For the first 14 games of the Fran Brown era, a consistent theme has been the Orange defense’s ability to tackle. A lot of attention came up after the opener against Tennessee, but then I saw the PFF grades which told a mixed story.
Tennessee ran the ball 40 times for 250 yards. The PFF numbers gave them credit for 172 yards after contact, which is 4.3 yards per attempt. No run was more impactful than this play late in the 2nd quarter.
Dion Wilson had Bishop behind the line in a situation that would have forced a 3rd and long with the Orange set to get the 2nd half kick off. Instead of making the play, Bishop broke a 47-yard run to set up a Volunteers touchdown and stop any Syracuse momentum.
The Orange were only credited with 5 missed tackles by PFF, but the yards after contact showed that they weren’t able to control the line of scrimmage. Outside of Wilson and Perry (both under 30 by PFF), Syracuse’s tackling and run defense grades were overall good, but several players were under 50 by PFF:
- Anwar Sparrow 48.7
- Devin Grant 48.5
- Denis Jaquez Jr. 45.7
- Antoine Deslauriers 44.4
- Kevin Jobity 40.9
- Derek McDonald 39.5
Too many of these names are experienced players, so we’ll have to keep an eye on the depth chart and snap counts to see if the coaching staff makes changes sooner than later. We would expect UConn to watch the tape and come out looking to establish the run, so the Orange are going to need to respond to the challenge.
