Second half thread: Syracuse 20, Colgate 7

The Dino Babers era has started just as advertised. The Syracuse Orange lead the Colgate Raiders, 20-7, but the score only tells a small portion of the story. SU’s offense is clearly fast, aggressive and effective, and scored on four of its five drives in the first half. They’ve held onto the ball for just 12 minutes, but have run 35 plays in that stretch.

Colgate started the scoring with a long, penalty-assisted drive ending with a touchdown pass from Jake Melville to Owen Rockett. From there, however, it was all Orange.

Eric Dungey threw a 43-yard touchdown to Amba Etta-Tawo six plays into the first drive, then the team settled for a field goal early in the second quarter. Just two minutes later, Moe Neal had an electrifying 49-yard touchdown run that should have everybody pretty thrilled about what we’ll get from him long-term. ‘Cuse tacked on another field goal with two and a half minutes to go to take a 20-7 lead. Their first punt didn’t come until the final seconds of the first half.

Syracuse has 273 offensive yards, including 192 passing. Dungey is 17-for-19 so far, with a passer rating over 200. Ervin Philips has caught eight passes for 64 yards, while Etta-Tawo has six for 108. Neal has been the only effective runner so far, gaining 50 yards on three carries (though 49 of those came on the aforementioned touchdown).

After a strong start, the Raiders offense has struggled a bit, though they are able to move the ball. It’s clear, however that the defense simply isn’t ready for the speed Syracuse brings to the table. On several Dungey throws, coverage was nowhere to be seen as they quickly tried to get into position defending the hurry-up.

Fun second half to come. Let’s finish this out strong, Orange!