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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On 2nd-and-5 in Syracuse territory, Marlowe Wax came flying off the edge on quarterback Hudson Card’s blind side. With full momentum, Wax slammed into Card from behind to jar the ball loose, and SU lineman Terry Lockett dove on the Orange’s second fumble recovery of the first quarter.

SU took possession on its own 36 and Garrett Shrader led the Orange down the field on a six-play, 64-yard touchdown drive. After the majority of the drive’s first 27 yards were gained through penalties, SU had a 3rd-and-10 from the opposing 35-yard line.

Seeing man coverage downfield, Shrader escaped the pocket to his right before weaving back to the middle to avoid the secondary. Near the goal line, he juked Dillon Thieneman and dove into the end zone to put SU up 14-0 at the start of the second quarter.

All three of Syracuse’s (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) first-half touchdown drives came directly off fumbles committed by Card en route to a 35-20 victory over Purdue (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten Conference). Shrader pounded the same read-option concepts repeatedly to achieve his first 100-yard rushing game since 2021 and help SU capitalize on the Boilermakers’ mishaps. Purdue fumbled the ball five times and lost three, while Shrader rushed 25 times for career-highs in yards (195) and touchdowns (four).

“We asked [Shrader] to use his legs in this game,” head coach Dino Babers said postgame. “This is a very important game in our run and we need to do the things that we need to do to win.”

Card’s first fumble came courtesy of a failed fourth down conversion, and SU took over in its own red zone. On Syracuse’s drive, in enemy territory, Shrader got chased out of the pocket, scrambling just outside the red zone after he got the outside edge. On the next play, he took a read-option up the middle for a 20-yard gain to give the Orange a 1st-and-goal.

From the 3-yard line, Syracuse set up in a bunch formation. Last weekend against Western Michigan, SU punched in three short-yardage touchdowns with that setup.

When Shrader took the snap, Purdue’s defense collapsed on the line of scrimmage. Instead of handing it to LeQuint Allen Jr., Shrader pulled the ball at the last second and walked into the end zone before most of the defense even realized he kept it.

“We like to believe that we’re the faking capital of the world,” Babers said. “Those guys do that on the practice field all the time. And when they do it on the practice field I have a punishment if I don’t know who has the ball.”

Allen Jr. got walloped on the play, but Shrader completed the game’s first scoring drive with six rushes for 52 yards and a touchdown. That was just 24 yards short of doubling his ground production through two games, and he’d do so on the very next drive.

After Shrader’s long touchdown run, Purdue finally got on the board. It put together a 7-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that featured two deep completions and a roughing the passer call that got the Boilermakers into SU territory.

Then, after Shrader’s long touchdown scramble, Card fumbled again.

On 1st-and-10 from SU’s 13-yard line, Card botched the snap and SU’s defensive line was already in the backfield by the time he tried to fall on it. Lockett got there first for his second fumble recovery of the night, giving the Orange the ball on their own 19.

From there, the ground game took control again. The first play was a speed option on a spread set. Shrader faked the pitch to Allen Jr. and then rumbled through the lane for a 20-yard gain.

On 3rd-and-8 during the next set of downs, Shrader picked up the first on a simple QB draw. SU stacked the right side with three receivers and Shrader looked that way before taking off to his right with blockers in front. He picked up 10 to give SU a fresh set of downs.

Shrader then completed a pass to Alford in the soft spot of the zone defense. Allen Jr. followed up by rushing twice to get the Orange in the end zone. Breaking a tackle on the outside zone run, Allen Jr. stepped out right before reaching the ball over the pylon.

On the goal line play, SU ran the same bunch formation they did earlier, with Alford outside again. This time, it handed to Allen Jr., who followed his fullback in for an easy three-yard score, giving SU a 21-7 lead going into the half.

“When [the defense is] playing like that, all flying to the ball and getting turnovers, we owe them a touchdown,” Shrader said.

The second half started slow with zero points and 179 total yards gained in the third quarter. Sixty-six of those yards were enforced on penalties. On SU’s first touchdown drive since the second quarter, it picked up two first downs via penalties before Shrader leaped over the line for a QB sneak touchdown.

The Orange went back to the jumbo goal line set that yielded three touchdowns last weekend. Prior to that play, Alford had been lined up outside in that formation, but SU had two blockers and Allen Jr. in the backfield this time.

On the next drive, the Boilermakers narrowly escaped their fourth fumble of the game after a review showed that SU touched the ball out of bounds. After that, Tyrone Tracy Jr. scored standing up from the one-yard line to make it a one-possession game. But kicker Ben Freehill shanked the extra point to the left, putting Purdue down eight instead of seven.

SU’s three-and-out gave Purdue an opportunity to get back in it with 6:20 remaining. And on the very first play of the drive, Devin Mockobee fumbled for a second time in three carries but didn’t lose it. The Boilermakers went for it on 4th-and-1 from their own territory, but the slant pass was broken up by Isaiah Johnson with heavy pressure from the SU front.

To cap it off, Shrader went 28 yards untouched into the end zone, giving the Orange a 15-point lead with just over three minutes remaining.

“There will be games when we ask him to use his legs a lot and there will be games where we don’t,” Babers said. “Hopefully we’ll have a lot more of those [don’t] games because he gets hit a lot, but he also runs by a lot of people.”

Published on September 16, 2023 at 11:25 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu