Syracuse vs. Florida State: Depth chart stays exactly the same

The Syracuse Orange easily defeated the Wagner Seahawks this past week, and as per Dino Babers tradition, Monday means moving on and looking towards the next opponent.

Syracuse heads into a huge game this weekend versus the Florida State Seminoles with what appears to be the same starters as they rolled out for this past weekend's win over Wagner.

While this isn’t surprising, I do have a few random thoughts.

• Devin Butler is still listed as the starting wide receiver, backed up by true freshman Taj Harris. Butler had 4 catches for 37 yards, but saw the bench for a few stretches — especially in the second quarter when Harris entered the game and caught a touchdown pass for his first career reception. The staff seems to trust him enough, for now (or they just didn’t update the depth chart, as we’re sort of used to by now).
• Redshirt Freshman Sharod Johnson stays on the two deep behind Sean Riley, meaning Saturday’s leading receiver Nykeim Johnson stays off the two deep. I liked Johnson and would feel pretty confident that he’ll get on the field Saturday if Riley struggles early. Six catches and 54 yards should be a bounceback game for him, but he has been one of the most confusing ‘Cuse players to date.
• Finally, Andre Cisco is listed as the backup safety. After two interceptions in the first quarter of Saturday’s game, I really thought he would move up. Antwan Cordy is still the listed starter after only a solo tackle, and I refuse to give up the belief that ‘Cuse should employ the veteran as some kind of linebacker/safety hybrid. Cordy and Cisco are probably the two best non-linemen defensive players for the Orange, so keep them both on the field in some way.

Following up on that last point, this is the third straight game we’re set to come out in a base 4-3 after the 4-2-5 note from the summer. That makes sense in many ways, since Cam Akers is a talented running back and that should be a large part of Florida State’s offense. However, the ‘Noles also run an up-tempo spread-type system (even if it’s not fully formed yet) — something the 4-2-5 is designed to combat.

In any case, we’ll see how they look on Saturday.