Syracuse football (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) faces a familiar foe when it hosts Western Michigan (1-0, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) on Saturday. In 2022, SU faced WMU’s first-year head coach Lance Taylor when he was the offensive coordinator at Louisville. The Orange took down Taylor and the Cardinals 31-7 last September.
In the loss, Louisville ran for 134 rushing yards and its only touchdown. However, the Cardinals built on that performance throughout the rest of 2022. By season’s end, Taylor’s offense rushed for 2,613 yards - the second most in the ACC.
In 2023, Taylor brings his ground game scheme to Kalamazoo. In week 1 against St. Francis (PA), Western Michigan rushed for 339 yards and four touchdowns.
Despite Syracuse’s past battles with Taylor and first-hand observations of his scheme, head coach Dino Babers said it’s more important to study the personnel rather than the scheme.
“You have to look at [the Louisville game], but I think more than the X’s and O’s it’s the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s,” Babers said. “Good coaches adjust their offenses to what they have, [and] I consider [Taylor] a good coach.
The Western Michigan backfield consists of a three-headed monster. Redshirt freshman Jalen Buckley steamrolled his way to a career-high 194 yards in the Broncos’ win last week. Junior Zahir Abdus-Salaam also racked up a respectable 73 yards. Both tailbacks rushed for a touchdown each, along with Virginia Tech Keshawn King. In nine games with the Hokies in 2022, the now-redshirt senior led VA. Tech in rushing yards.
After Western Michigan’s week 1 win, Taylor said the backfield makes the heartbeat for this offense.
“They were running with a mentality and chip on their shoulder,” Taylor said. “It takes some pressure off our pass game and opens up other things we want to do offensively.”
Against Colgate last week, Syracuse’s defense allowed a measly 54 rushing yards. Despite the blowout win, Babers said he was proud of how the Orange defense kept pressuring the Raiders offense for 60 minutes.
“To take the challenge of playing well regardless of what the score is, then to have backups come in… this team has a lot of fight,” Babers said.
Syracuse can turn its pressure up another notch on Saturday against Western Michigan at 3:30. WAER’s coverage begins at 3 with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Kickoff.