NFL
By: Rick
Don’t look now, but the Syracuse Orange are slowly climbing out of the ACC basement. Clawing their way back to 4-4, they’ve won back-to-back games. Can they tack on the third and enter a win streak? They’ll face Clemson at home this Saturday, so how will they land a victory?
Keep It Close
If Syracuse struggles on offense, their main priority will be keeping it close. Clemson isn’t the powerhouse they once were, and with that, they’re not scoring the way they could be. They’re averaging 22 points per game, but that number is skewed by the 37 they put up on Charleston Southern, which, no disrespect to them, the 37-0 final score shows how much that matchup favored the Tigers. If that game trends closer to their average of 22 points, their actual average falls to just 20 points per game. Three touchdowns isn’t exactly the dominance the Orange have faced before.
To put that into perspective, the Orange are averaging 31 points per game. However, in fairness, if you take away SU’s 66-point blowout of New Hampshire 66-3 and use their average points per game there, they’d still have an edge at 27 points per game, but they can’t rely on “what if.”
Start off Hot
To that point, if the Orange don’t struggle on offense, they need to attack right from the opening kickoff. When the points skew in your favor, you want to get ahead early. Make the other team play catch-up, especially when they’re struggling on offense. At QB, Tait Reynolds leads the team in passing yards but has just 3 TDs and 3 INTs. The running game is slightly better, as Gideon Davidson leads all backs with 5 TDs, but they’re not scoring at will. Syracuse, however, seems to have an offense that is dynamic enough to put up points in bunches. If they get out to an early lead, it might be hard for the Tigers to overcome.
Keep the Pressure On
Nothing throws off a quarterback’s rhythm quite like pressure on defense. The Tigers are allowing an average of 3 sacks per game for a total of 25. If Syracuse can get in the face of the freshman QB, it could cause a world of headaches for Reynolds. Being thrown to the wolves is never fun when you’re trying to develop at the college level, and so far Reynolds has seen his share of wolves. Syracuse’s defense was playing with intensity at one point, and if they want to get back above .500, this will be the game for these young men to have the game of their careers.
The Syracuse Orange and Clemson Tigers are no strangers to each other. They first faced off in 1996, and the Orange trail the series 3-10 all-time, but the Orange dominated their last matchup, 34-21, on Clemson’s home turf. Will Clemson get revenge, or can Syracuse make it two in a row for the first time against the Tigers?
