Syracuse Scouting Report
View attachment 104848
UConn is 6-6 against Syracuse. We dominated the early 2000s going 6-2. The fruit currently has a 4 game win streak against us.
Ratings
| Team | Massey | Sagarin | ESPN |
|---|
| UConn | 90 | 97 | 81 |
| UAB | 122 | 133 | 121 |
| Georgia State | 117 | 135 | 108 |
| Syracuse | 50 | 54 | 62 |
| Cal | 60 | 53 | 42 |
| Boston College | 62 | 67 | 59 |
Rankings
| Stat | UConn | Syracuse | UAB | BC |
|---|
| Total Offense | 67 | 24 | 68 | 100 |
| Rushing | 25 | 124 | 119 | 60 |
| Passing | 105 | 5 | 22 | 114 |
| Total Defense | 39 | 63 | 107 | 93 |
| Rushing | 52 | 121 | 131 | 50 |
| Passing | 46 | 42 | 22 | 119 |
Team Notes:
- The fruit hired Fran Brown last Nov. This is the first head coaching gig for Brown. He was a DB coach at Georgia, Rutgers, Temple, and Baylor.
(Trying a new format)
Key Players Offense:
- QB #6 KYLE MCCORD. Senior, transfer from Ohio State, 5-stars. 10 GP: 303/476 for 3459 yards, 24 TD, 12 INT
- RB #1 LEQUINT ALLEN. Junior, 3-star. 10 GP: 169 att, 761 yards, 11 TD
- WR #2 TREBOR PENA. RS JR, 3-star. 10 GP: 92 Targ. 71 Rec. 729 Yards, 5 TDs
- WR #7 JACKSON MEEKS. Senior, 3-star, transfer from Georgia. 10 GP: 86 Targ. 58 Rec. 690 Yards, 5 TD
- TE #19 ORONDE GASDEN II. RS JR, 3-star. 10 GP: 79 Targ. 54 Rec. 707 Yards, 4 TD
Key Players Defense:
- DE #10 FADIL DIGGS. Senior, 4-star, transfer from TAMU. 10 GP: 22 Tack; 16 Hurr; 6 Sack; 20 Stop
- LB #15 DEREK MCDONALD. RS JR, 3-star. 9 GP: 37 Tack; 1 Hurr; 0 Sack; 18 Stop
- DB #3 CLARENCE LEWIS. Senior, 3-star, transfer from Notre Dame. 10 GP: 4 Tack; 0 Hurr; 0 Sack; 4 Stop; 7 PBU; 1 INT (Excellent cover corner).
- DB #8 JUSTIN BARRON. Senior, 3-star. 10 GP: 34 Tack; 8 Hurr; 2 Sack; 34 Stop; 1 PBU; 1 INT
- DB #0 DUCE CHESTNUT. RS JR, 3-star, transfer out to LSU then back to Syracuse. 10 GP: 20 Tack; 0 Hurr; 1 Sack; 20 Stop; 3 PBU; 1 INT
- DB #5 ALIJAH CLARK. Senior, 4-star, transfer from Rutgers. 10 GP: 13 Tack; 0 Hurr; 0 Sack; 13 Stop; 3 PBU; 0 INT (has some NFL buzz)
Biggest Strength: Syracuse's short passing game. McCord loves short throws to Peña, his sure-handed Julien Edleman. They have a really, really good secondary group. Fran Brown is widely regarded as a great secondaries coach.
Biggest Weakness: is by far the o-line. Pretty much all the turnovers are a result of heavy pressure on McCord. Both McCord and his receivers has an issue with consistency and drops, especially in key moments. Their weakest unit on defense is their d-line. BC gashed them for 313 rushing yards.
Gameplan Offense:
- Overload the Offensive Line with Stunts and Blitzes: As mentioned, their oline is a weakness which has a cascading effect on McCord's accuracy and efficiency. So rotate blitzes mixed with delayed rushes from linebackers, especially on third downs. Pitt did this to an extreme degree, causing 5 INTS, three of which were pick-6s.
- Tight Man Coverage on Pena: Syracuse depends heavily on short passes, so I’d use man coverage with press at the line to disrupt the timing of these short routes. Our defensive backs would play tight on Syracuse’s primary passing targets, forcing McCord to make tougher reads and more challenging downfield throws where he’s less effective.
- Vary Between Zone Blitzes and Drop-Back Zones: McCord seems to have trouble reading defenses (ask Ohio State fans). So we should mix up zone blitzes with standard zone coverages, especially on early downs. Zone blitzes would apply pressure while keeping coverage balanced, making it difficult for McCord to read the defense. Dropping a linebacker or two into coverage could bait him into forcing throws into crowded zones.
- Use a “Spy” Linebacker on passing downs: While McCord doesn't run much, he will on broken plays during passing downs. With the spy, our defense could remain aggressive, allowing our other linebackers and DBs to remain in tight coverage and/or focus on blitzing.
Gameplan Defense:
- Run, Run, Run: Like us, the fruit runs a 3-3-5 defense. Unlike us, our 3-3-5 defense holds their own against rush-heavy teams. Theirs do not. So we should mix up our outside rushes with inside zone runs, powers, and counters to exploit potential gaps.
- Play Action and RPOs: Syracuse really struggles with play-action. Against zone coverage, our QB should use play-action and RPO concepts to manipulate their linebackers out of their zone disciplines. By pulling the linebackers toward the line of scrimmage, we open up slants, crossing routes, and intermediate throws to WRs and TEs, allowing our receivers to work in open spaces.
- Going Deep: We have to stretch the field vertically, otherwise their DB unit will just cheat against the run and/or short throws. It's going to take some explosive plays to keep up with their offense. This is how our past few opponents have shut down our offense.
Predictions:
Watching Syracuse was like watching the UAB game with much better players. The fruit might be the best team we'll play all year, but still they have their flaws. There's a reason why they are middle of the pack of in the weakest P4 conference. I don't think we even need much luck to beat them. Just a good game plan by the coaches with solid execution by the players.
20-17 good guys.
One other thing:
We've come a long way guys. In past years, this was an auto-loss. In past years, UAB might have been an auto-loss. Regardless of the outcome of this game, I'm still incredibly happy with our progress and especially our first winning season in more than a decade.
