The Syracuse Orange offense never gave itself a chance on Saturday night. It took the Orange most of the first half to find success on first down, but the lack of a run game, the inconsistent passing game and
penalties were a recipe for disaster in the Dome.
Syracuse has not been a good running team this year, but the lack of success from Rickie Collins has allowed teams to key in on the run, especially on early downs. You can see from the chart that the Orange tried to come out and run the ball, but it was ineffective.
The offence got a bit better in the second half, helped by a Collins scramble and some successful passes. Drives in the second half were mostly done in by penalties on the Orange, and one on the Panthers which went uncalled.
A lot of fans have asked for more Yasin Willis touches, but in this one he was neutralized by Pitt. Willis had 9 1st down touches and he gained 6 yards total on those touches. The blocking isn’t there and teams are making sure he can’t get out of the backfield without being contacted. Can the Orange try some option, or different blocking schemes to free Willis and Nixon? Might be a tall task if Austin Collins and Byron Washington are out next week, but Syracuse needs to unlock some plays that they can run or else the Georgia Tech defense will feast.
Luke Carney’s two drives weren’t creative. The freshman handed off twice and did get a 5-yard pass completion to Darrell Gill. Maybe there is more to the package Carney can run that give some zone read looks that the Yellow Jackets haven’t seen before. I expect Collins to start, but it’s clear that Carney will slowly get more added to his playbook in the final weeks.
Overall the Orange are not good enough to convert 3rd and long situations right now, so they have to find a way to get solid production on first downs to open up more options on 2nd and 3rd downs.
