North Carolina
Syracuse football: first down offense vs North Carolina
The Syracuse Orange offense only mustered seven points on Saturday so it’s expected that once again they struggled on first downs. Let’s see how bad it actually was…
Early on Syracuse came out looking to establish the run and the first offensive play was encouraging. Unfortunately it went all downhill after that LeQuint Allen run. The Orange were chasing the scoreboard all afternoon and the offense did nothing in the first half to throw the defense a life preserver.
First down offense vs UNC
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards |
| Run (Allen) | 9 | Pass (Allen) | 1 |
| Run (Shrader) | 4 | Pass (Hatcher) | 13 |
| Run (Allen) | -2 | Run (Allen) | 4 |
| Run (Allen) | 0 | Run (Allen) | 5 |
| Pass (Villari) | 6 | Run (Allen) | 2 |
| Run (Shrader) | 2 | Run (Shrader) | 1 |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Pass (Hatcher) | 5 |
| Kneel | 0 | Run (Price) | 4 |
| Run (Allen) | 7 | ||
| Run (Villari) | 1 | ||
| Pass (Brown) | 5 | ||
| Pass (Interception) | 0 | ||
| Run (Price) | 2 | ||
| 1st Half | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 5 | 13 | 2.6 |
| Pass | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Total | 7 | 19 | 2.7 |
| 2nd Half | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 8 | 26 | 3.25 |
| Pass | 5 | 24 | 4.8 |
| Total | 13 | 50 | 3.8 |
| Game Total | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 13 | 39 | 3 |
| Pass | 7 | 30 | 4.3 |
| Total | 20 | 69 | 3.45 |
The second half offered one bright spot as the Orange came out of the locker room and drove down the field to score. It featured a couple of nice first down plays and a critical 3rd down conversion. Unfortunately, the Syracuse offense couldn’t keep things going and the next possession ended with a false start on 4th and 1 followed by a cowardly punt.
We went from one week where Syracuse tried to throw early to one where Syracuse tried to run early. Neither worked and you wonder where the Orange will go to turn things around. Syracuse has tried a couple of wrinkles with Dan Villari, is there a plan to get the ball in D’Marcus Adams’ hands outside of returns? What about JUCO transfer Deston Hawkins or freshman David Clement?
It’s likely we’ll need to wait for the games after the bye to see some dramatic changes in the offense, but if Syracuse has any upset hopes this week it’s probably going to have to score 30+ to do so.