Syracuse defeats Ohio in 2024 opener

[Music] it is another episode of the juice on the qes podcast West Chang alongside gymstick shy thanks so much for joining us on the Sunday September 1st 2024 and we begin today with where else the Syracuse football team they defeated Ohio 38-22 in their 2024 opener it is the first win of the Fran Brown era from defensive struggles to new weapons emerging on offense we've got a lot to go over Jim what do you where do you want to get started on the win uh I mean we could just start with you know it's a slow start and then on both sides of the ball and then things came around the uh the defense looked a little I don't know what the exact word is for the for the first quarter when they give the two long Ohio drives both times they they stiffened up once the Bobcats got into the Red Zone and forced field goals and it sandwiched a three and0 by the offense but then uh once the second Drive the defense really really stood up strong uh after after the Bobcats got down to the six yard line and then that seemed to turn things around uh you know they held held the field held the Bobcat the field goal attempt there and then couple plays later after they got the ball the offense was off and running in the second quarter and then really changing turning the game around and mostly having the game fully in hand let's say say you know by halftime you know that the long the scoring drive before halftime uh that took 44 seconds to go 75 yards to uh go up 79 in the break I think that really helped them put the clamps on the game right at that point even though they did give up that score early in the third quarter yeah so I'll start with the offense and I'll pick up right where you left off because the first possession of the game let's start right there because Kyle mcord probably the most talented quarterback at least on paper to come through Syracuse since Donovan McNab he drops back and he fires right to Blake leak and Blake leak doesn't play for Syracuse and fortunately for the orange he is hands of a linebacker and just drops it and I think that really tempered the mood right at the start so the orange go three and out there's a little bit of a murmur in the crowd but mccor looks a lot better after that so he finishes 18 for 24 for 21 yards and four touchdowns and he seemed comfortable in the offense and was consistently looking for R Gatson what who also looked fully healthy so that's a really encouraging sign and another thing that I wanted to point out was clock management because it was a problem under Dino bapers it was a problem under Scott schaer and it was not problem on Saturday I think you mentioned it the end of the second quarter there's 59 seconds left they go 75 yards Syracuse does it in eight plays and for once they use their timeouts correctly so that to me was a really encouraging sign so I think when you look at clock management some people getting healthy at least on the offensive side on the ball and then McCord really settling in and finding his receivers and one thing that I want to point out that I think you may want to touch on as well is treeva he really emerged he's been injured the last few years but he emerged as a star and he was a a a factor on offense which we actually haven't seen so I thought all those signs really pointed to a good start for Syracuse against a group of five opponent and I think you have to keep in mind that it is a group of five opponent heading into a week two matchup against acc's Georgia Tech but I actually really like what I saw on Saturday afternoon from the orange offense yeah I did actually mention p in my postgame observations uh he showed his speed in as a freshman because he returned I believe a kickoff I think it was for a touchdown against Clemson and when you're going the length of the field against Clemson that usually says something about your talent your ability your skill um and he just never really had a chance to really show off much of that after that he was used sparingly as a sophomore season ending injury early last year but he was able to use it yesterday at that speed uh we saw some in the spring game when he were using him downfield over the center of the field but yesterday was a they still do did some of that but they also used him using horizontally uh they had hit him once on a drag route uh for a first down they kind of cleared out and then just hit him hit him on ahead of a Defender underneath for a short game but I believe actually converted to a first down then they also used him as a ball carrier on jet sweeps I think he carried the ball three times including for that third touchdown he scored um and he showed along with Gadson uh a very good connection with with Kyle McCord uh McCord was accurate all day uh with the exception of a couple bad throws including that first throw you talked about that was a near interception the replays on television made it look like he it was halfway between Allen and I think it was Zed Haynes who was a receiver who's probably like six to eight yards further down field and it looked like he just splitting the difference between the two of them he was you know it was either overthrowing Allen massively or wildly under throwing hannes and that's how it was a near interception but beyond that McCord looked great and I think his accuracy actually circles back to what you were talking about that clock management that drive late in the second quarter scored just before halftime it was a lot of what we have not seen in recent years with the orange accurate downfield throwing it was completion for a first down stops clock get up to the line set go another completion for a first down hurry up to the line clock it then go it's just they were they were moving the ball efficiently through the air gaining you know first down after first down after first down there wasn't it was a 75 yard drive as you said in eight play it wasn't a it wasn't there was a 55 yard pass that flipped the field and they had to grind out and incompletions and stoping the clock it was consistent chain moving chain moving chain moving passes and that was a big part of that drive as well mord was Terri he was everything he was advertised to be and if not for uh the the uh holding call on just before uh that wiped out a 45 yard pass to gats on the play before his interception in the fourth quarter he might have had a 400 yard day and possibly a fifth touchdown pass so we're going to take a quick break and we'll have more on Syracuse's win over Ohio this is the juice cuse podcast here on the rivals and believe Network this is the BET online read bet online is the world's most trusted betting platform and you're number one source for everything football bet online has every stat every matchup and even live odds and spreads to bet on during the games you think you know your stuff get in on our $200,000 Mega contest and pick five games against the spread every week for your chance at weekly prizes and a share of $200,000 when the gamees over head on over to our online casino and get in on a game of blackjack or poker or unwind with over 15 slot games head to the website today to get in on the action bet online the game starts [Music] here back here on the juice on the qes podcast West Chang alongside gymstick schilte let's dive more into the opening win week over Ohio and Jim I want to talk more about the defense because as solid as the offense may have looked against a G5 opponent you touched on it but the defense was not in as inspiring especially against the runs Syracuse gave up 255 yards on the ground compared to 126 for the orange Jim that has to concern you especially heading into week two matchup against the Run heavy team in Georgia Tech potentially without their top linebacker yeah it was uh it was a little jarring to see how much uh free space Anthony tyus I third had uh throughout the game 2003 yards and two touchdowns by himself on the ground including a couple of long breakaways uh you know he had over over 12 yards a carry which is just frankly unacceptable we had questions we talked about it in the uh in our podcast preview the season about the defensive line for the orange uh fidil Diggs had a couple sacks and there were you know the team did you know have I don't know I call it like almost like a boomer bust feast or famine kind of aspect to it as far as they didn't you know pile up a good number of tackles for loss in the game but at the same time they were just repeatedly gouged by the Bobcat running game um it is very concerning as you said coming up against coming up next week for the Georgia Tech game Georgia Tech in both their games they've had this year against Florida State and Georgia State have had running backs their running backs collectively average over six and a half yards per carry and after what the orange showed on defense last night you just have to hope that there's something that's a quick cleanup of some sort or otherwise it could be a rough rough second game of the season yeah Jim I agree just plenty of concern there you know Anthony tus the second or I should say Anthony tyus the third kind of looking like tus battle out there in the dome I mean he bulldozed Syracuse for 203 yards and I think really concerning was he was running it right through the ab Gap consistently and uh you mentioned in our 2024 Syracuse football preview podcast but both the offensive and defensive lines were going to be the concern you highlighted that and that's exactly what happened on Saturday and to be sure to Dill digs he did his job grabbing two sacks on the afternoon but the interior line looked really concerning second Team all Max Center Parker titsworth I thought he really gave the defensive line fits and of course it doesn't help when you have your all ACC linebacker Marlo wax he went down early in the game we're going to have to see what the update is during Fran bound's uh Monday press conference he mentioned that he might be out for a few weeks but that's really before they get a deep dive and take a look at exactly what happened to his leg but if they lose wax for the rest of the season that is a huge huge blow to the defense yeah it's very concerning um you know the linebackers while wax and McDonald are returning returning starters and wax of course is probably the best player on the defensive side of the ball for the orange it is it's very concerning I mean they only play two linebackers in their base anyway so it's not a huge deal anoir Sparrow Jr has a good amount of experience for a reserve so it looks like he might get promoted into this starting lineup or maybe James herd who was listed at second on the two deep the transfer from West Virginia who did come in late in the game and ended up getting uh that inter that interception the lone turnover that the orange forced uh plucking that deflected pass out of the air for an interception that effectively entered Ohio's chances of Victory but yeah the wax injury is very concerning um I you know we obviously it's the first game we haven't heard uh Fran Brown talk much about injuries and how he plays that stuff uh I assume it's going to be close to the vest because you know schematic Advantage etc etc um so I don't know if his statement that's gon that they might miss a few that wax might miss a few weeks is actual or just kind of preparing for a minimum kind of amount of time that he'll be out or is much more literal based on what the early suggestions are from the medical reports on wax that were you know made during and then probably something after the game quickly as well so Jim we're only one game into the season but this is in fact Syracuse's most anticipated opener I would argue since the 2019 season after Syracuse's 10- win season in 2018 so many came in especially they came into this podcast with eight or nine win expectations you put yourself down for eight wins does this opening win from what you've seen change anything that You' thought of so far well my in reaction would be especially with how like the run defense looked maybe scaling it back but the same especially with like Georgia Tech coming up next the good news is after the Georgia Tech they have a bye week before Stanford comes in for the Friday night game so if things don't go great against the yellow jackets on Saturday there is time to kind of circle the wagons and figure out what they can and can't do make changes to use that extra practice time to shift because I think especially if the run defense is still a problem against Georgia Tech that's something they're going to have to work on and figure out some adjustments for long-term and not just like an opponent specific kind of change um the other side of that coin though with the offensive line I mean MC did get get sacked a couple times took some hits you know the offensive line was our question on offense as well but overall if he is able to stay in the pocket for two three seconds and get Guys open downfield the receivers looked the skill position players I think is probably more a fairer way to say that uh looked as advertised in the pre you know before the season uh gadston was terrific they I mean his with him being bulked up he was just bullying Ohio all night long and it just seems like if they you know if the orange gets like a third and eight they just they can just like essentially send him 12 yards downfield and tell him to post up and box out a guy and it's going to be and he's going to move the change um pñ we talked about him having a good game and you know I'm interested to see because they ran the Jet Sweep enough with him that knowing that there's going to be something to build off that that they're going to keep using that that eventually there going to be Jet Sweep motion to him because it's because they've shown that they will keep using it and then how are they going to run plays like are they using that as like a play action what they run off of that like they going to maybe do like a little bootleg in the opposite direction to get mcord out in space and run like a drag rout to the corner or something like that you know um but and then look when Allen while he took a back seat in the first half in the second half specifically the third quarter he really came to life when the orange got their ground game going he had five carries in the first half for I think it was 19 yards he had four carries that were double digits in the third quarter alone as he ended up pushing his way up to nearly 100 yards in the ground I just think that the diverse field position uh level of quality that they have as far as mcord the receivers and then Allen because even like you know Zed hannes didn't have a big game but had a big catch Jackson Meeks had one long catch downfield I mean they were able to get downfield a lot and I think mcord is able to continue throwing the ball with that degree of accuracy I think their ability in the pass game on offense is going to help offset any deficiencies On The Run game on defense and maybe kind of even things out a little bit I mean also uh maybe some of the teams that we thought were going to be tougher matchups or maybe not so much on that schedule Virginia Tech in particular losing at Vanderbilt it's its first game you don't want to take too much out of it and change everything for the season but it makes me feel like maybe Virginia Tech is you know a half step or a full step uh lower on the food chain than we all thought coming into the season so maybe that's a game that we thought the orange would lose before and but maybe we can reconsider like hey maybe they have a chance to pull that one out instead so I think staying staying the course for now seeing what happens with wax and then seeing what happens next week against Georgia Tech is really what's would change would make me want to change expectations for the season instead of just one game result yeah so I had them down for seven wins at the beginning of the season so I don't think I'm going to adjust my win loss expectation too much I still expect them to sweep through their nine conference schedule to get to four wins and then we'll have to see how the ACC season out and I'm really interested to see what happens in the Georgia Tech game again for the reasons you just mentioned Georgia Tech's a really good run team Syracuse looked like they struggled to stop the run and I also want to see what happens when offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon really opens up the Playbook because it's clear that he didn't want to show his cards during a group of five game and I don't blame him you saw that that first play call went out of the pistol formation and we didn't really see uh much of that after and I think he mostly kept mcing the shotgun that allowed him to drop back he found all his different wide receiver so I thought mcor looked good so I would like to see the different types of looks that they can give heading into again an ACC matchup where you haven't shown all the cards yet so let's see what happens there I'm still going to keep my win prediction at seven again we don't know how the how wax is going to recover from his injury we also don't know how good the ACC teams are yet I think it's going to take a couple more weeks so we can figure out where we get there so I'm still going to stick with my seven wins and we'll just have to see how the rest of the season plays out that's it for us for Jim stick schy this is West Chang you've been listening to the juice on the cues podcast powered by the believe in Rivals networks and we will see you next time [Music]