AJ Long’s picture perfect start to his college career came crashing down to earth with one quick play.
It was Syracuse’s first offensive play in Death Valley. The freshman quarterback dropped back to pass and Clemson’s defensive pressure rushed in, as expected, and engulfed the pocket. Tigers’ linebacker Stephone Anthony dropped Long for a sack.
“He didn’t play very well,” offensive coordinator Tim Lester said. “He played like a freshman and made a lot of mistakes. He has to take care of the ball better.”
Long held his own against Florida State and then stomped Wake Forest in his first career start. But the offense sputtered last week, in a performance Long called “pitiful”. He acknowledged that he’ll need to play much better when the Orange (3-5, 1-3 ACC) hosts the NC State Wolfpack (4-4, 0-4 ACC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Syracuse continued to be ineffective on offense, a trend that started after beating Central Michigan. Since then, only once in six games has the Orange scored more than 20 points. That came against the Demon Deacons when the SU defense scored two of the team’s three touchdowns.
But Syracuse hit a new low against Clemson. The Orange managed to get only 170 yards, its lowest total since 2008. Not once during the game did Syracuse enter the red zone. But head coach Scott Shafer said it was a good learning experience for his freshman quarterback.
“I think quarterbacks show their greatest improvement after a difficult game,” Shafer said. “You learn more from difficult situations than you do from the easy ones, just like in real life, in my opinion. So I’m looking forward to seeing how AJ comes out and plays.”
It was a major fall from grace from Long's first two appearances – a strong showing against the Seminoles followed by an accurate performance against the Demon Deacons. Against Clemson, he went just 12-27 for 82 yards and two interceptions. Even though the Orange only lost 16-6 to the Tigers, Long said there isn’t any time for moral victories. After all, his Orange only has one actual victory in the past two months. Now, Syracuse has to win three of its last four games to become bowl eligible.
“At the end of the day, no fan wants a moral victory,” Long said. “No player on this team wants a moral victory. You want to win games. You want to see Ws in that column.”
But he’ll have a much easier task against a porous NC State defense, that’s given up at least 30 points in its last four games. And he’s going up against an opposing offense that’s had some scoring problems of its own. It’s been a tale of two seasons for Dave Doeren, who’s still searching for his first conference win. The Wolfpack started 4-0 and had one stretch when they scored at least 40 points for four straight weeks. But in their last three losses, they’ve scored 18 points or fewer in each game.
One bright spot, however, has been dual-threat quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a transfer from Florida. He’s third in the ACC with 16 touchdown passes, causing Shafer to make some lofty comparisons in his mid-week press conference.
“I think before he finishes his career in the ACC, he’ll be one of the better quarterbacks,” Shafer said. “Just my opinion. He reminds me of Ben Roethlisberger and I coached against Big Ben when I was in Mid-American Conference when I was a little bit younger.”
What to Watch For
- Can AJ Long improve his ability at handling pressure? - He struggled against the Clemson front seven and predicted that the Wolfpack will blitz him often, as well. “They’re going to bring pressure at times when you least expect it,” Long said. “They can bring corner blitzes. They can bring a safety. They’re going to do whatever it takes to win games on defense.”
- Stacking the Box – With Long shut down, the Tigers defense was able to focus on stopping Syracuse’s run game. The Orange only averaged 2.6 yards per carry, one of the worst outputs of the season. Long said he needs to play better to take the spotlight off his backs. “The running backs so far have been the biggest contributors beside Cole (Murphy),” he said. ‘They’ve really been doing everything they possibly can do to help us win and move the ball. To ask them to do more is like breaking the camel’s back."
- Injury Bug – The Orange won’t have two key receiving weapons again this week. Ashton Broyld and Brisly Estime are both out with lower-body injuries. On the offensive line, right tackle Ivan Foy won’t play while left guard Rob Trudo is listed as questionable and right guard Nick Robinson is doubtful.
News and Notes
- The Orange have four players – Prince-Tyson Gulley, Terrel Hunt, Devante McFarlane and Adonis Ameem-Moore – who have had a 100-yard rushing game this season. That’s the most for Syracuse since 1980.
- Syracuse is the only team in the FBS in the top 10 in fumbles recovered (t-4th) and top ten for fewest fumbles lost (t-7th)