Syracuse football: first down offense vs Colgate

On a day when the Syracuse Orange set a school record for total offense, it’s no surprise that the first down numbers are impressive.

As expected, Jason Beck used the first game to try and establish a rhythm in the passing game. The Orange stalled on the first drive so when they got the ball back, Beck dialed up two pass plays to Oronde Gadsden II and then Shrader hit Damien Alford for the easy score.

After going up by 20, Syracuse focused on LeQuint Allen and the ground game. Overall it was a balanced half and the Orange were putting themselves in good situations with only two incomplete passes in ten attempts.

In the second half, Shrader and Carlos Del-Rio Wilson got opportunities to throw the ball through the third quarter. The final quarter was all about the run and mostly featured freshman Ike Daniels. It’s too early to tell, but it feels like Beck isn’t opposed to throwing to set up the run instead of the opposite. Doing so makes it harder for defenses to double Gadsden because if you commit a safety to helping on him in the middle of the field, it takes a defender out of the box.

I get that this was just Colgate, a FCS opponent, but averaging over 6 yards on first down for the game is still impressive. We’ll see if the Orange can find similar success this weekend against Western Michigan.