The Dino Babers era of Syracuse Football is set to begin on Friday against Colgate at the Carrier Dome. Babers, who was hired as the new Orange football coach on December 5th, 2015, is looking to breathe new life into a football program that has struggled over the past few seasons.
Babers’ calling card is his up-tempo offense, which he implemented at past stops like Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois. Babers served as an assistant coach at Baylor under Art Briles, considered by many to be the standard for the up-tempo, spread offense.
The offense Babers is implementing is big on running a lot of plays. At his last stop, Bowling Green, Babers’ offense ran 83.7 plays per game, the seventh most in the country. Syracuse, by comparison, ranked 127th, the second lowest in the country, with 62 plays per game.
Babers is excited to get the season going, but admitted he doesn’t know what to expect from his team in their first game.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen,” Babers said. “We’ve never played a game together. It’s like the first time you take your family out to a family reunion. You think they’re going to act really good but you’re not quite sure until they get there. So, I have high hopes for what’s going to happen but we’re going to have to just wait and see.”
Sophomore Eric Dungy will be the quarterback for the Orange this season. Last year, Dungy not only used his arm, but his legs, to make things happen. While having a mobile QB is always a plus, Babers wants Dungy to run the offense out of the pocket.
SU vs. Colgate Friday @ 7 PM. Countdown to kickoff on WAER 88.3 @ 6:30
Dungy admitted the offense is almost unrecognizable compared to last years.
“Kind of like night and day. Dungy said. “Last year, you know, we were huddling. And now I don’t remember the last time we huddled was. So that kind of like sums it up right there.”
Defensively, the Orange are looking to play faster. The secondary for the Orange was a weak spot last year, as they allowed 271.8 yards-per-game, second worst in the ACC.
Defensive back Antwan Cordy says the secondary has made plenty of adjustments since last season.
“We playing fast,” Cordy said. “We learned the formations. We watching film and we already know what the opponents doing, so we got better at that. And really just recognizing things, and playing fast, and more coverage guys. We good at that now.”
As for Colgate, Babers knows they’ll be no pushover. They made the FCS final four last season, and return a boatload of starters on both sides of the ball.
You can listen to SU’s first football game of the season, and every other SU football game, on WAER FM 88.3. Kickoff is set for 7 PM, and you can catch all pre-game coverage at 6:30 PM.