FanPost

Bye Week Magic

Since Scott Shafer became defensive coordinator in 2009, Syracuse has done quite well following bye weeks. Some of these have come against pretty good opponents, with pretty good offenses. Here are the results:

  • 2009 home vs. Akron - W, 28-14 (Akron averaged 28.8 PPG that season)
  • 2010 at USF - W, 13-9 (USF averaged 24.1 PPG that season)
  • 2010 vs. K-State at Pinstripe Bowl - W, 35-34 (K-State averaged 33.6 PPG that season)
  • 2011 home vs. WVU - W, 49-23 (WVU averaged 37.6 PPG that season)
  • 2011 home vs. Cincinnati - L, 13-30 (Cincy averaged 33.3 PPG that season)
  • 2012 home vs. Pitt - W, 14-13 (Pitt averaged 26.6 PPG that season)
  • 2012 vs. WVU at Pinstripe Bowl - W, 38-14 (WVU averaged 39.5 PPG that season)
So SU is 6-1 in a week following a bye. They also held opponents to 19.6 PPG (inflated by the Cincinnati loss and K-State surprise shootout). They held opponents to 14 or fewer points in four of the seven games.

Syracuse also held opponents to an average of 12.4 PPG BELOW their season average. Unfortunately for this week though, Clemson is averaging 42 PPG so we probably still need to crack 30 to beat them no matter what.

Do with this what you will ...