Syracuse Football: Breaking Down Offensive Play-Calling vs. Maryland

When your offense manages to amass 589 yards in a game, something HAD TO have gone right. Right? Well yeah, in terms of productive plays... Syracuse actually had a bunch on Saturday. But they also had plenty of stalled-out drives, plays for negative yardage and questionable plays as well. Did you find this game to be painful the first time around? Sorry in advance. It's worse the second time.

You were warned. Onto this week's breakdown:

First Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 15 runs, 12 passes

So many plays! Nearly four full drives in the first quarter shows you just how fast this team wants to play -- plus how poorly the SU defense played against Maryland early on, too. Each drive shows off an ability to pick up big chunks of yards all at once, and when drive two starts to rely too heavily on the pass, that's when it falls apart. The Orange were getting into Terps' territory on each drive, which was a positive, but you also see the patterns that end up bogging this offense down. That opposing 30-yard line functioned like a brick wall, which (as you know) ended up being a theme of the afternoon.

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Second Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 12 passes, 10 runs

Again, Syracuse leans too much on the pass (see called plays on drives five and six), and the results are an inability to get the ball past midfield -- among the only times that happens all day. Since we watched the game along with tracking these plays, we also know the full story of what went on, too. Terrel Hunt began firing over receivers' heads, successful runs would beget unsuccessful runs and (clearly, from above) the Orange decided that penalties were the order of the day. There are few things you'll look at that are more maddening than drive eight. I've rarely, if ever, seen a team knock on the door and come up short the way SU did on Saturday.

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Third Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 9 runs, 7 passes

Pace slows considerably here, as evidenced by the longer time between snaps and fewer overall plays compared to the previous two quarters. I won't make a claim here that Shafer's decision-making and play-calling was indicative of giving up here (since the general feeling from the comments seems to hate that concept), but were can certainly call out a lack of necessary aggression. And it's not to take away from runs working well either -- which they did. But the passes that were thrown here were largely counter-intuitive toward getting back into it, in my opinion.

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Fourth Quarter

Play-Call Breakdown: 7 runs, 7 passes

You can largely toss out the results from that final drive, since they were against Maryland's second-team defense. And while it did end poorly, drive 12 can't be faulted for emphasizing the pass, as the team was down 18 still and needed to pick up more yardage. Unfortunately, the Terps were able to cover SU downfield pretty well, which led to more Hunt scrambles than actual deep throws. As nice as it was for the Orange to hit the 20-point mark in this sad display, it almost added insult to injury, reminding you of what could have/should have been.

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• Overall play-calling breakdown: 41 called runs vs. 38 called passes
• First half play-calling: 25 runs vs. 24 passes (16:14 in second half)
• First downs: 26 total (17 running, 8 passing, 1 penalty)
  
• First down play selection: 26 called runs, 13 called passes (21:14 last week)
  
• First down play selection on subsequent sets of downs: 19 called runs, 7 called passes (17:8 last week)
  
• First down plays for five or more yards: 18 (!!!)
• Second down play selection: 14 called passes, 10 called runs (12:15 last week)
  
• Third down play selection: 9 called passes, 5 called runs (11:4 last week)
  
• Third down conversion: 4-for-14 (2 runs, 2 passes) -- all in first quarter
  
• 37 of Syracuse's 79 play calls (47 percent) took place in Maryland territory; just 10 of those were in the second half and last week, that number was 65 percent
  
• Just six "screen" passes, though they went for a total of just 18 yards (16 of which on one throw)
  
• Hunt threw out of play-action just three times (16 last week), so if you're looking for why his throwing was off against the Terps, perhaps start here
• Showing this team DOES have some big-play ability, 24 plays went for at least 10 yards from scrimmage... which will only serve to frustrate you more now

Like I said earlier, not going to accuse this team of "quitting," but a quick look at play-calling in the second half shows a real lack of imagination or aggression. Would also like to point out the figure on play-action, which is incredibly frustrating following the CMU game where it worked like gangbusters. Against the Chippewas, play-action kept the defense honest and helped open up the outside a bit in the passing game. Here, Hunt and the other backs had a field day with the lanes they were given inside, but Maryland had receivers blanketed in the flat. Some play-action could have helped clear that up a little bit.

Once again, Syracuse ran most of its offense out of a single-back set (usually offset with Hunt in shotgun). This works for the read-option and was well-utilized in delayed handoffs. But the back they have in there usually telegraphs the play, unfortunately. Ameen-Moore is not passing down personnel, while Gulley is a typical first-down runner. Not completely transparent, but some food for thought if we're going to figure out better ways to use these backs in various formations.

And like the rest of you, I just can't get over the numbers this team put up on offense while only managing 20 points (seven of which in garbage time). Offensively, that's unforgivable and shows a definite need for a change in philosophy. Syracuse made it to Maryland territory on 10 of 14 drives, yet ended up past the 20-yard line just three times. Settling for field goals and allowing the offense to get completely bogged down is a no-win strategy, and this game should be exhibit A as to why. Once SU gets to around the opposing 30, everything else is thrown out but dives and bubble screens, and that's where things stall. Especially with a very iffy field goal unit, we simply can't allow that to happen anymore.