Syracuse football: Orange dominate Colgate to open 2023 season

The Syracuse Orange season opened with some sloppy play, but then the team settled in and rolled to a 65-0 win over the Colgate Raiders.

It took a couple of possessions for Syracuse to take over as we all anticipated. LeQuint Allen got the Orange on the board with 3-yard run. Allen did the work with a 35-yard run on the drive, going off the right side to get the offense moving. A long D’Marcus Allen punt return set Syracuse up and they cashed in when Garrett Shrader found Damien Alford. Then, Jeremiah Wilson quickly made it a 20-0 game when he grabbed the interception and returned it to the house.

Shrader kept the chains moving with his legs then hit Isaiah Jones on a busted coverage play and it was 30-0. As Christian pointed out, it was noticeable on this drive that Shrader kept his head up while leaving the pocket. If he can make opponents pay when they assume he’s going to run, it’s going to cause more headaches for defensive coordinators.

Shrader found Gadsden to make it 37-0 but ended the half with a poor throw that resulted in an interception. Syracuse’s QB1 did end the half 14-20 for 179 yards and 3 touchdowns. Allen had 16 carries for 107 yards in the half while Gadsden had 6 receptions for 57 yards.

Syracuse brought out the starters to begin the 3rd quarter, but after Shrader hit Umari Hatcher to make it 44-0, it was time to empty the bench. Carlos Del-Rio Wilson came in and he managed to throw three TD’s, going 10-16 in the quarter. CDRW looked a lot more composed in the pocket and his most impressive play might have throwing the ball away when under pressure. On the receiving end of those TD throws were Jones, Kendall Long and Darrell Gill Jr.

At the end of the third quarter, Syracuse had extended the lead to 65-0 and they went deeper into the bench in the 4th and kept the clock moving with a lot of running plays while Braden Davis and Luke MacPhail shared snaps at QB.

Overall Syracuse amassed 677 yard of offense while holding Colgate to 106. Ike Daniels picked up 63 yards on 11 carries and the Orange put a lot of different players on the field on defense. As Dino mentioned during the broadcast, there are still starting positions up for grabs the next couple of weeks, so we’ll see if anything changes on the depth chart for Western Michigan.

I don’t think the starting OL looked great, but Syracuse was able to get the ball to numerous players in space and that’s encouraging. If teams want to bracket Gadsden all year, then these Orange receivers need to keep taking advantage of the room in front of them. We didn’t see a lot of Adams on offense but Jones, Alford, Hatcher and Donovan Brown give the Syracuse offense size and speed.

We’ll dive into this one deeper over the next few days, but for now it’s nice to sit back on a Saturday night at 1-0. Enjoy it Orange fans.