Syracuse left tackle Justin Pugh has helped anchor an offensive line that seems to be finding its stride in recent weeks. The unit helped pave the way for running back Antwon Bailey to eclipse 100 yards in each of the past three games, and it’s done a solid job of protecting quarterback Ryan Nassib all season long.

Friday, the Orange offensive line faces a West Virginia defense that runs a 3-3-5 scheme. The Mountaineers defense ranks 36th in the country against the run and 16th in total defense.

The Daily Orange caught up with Pugh to discuss the challenges of facing West Virginia on Friday.

The Daily Orange: West Virginia’s defense is different than a lot of other teams with that 3-3-5 look. Is that different for the offensive line blocking-wise?

Justin Pugh: It’s different for us, but we started the year with Wake Forest, which is a three-down front team. We’ve kind of seen a lot of different fronts this year, which has been good for us, obviously, as the offensive line. And also having the bye week gave us a couple extra days to prepare, so I think that will helps us. And now, now it’s kind of second nature, this West Virginia defense. Whereas last year as a freshman — I wouldn’t tell you guys this last year — but last year, I went into the game and I was like, ‘Oh, my god.’ I was kind of confused. But now going into this year, I’ve really looked back and learned from last year, and I think it’s definitely going to pay off for me. And I’ve kind of been able to help other guys along the line like Macky (MacPherson), so we’ll be good.

You mentioned you wanted to see 125 yards running the ball. Between those four guys, would you like to see 150 or 175 total on Friday?

I’d like to see 200 total. I mean, it depends how the game is, what the score is. Obviously, I would love to run the ball. Instead of them bull rushing me every play, I get to get after them a little bit, so that will be good.

This is a high-scoring team in West Virginia. If you guys can run the ball and control the clock, I’ve got to think that’s going to help you on Friday.

We saw last year that we were able to keep them off the field. I mean, a little bit. Our defense obviously forced a lot of turnovers, so if we can generate some turnovers on defense and we can establish the run game and not go three-and-out. I mean, every drive you obviously want to score. It’s somewhat unrealistic, but you just want to make sure you’re not going three-and-out every time and establishing drives. If you establish drives, it gives you good field position, puts the defense in better position, and it’s just positive for everyone.

You never want to have a slow start, but against a team that is in the Top 25 in the country that’s coming into the Carrier Dome, is it even more important to jump on top of them early?

You definitely want to get on them early because a team like West Virginia, after they get things rolling they start to really get going. You see the teams they played, they’ll score once and then a turnover, score again, score again. Like against UConn, they got up by 21 points just like that in the third quarter. So we want to make sure that we stay on them, and it’s always good to have a close game. It’s more competitive, and it allows us to be more versatile on offense.

It’s another game where you get to go with that underdog mentality that I know the team likes. Talk about how that plays into this week.

We went down there last year and no one gave us a shot, and that’s the way we’re going to go into this game. They’re like 15th in the country, 11th in the country, something like that. So we’re going to go into this game thinking, I mean, everyone around this area thinks we’ve got a shot. And we’ve just got to go out there and show the world what we’ve been working on for the past two weeks.

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on October 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13