Let’s go bowling, Fizz Nation. Get ready to book those Florida vacations! (Hopefully we’re shooting a little higher than Pinstripe Bowl this year). No. 18 Syracuse is 6-0 for the first time since 1987 with a 24-9 win over No. 15 NC State, and if the Orange beat Clemson next week, they’ll be clear atop the ACC Atlantic. Before the season began, this team had a 30% chance to make a bowl, and 150-to-1 odds to win the conference. The two-year turnaround Dino Babers has executed is remarkable. Alright, enough gushing. We’ve probably all been doing it for the past 18 hours (unless you’re a Yankees fan). Time to get to the meat and potatoes, the stock market.
Stock Up
Sean Tucker
This was the typical Tucker day SU fans had been looking for against Purdue or Virginia. Fourteen carries, 98 yards and a score. That’s seven yards per pop, with a long of 38. Syracuse’s passing game was functional, but not always reliable. The O-line got very solid push, even against a unit that had done well against other ACC teams in the run game and had good tackling linebackers. Tucker passed Floyd Little (2,704) for sixth-all time on SU’s career rushing record list Tucker’s already had fantastic games against Clemson (157 yards in 2021) and one next Saturday would put him right back in the race for the Walter Payton award.
Derek McDonald
You’d have to play where’s Waldo to find McDonald for the past couple of weeks against Virginia and Wagner. If you found the redshirt freshman, he was on the sideline in street clothes. SU Athletics never announced a reason for McDonald missing games, but he came back in a big way, posting a career-high nine tackles. McDonald’s presence will be huge if Mikel Jones and Marlowe Wax continue to get banged up game after game.
Jatius Geer
We’ve heard it over and over again. Undersized, young, no depth. The tropes about the SU defensive line were constant. However, Geer picked up two sacks in the biggest moments of the game. After a couple of rough moments (mainly penalties) in the early going, the redshirt freshman is beginning to mature and develop. D-Line coach Chris Achuff and Tony White have made the most out of this group.
Dino Babers Impressions
Stock Down
Courtney Jackson
Saturday was Jackson’s first game without a reception since last season, against NC State. But let’s not act like these are the same scenarios. Last year, Jackson was the number one option from a wideout group that had nothing going its way down the stretch. This year, the redshirt junior is the number two or even number three choice for Garrett Shrader, and still is barely a factor. Jackson isn’t seeing the other team’s best cover guy, or any sort of coverage that rotates his way anymore. He has to be a factor next against the best DBs the Orange will face all year.
Shrader’s Decision-Making
Look, you could’ve put Luke MacPhail on the field against Wagner and he would’ve completed over 60% of his passes. Let’s be straight for a second – some of Shrader’s passes, both against Virginia and now NC State, have blinders on them. There are times the ‘Cuse QB will target one thing from the get-go, and never get his eyes off of it, leading to ill-advised decisions, and the four picks we’ve seen over the past two ACC games. Usually it’s option one, option two, run for Shrader, but when option one becomes too enticing pre-snap, things like this happen. A complicated Clemson defense will test his decision-making.
