In case you were brushing off concerns all week about Syracuse Orange quarterback Eric Dungey’s health, well... today’s injury report should snap you right back to reality.
Probable
DL Jake Pickard
Questionable
QB Eric Dungey
Out
DL Josh Black
OL Patrick Davis
OL Liam O’Sullivan
On his radio show today, head coach Dino Babers said, "He's getting better every day. We hope that we can play him... My thing with Eric is, if he's able to protect himself, let's go, let's rock and roll."
So in some ways, that sounds like there’s a decent shot we’ll see Dungey. But on the other hand, the guy’s been under fire for weeks now and the hits he took against Miami and Florida State really seemed to do a number on him. That didn’t stop the junior from carrying the team on his back and running for key first downs despite a bad leg, of course. But the pain does catch up after awhile.
We’ll try to stay optimistic, but if Dungey can’t go, it’ll be Zack Mahoney getting the ball in all likelihood. While Rex Culpepper may be a more dynamic passer, he aso has far less game experience than his senior counterpart. I wouldn’t bank on us winning any of the last three without Dungey -- starting with this game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday.
However, if he does play, SU has do protect him better than they have of late. Any blitzer is going to be going for that injured leg, which puts in him jeopardy on nearly every snap.
Again, fingers crossed. But we’re probably going to be sweating out word on this until Saturday afternoon.