NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
After a thrilling victory in the JMA Wireless Dome, The Syracuse Orange are back on the road as they take on the Boston College Eagles. With the win, Syracuse punched their ticket to a winning season and bowl game consideration. Now they just have to finish the season strong.
Kyle McCord and the Orange need to set the tone early on. After both bye week for Syracuse, the offense came out flat. The same thing happened in their previous game against Virginia Tech falling behind 21-3. Do the Orange have to find ways to start going “off-script”? Depending on what opposing teams show, the first few series in football usually follow an “if, then” format while coaches get a sense of how teams play.
If the Orange want to get off to a hot start, is it time to start getting more creative in these situations? Syracuse has all the tools on offense to make explosive plays. It was on full display against Virginia Tech as they opened up the backend of the playbook a little more. Should this be in the cards, Syracuse needs to find a way to get over the mental mistakes that have plagued them all season. Despite their resiliency on offense, they have to buckle down on clean, fundamental football to not leave points on the field. The offensive line showed improvement last week, the game just needs to slow down mentally without slowing the pace on field.
Syracuse takes on yet another dual-threat QB, a thorn in the side of their defense. After missing some time (Junior) Thomas Castellanos returns to the Eagles for this tough matchup. One of the drawbacks of the Orange defense is the inability to create turnovers, and Castellanos takes care of the football. So far this season, he’s thrown for 17 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions at a 63% completion rate. Running back Treshaun Ward and Tight End Kamali Morales lead Boston College in receiving touchdowns but BC 8 scores on the stat sheet.
If the receivers are well covered, touchdowns to TEs and RBs typically come in the short passing game. Saturday’s matchup could be a big test for the defensive line as well as linebacker play. If Boston College features screens and flats, it’ll be on the rest of the defense to protect the middle of the field and not allow extra yardage. Should they attack the over the middle more often, finding ways to disrupt timing and get after the QB should be key. Syracuse needs to be able to make adjustments on the fly. Virginia Tech took advantage of the Orange last week with an up-tempo offense that disallowed those adjustments.
Even though Syracuse is putting together one of their better seasons in recent memory, there are some growing pains along the way. Consistent and clean football need to be the focus the remainder of the season to finish strong. Their biggest test closes out the season when they take on the (4) Miami Hurricanes before the post season begins. The Orange have these last 3 games to focus on the fundamentals and find ways to limit mistakes while continuing the explosiveness of their attack.
The Orange lead all-time against Boston College with a record of 34-23 but most of those wins have come at home. On the road, they’re just 14-13 against BC and 5-5 in their last 10 matchups(cuse.com). With that being said, this isn’t a game they can take lightly.
