Initial Thoughts on Syracuse Football

We will have more in-depth articles on Syracuse football as we get closer to Saturday, but here is a quick snapshot of how Syracuse and Wake rank statistically so far this season. There are also some tidbits on the Cuse QB situation.

• Syracuse and Wake Forest rank second-to-last and last respectively in points per game at 21.3 and 15.7. The next closest is Boston College at 29.7 PPG.
• On the defensive side of things, Syracuse is 12th in the ACC in PPG at 26.7 PPG, while Wake Forest is 9th at 24.0.
• The Orange come in 5th in the ACC at running the football, averaging 190.83 YPG (5.20 yards per carry). Wake is obviously last in the conference (and probably NCAA) at 31 YPG.
• Senior running back Prince-Tyson Gulley (who has seemingly been at Syracuse for 10 years), is averaging 64 YPC rushing the ball. He averages only 11 carries per game, but with Hunt out I would guess that number to go up moving forward.
• Against Florida State, Syracuse played two quarterbacks after the Terrel Hunt was knocked out of the Louisville game with a broken leg. Sophomore Austin Wilson went 5/9 for 89 yards and an interception. Freshman A.J. Long went 16/27 with 2 TD's and 2 INT's. According to people that watched that game, Long is likely going to be the starter moving forward while Hunt is out. It will be interesting to see how he can fare against a Wake Forest defense that has been stout so far this season.
• Senior linebacker Cameron Lynch leads the Orange in tackles with 49, and ranks third in the conference with 5.5. sacks on the year.
• One thing to watch for is the time of possession battle. Wake Forest ranks 11th in the ACC at 27:25 per game, and Syracuse is 13th at 26:51 per game. If Wake can establish any kind of run game, winning the TOP would go quite a ways in winning this game.