Syracuse football has another chance to become bowl-eligible on Saturday when it travels to Raleigh to take on No. 20 NC State. The Orange are coming off an embarrassing defensive performance against Louisville, especially in the pass game.
SU gave up four passing touchdowns to Cardinals quarterback Malik Cunningham, his most of the season and the most Syracuse has given up all year.
“Everybody’s responsibility. The defense has to have a better pass rush. The DBs need to have a better coverage. We need to have better opportunities to mix things up to have people guessing…you can’t pin it on one person,” Head Coach Dino Babers said.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. The defensive front had just one sack, the least it has recorded in a game since having none in the season opener against Ohio. The defensive backs couldn’t make up for it, as Cunningham had 11.6 yards per pass attempt, the most by any quarterback against SU since 2019.
It doesn’t get any easier for Syracuse this week, as it faces the Wolfpack’s Devin Leary. The redshirt sophomore was Rivals’ number eight quarterback prospect in the class of 2018 and participated in the Elite 11 competition alongside 2021 first round picks Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.
Leary started sparingly in 2019 and seemed to be emerging in 2020 before being sidelined halfway through the season by a broken leg. This year, however, he has taken the job and run with it. The signal caller has 2,883 passing yards and has thrown 29 touchdowns. Both marks rank within the top 15 of the entire FBS. Just as, and perhaps more, importantly, Leary hasn’t turned the ball over. He has just five interceptions and doesn’t have a fumble all year, or in his entire career.
With 29 TD passes this season, @DevinLeary1 is a finalist for the @GoldenArmAward 💪 !
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) November 18, 2021
🔗 https://t.co/UZIX00QqGe#1Pack1Goal | #HTT pic.twitter.com/2crMB1tKdO
“Protecting the football is the best way to win…All the other stats that are out there, that is the one that gives you the best opportunity to win games, and when your quarterback is doing what ours is from that standpoint, he’s giving us the best chance to win not just because of his arm or his accuracy, because he doesn’t help the other team,” NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren said.
A quarterback who takes care of the ball is a bad matchup for any team, but that is magnified against a Syracuse defense that does not get takeaways. The Orange have forced just five turnovers all year, the worst mark in the country.
Containing Leary will be key for the Orange on Saturday. Find out if they can do it on WAER’s HD3 channel on WAER.org. Countdown to Kickoff gets underway at 3:45 p.m. with game time set for 4:00.
That’s far from the only SU sports action on Saturday. The day starts with Syracuse women’s basketball taking on No. 23 South Florida in both team’s Battle 4 Atlantis opener. That can be heard on 88.3 starting with Countdown to Tipoff at 2 p.m. with game time from the Bahamas at 2:30.
Men’s basketball completes WAER’s unprecedented Saturday triple-header. Syracuse welcomes Colgate into the Dome at 5 p.m. Coverage on 88.3 starts right after the conclusion of the women’s game.