The Syracuse Orange took a while to get on track on Saturday. Looking back at the first down offense you can see that Syracuse started with a big play out of the gate, but then struggled to find consistency.
The first half Orange had trouble keeping momentum going as they were pretty well-balanced between run and pass. However 12 of the 19 plays went for 3 yards or less and kept Syracuse from keeping the Vols defense off-balance.
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pass (Nixon) | 21 | Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Nixon) | 1 | Pass (Ross-Simmons) | 23 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Willis) | 7 | Run (Nixon) | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Angeli) | 1 | Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Sack) | -7 | Run (Willis) | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Nixon) | 3 | Run (Willis) | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Willis) | 4 | Run (James) | -5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Villari) | 8 | Run (Willis) | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Willis) | 4 | Run (Russell) | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Angeli) | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Willis) | 5 | Run (Willis) | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Nixon) | 3 | Run (Villari) | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Tremble) | 1 | Run (Nixon) | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Ross-Simmons) | 5 | Pass (Villari) | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Pass (Villari) | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Villari) | 2 | Pass (Villari) | 20 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Run (Willis) | 1 | Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass (Sack) | -10 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st Half | Yards | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Run | 10 | 31 | 3.1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass | 9 | 18 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 19 | 49 | 2.58 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd Half | Yards | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Run | 10 | 44 | 4.4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass | 8 | 55 | 6.88 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 18 | 99 | 5.5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Game Total | Yards | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Run | 20 | 75 | 3.75 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass | 17 | 73 | 4.29 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 37 | 148 | 4 |
The second half showed more improvement, but some of the numbers are
skewed by the final drive when Tennessee was in a soft prevent defense. Still, the Orange offense found success (4 yards or more) on 11 of the 18 plays.
Like the game itself, the overall numbers don’t look too bad, so while there were negatives, there are also reasons for optimism. The Orange have to be better this week against UConn so they can control the tempo and be able to run Jeff Nixon’s full offense.
