TALLAHASSE, Fla.  — In the first quarter, most of Florida State’s offensive line shifted right as quarterback James Blackman took the snap from under center. It was a designed counter run, as running back Cam Akers faked as if he was going right only to take the carry and head left.

Syracuse’s leading tackler by a wide margin, senior linebacker Parris Bennett, came up to meet the freshman running back. As Bennett leaned for the tackle, Akers made one quick juke move right, leaving Bennett with his hands on the ground. Akers exploded upfield and ran in for a 54-yard score. At that point, it was the longest touchdown of his career.

“It’s not easy to tackle him,” safety Rodney Williams said. “And once he hits the second, third level, he’s extremely fast.”

Florida State’s (3-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) offense has struggled this season after quarterback Deandre Francois went down in the opener, but it found plenty of success on the ground against Syracuse (4-5, 2-3) on Saturday afternoon at Doak Campbell Stadium. Akers racked up 199 yards on 22 carries and added two touchdowns in the Seminoles’ 27-24 win over the Orange.

Akers’ big plays throughout the day helped the Seminoles regain momentum after the Orange tried to take it back. Syracuse struggled offensively while quarterback Eric Dungey missed parts of the first and second quarter with an injury. When he came back, he threw a 47-yard touchdown on a busted FSU coverage to give SU its first points of the game.

Courtesy of Joe Rondone | Tallahassee Democrat

The next drive started with a roughing the passer penalty. After that, it was a handoff to Akers again. This time he ran left and made a seamless cut upfield, brushing off a hand thrown his way. As SU reinforcements converged on him near the 30-yard line, he cut back right and ran all the way toward the right pylon. Cornerback Scoop Bradshaw caught up to Akers at about the 10-yard line, but Akers rumbled in for a 63-yard score, breaking the career-long score he had set just several minutes earlier.

“It’s more about guys not making tackles with really, really good backs,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said. “That’s what they do. They make really good tacklers miss and they get big plays.”

Midway through the second quarter, Akers had racked up 149 yards on just seven carries. Much of the reason the Seminoles only scored six points in the second half is because Akers was bottled up.

Akers still ripped off several chunk runs, and on one play when Syracuse brought pressure — as it did for most of the game against the freshman Blackman — Akers caught a designed screen pass and gained 18 yards.

Babers and the defensive players said that there was no change in the game plan that slowed Akers down in the second half. Tackles were just made that Akers was breaking in the first half.

It continued a string of games in which FSU running backs dominated against the Orange. In the last four matchups between these two teams, including this one, the lead running back for Florida State has averaged about 24 carries for 177 yards and 2.5 touchdowns.

The Orange has made strides as a team this year, with the most noticeable ones on the defensive side. The unit has prided itself on not giving up big plays after they frequently came up last season.

But Akers’ explosiveness changed that for Syracuse. Bennett said he hasn’t seen a running back as good as Akers yet this year, specifically pointing out his ability to cut quickly. That ability vaulted FSU to a win, despite the Orange’s best efforts to slow him down.

“We just did the same thing in the second half,” Bennett said. “He just made a lot out of a little space.”

Published on November 4, 2017 at 7:11 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer