sean Tucker doesn’t speak too much, but everyone knows.”

Published on September 27, 2021 at 4:25 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_