Syracuse football is really trending in the wrong direction. The Orange stand at 6-3, and after three straight losses, this team is really dragging through the mud. Without a starting QB or a competent D-line, this crew is Pinstripe Bowl-bound. However, Pitt’s slog of an offense and Kedon Slovis’ incompetency kept this game close.
Stock Up
Marlowe Wax
Wax has had a tough couple of weeks, committing a couple of penalties and picking up small knocks during the run of play, but he responded well against Pitt. The sophomore had a career high 14 tackles, flying from sideline to sideline and trying his best to stop the run, which the Panthers went to over and over again.
Stock Down
The O-Line
The Orange allowed six sacks, and the offensive front was a sieve for the entire day. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson needs time to throw (he can’t scramble like Garrett Shrader), and he was not awarded that luxury. Every year, Pitt’s D-line has NFL-caliber players, and 2022 is no different, but SU has to change strategies to avoid putting CDRW in jeopardy.
Play-Calling
Again, with a backup quarterback, there’s only so much you can do, but Robert Anae’s first five weeks of reinventing the wheel with the SU offense seem to have stalled out. Oronde Gadsden needs the ball in some way, shape, or form. It doesn’t matter if he’s double-covered every play. And if he is, there needs to be other ways to get receivers open besides running them one-on-one against corners who are better than them. Route combinations! Easy throws over the middle. Eight complete passes is not enough.
Sean Tucker
What in the world is going on?? 10 carries, 19 yards?! The lowest output of his career? Besides the o-line play falling off the face of the earth last weekend, there’s no understandable reason for Tucker’s lack of usage. This was a one score game in the second half, and Tucker only carried the ball twice. #34 needs to be used, and it can’t be as a secondary option.
