Welcome to the first installment of the "Know Thy Opponent" series. Over the next month, we here at BSD will be previewing each and every opponent that we face this year on the gridiron. First up we will take at the Syracuse Orange Offense. Tomorrow we will take a look at their defense.
Head Coach: Doug Marrone (12-13 in 2 seasons at his alma mater)
2010 Record: 8-5 (4-3 Big East)
Bowl Game: Inaugural Pinstripe Bowl (Won 36-34 over Kansas State)
Returning Starters: 12
Fun Fact- Went 0-4 against FBS teams at home last year, but went 5-1 on the road.
Click through the jump for all sorts of rankings and statistics about Syracuse's ofense.
2010 Team Statistics
| Syracuse | Opponents | |
|---|---|---|
| Scoring: Points/Game | 22.2 | 19.3 |
| Scoring: Games - Points | 13 - 288 | 13 - 251 |
| First Downs: Total | 225 | 218 |
| First Downs: Rushing - Passing - By Penalty | 101 - 108 - 16 | 101 - 95 - 22 |
| Rushing: Yards / Attempt | 4.07 | 3.63 |
| Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD | 448 - 1822 - 14 | 488 - 1770 - 14 |
| Passing: Rating | 123.96 | 113.79 |
| Passing: Yards | 2375 | 2134 |
| Passing: Attempts - Completions - Interceptions - TD | 364 - 205 - 8 - 19 | 368 - 208 - 9 - 15 |
| Total Offense: Yards / Play | 5.2 | 4.6 |
| Total Offense: Plays - Yards | 812 - 4197 | 856 - 3904 |
| Punt Returns: Yards / Return | 9.19 | 7.30 |
| Punt Returns: Returns - Yards - TD | 32 - 294 - 0 | 23 - 168 - 0 |
| Kickoff Returns: Yards / Return | 22.48 | 22.05 |
| Kickoff Returns: Returns - Yards - TD | 48 - 1079 - 0 | 59 - 1301 - 1 |
| Punting: Yards / Punt | 43.45 | 41.34 |
| Punting: Punts - Yards | 66 - 2868 | 68 - 2811 |
| Interceptions: Returns - Yards - TD | 9 - 211 - 0 | 8 - 125 - 1 |
| Fumbles: Number - Lost | 26 - 13 | 18 - 8 |
| Penalties: Number - Yards | 94 - 786 | 89 - 792 |
| Time of Possession / Game | 27:53.69 | 32:02.08 |
| 3rd Down Conversions: Conversion % | 38.29% | 39.32% |
| 3rd Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions | 175 - 67 | 206 - 81 |
| 4th Down Conversions: Conversion % | 30% | 55.56% |
| 4th Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions | 10 - 3 | 27 - 15 |
| Red Zone: Success % | 85.71% | 78.95% |
| Red Zone: Attempts - Scores | 42 - 36 | 38 - 30 |
| Field Goals: Success % | 94.7% | 66.7% |
| Field Goals: Attempts - Made | 19 - 18 | 18 - 12 |
| PAT Kicking: Success % | 93.8% | 96.7% |
| PAT Kicking: Attempts - Made | 32 - 30 | 30 - 29 |
| 2-Point Conversions: Success % | 0% | 0% |
| 2-Point Conversions: Attempts - Made | 2 - 0 | 1 - 0 |
| Date | Opponent | Result | Game Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/04/10 | @ Akron | W 29-3 | 3:00 | 15,969 |
| 09/11/10 | @ Washington | L 20-41 | 3:23 | 62,418 |
| 09/18/10 | Maine | W 38-14 | 3:16 | 37,758 |
| 09/25/10 | Colgate | W 42-7 | 2:48 | 38,068 |
| 10/09/10 | @ South Fla. | W 13-9 | 3:02 | 41,917 |
| 10/16/10 | Pittsburgh | L 14-45 | 3:21 | 40,168 |
| 10/23/10 | @ West Virginia | W 19-14 | 3:11 | 58,122 |
| 10/30/10 | @ Cincinnati | W 31-7 | 2:57 | 32,072 |
| 11/06/10 | Louisville | L 20-28 | 3:26 | 40,735 |
| 11/13/10 | @ Rutgers | W 13-10 | 3:14 | 49,911 |
| 11/20/10 | Connecticut | L 6-23 | 3:16 | 41,465 |
| 11/27/10 | Boston College | L 7-16 | 2:50 | 42,191 |
| 12/30/10 | + Kansas St. | W 36-34 | 3:16 | 38,274 |
| @ : Away, + : Neutral Site | ||||
| Split | Record |
|---|---|
| All Games | 8-5 |
| at Home | 2-4 |
| on Road/Neutral Site | 6-1 |
| vs. Conference | 4-3 |
| vs. Non-Conference | 4-2 |
| vs. Ranked (AP) | 0-0 |
| vs. Unranked (AP) | 8-5 |
| vs. FBS (I-A) | 6-5 |
| vs. FCS (I-AA) | 2-0 |
| vs. FBS Winning | 3-5 |
| vs. FBS Non-Winning | 3-0 |
| vs. BCS AQ | 5-5 |
| vs. BCS non-AQ | 1-0 |
| in August/September | 3-1 |
| in October | 3-1 |
| in November | 1-3 |
| in December/January | 1-0 |
Quick Recap:
- Syracuse was very, very good on defense last year, but they will reverse the roles this year and look to their offense to carry them this year.
- Their scoring offense ranked 93rd (22.2 ppg), and scoring defense ranked 17th (19.3 ppg).
Rushing Statistics
Name
Yr
Pos
G
Att
Yards
Avg.
TD
Att/G
Yards/G
1
Delone Carter
SR
RB
13
231
1233
5.34
9
17.77
94.85
2
Antwon Bailey
JR
RB
13
114
554
4.86
2
8.77
42.62
3
Prince-Tyson Gulley
FR
RB
10
13
74
5.69
1
1.30
7.40
4
Adam Harris
JR
LB
13
8
21
2.63
0
0.62
1.62
5
Dorian Graham
JR
DB
13
1
11
11.00
0
0.08
0.85
6
Robert Nieves
SR
RB
3
2
4
2.00
0
0.67
1.33
7
Alec Lemon
SO
WR
12
1
-2
-2.00
0
0.08
-0.17
8
Aaron Weaver
SR
WR
3
1
-7
-7.00
0
0.33
-2.33
9
Charley Loeb
SO
QB
5
1
-8
-8.00
0
0.20
-1.60
10
Team
13
10
-19
-1.90
0
0.77
-1.46
11
Ryan Nassib
JR
QB
13
66
-39
-0.59
1
5.08
-3.00
Total
13
448
1822
4.07
14
34.46
140.15
Opponents
13
488
1770
3.63
14
37.54
136.15
Recap:
- The Orange lose their top rusher in Delone Carter, who rushed for 1,233 yards (94.85 ypg) good enough for 3rd in the Big East.
- Whether or not Antwon Bailey can pick up where Carter left off will go a long way in determining how much better the Orange offense will be this year. The Orange relied heavily on the run last year with Carter.
- The Orange ranked 76th nationally in rushing offense last year at 140.15 ypg.
Passing Statistics
| Name | Yr | Pos | G | Att | Comp | Pct. | Yards | Yards/Att | TD | Int | Rating | Att/G | Yards/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Nassib | JR | QB | 13 | 358 | 202 | 56.4 | 2334 | 6.5 | 19 | 8 | 124.24 | 27.5 | 179.5 |
| 2 | Charley Loeb | SO | QB | 5 | 5 | 3 | 60.0 | 41 | 8.2 | 0 | 0 | 128.88 | 1.0 | 8.2 |
| 3 | Antwon Bailey | JR | RB | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Total | 13 | 364 | 205 | 56.3 | 2375 | 6.5 | 19 | 8 | 123.96 | 28.0 | 182.7 | |||
| Opponents | 13 | 368 | 208 | 56.5 | 2134 | 5.8 | 15 | 9 | 113.79 | 28.3 | 164.2 |
Recap:
- The good news is that Ryan Nassib returns for his 4th year at Syracuse. Nassib threw for 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions on the year, with 2,334 yards.
- 'Cuse ranked 91st in passing offense last year at 182.69. If the Orange plan to replicate their 8-5 record from last year, Nassib will have to be in form all year for the Orange.
| Name | Yr | Pos | G | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Rec./G | Yards/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Van Chew | JR | WR | 12 | 41 | 611 | 14.90 | 5 | 3.4 | 50.9 |
| 2 | Marcus Sales | JR | WR | 11 | 26 | 414 | 15.92 | 4 | 2.4 | 37.6 |
| 3 | Alec Lemon | SO | WR | 12 | 32 | 397 | 12.41 | 4 | 2.7 | 33.1 |
| 4 | Nick Provo | SR | TE | 13 | 33 | 365 | 11.06 | 1 | 2.5 | 28.1 |
| 5 | Antwon Bailey | JR | RB | 13 | 35 | 306 | 8.74 | 3 | 2.7 | 23.5 |
| 6 | Aaron Weaver | SR | WR | 3 | 6 | 88 | 14.67 | 1 | 2.0 | 29.3 |
| 7 | Jose Cruz | SR | TE | 13 | 13 | 78 | 6.00 | 1 | 1.0 | 6.0 |
| 8 | Delone Carter | SR | RB | 13 | 8 | 45 | 5.63 | 0 | 0.6 | 3.5 |
| 9 | Adam Harris | JR | LB | 13 | 4 | 36 | 9.00 | 0 | 0.3 | 2.8 |
| 10 | Beckett Wales | FR | TE | 10 | 4 | 31 | 7.75 | 0 | 0.4 | 3.1 |
| 11 | Prince-Tyson Gulley | FR | RB | 10 | 2 | 8 | 4.00 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| 12 | Ryan Nassib | JR | QB | 13 | 1 | -4 | -4.00 | 0 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| Total | 13 | 205 | 2375 | 11.59 | 19 | 15.8 | 182.7 | |||
| Opponents | 13 | 208 | 2134 | 10.26 | 15 | 16.0 | 164.2 |
Recap:
- The Orange return their top 5 receivers from last year, but none of them really jump out at you on the screen as a big time receiving threat. They all averaged between 20 and 50 ypg last year.
- Since it is the first game of the year, this will give our secondary a good chance to start off the year right against this mediocre receiving corps. If we continue to play 10 yards off the ball though, it may not matter because Nassib will tear us apart.
Overall Recap
It would appear that Syracuse has a lot of returning players on their offense, but that is not necessarily a good thing considering how mediocre they were last year. I would expect Ryan Nassib to have a pretty good year for them, and will definitely need to start off the year strongly as they figure out their rushing game. The receiving corps has to get better, and they should if they can live up to their names (see Van Chew and Marcus Sales). Doug Marrone stresses defense and a strong running game, so Antwon Bailey is going to have to step up and fill the hole that Delone Carter leaves.
I expect Syracuse to improve slightly from their offensive output last year, but that isn't saying much. There are a ton of questions about the Orange on offense right now, and few will be answered before the regular season gets underway. Unfortunately for Wake Forest, it is nearly impossible to tell how we will matchup because of how bad we were last year on defense. Time will tell.