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One of the biggest complaints about the Syracuse Orange offense last season was that it lacked explosive plays.
Through two weeks of the 2023 season, Syracuse has looked far more dangerous in the passing game. Garrett Shrader’s passing wasn’t as accurate on Saturday but he went 7-14 on 1st downs in the 1st half and it led to 174 yards through the air. Three of those seven completions went for more than 30 yards and if teams are going to continue to sell out and stop the run on early downs, it looks like Jason Beck is happy to throw over the top.
First Down offense vs WMU
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Price) | 2 |
| Run (Shrader) | 9 | Run (Price) | 0 |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Price) | -2 |
| Pass (Brown) | -1 | Pass (Hatcher) | 9 |
| Pass (Jones) | 4 | Run (Price) | 1 |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Price) | -1 |
| Pass (Jones) | 30 | Pass (Gill) | 13 |
| Run (Allen) | 1 TD | Run (Price) | 3 |
| Pass (Brown) | 86 TD | Run (Del-Rio Wilson) | 3 |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Daniels) | 3 |
| Pass (Gill) | 3 | Run (Daniels) | 2 |
| Run (Allen) | -1 | Kneel down | 0 |
| Run (Allen) | 1 | ||
| Pass (Hatcher) | 48 | ||
| Run (Shrader) | 4 | ||
| Run (Allen) | 1 TD | ||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | ||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | ||
| Run (Price) | 7 | ||
| Run (Price) | 4 | ||
| Pass (Brown) | 4 | ||
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | ||
| Run (Allen) | 2 TD | ||
| 1st Half | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 9 | 28 | 3.1 |
| Pass | 14 | 174 | 12.4 |
| Total | 23 | 202 | 8.8 |
| 2nd Half | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 10 | 11 | 1.1 |
| Pass | 2 | 22 | 11 |
| Total | 12 | 33 | 2.75 |
| Game Total | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 19 | 39 | 2.1 |
| Pass | 16 | 196 | 12.3 |
| Total | 35 | 235 | 6.7 |
There was nothing to write about from that second half, but with a 40-point lead, keeping things super-ultra vanilla isn’t the worst thing. Both Shrader and LeQuint Allen spent the half on the sidelines and after two weeks, the Orange have been able to get some young players valuable reps.
Obviously the Oronde Gadsden injury is something everyone is worried about, but we’ve seen Isaiah Jones, Umari Hatcher, and Donovan Brown make big plays. Can they keep it up on the road against a Big Ten opponent? Will we see Allen used in the passing game this week?
A lot to look for, but a lot so far to be excited about with Shrader running Beck’s version of the tempo offense.
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