It can be hard to find negatives from the performance Syracuse had yesterday vs Colgate. A 65-0 final score, 677 yards to 106. That all sounds pretty perfect. However, that’s exactly what the Orange were supposed to do. FBS teams win 86% of games against FCS teams. Most of those are in blowouts like this game. So, while the scoreline looks impressive, and it is, anything less than a dominating performance would have been a big cause for concern. Even then, there were some things that stood out that SU needs to improve upon if this team wants to compete in the ACC.
The biggest issue in the season opener was the offensive line. We knew that the offensive line may be an issue coming into the season. After the departure of Matthew Bergeron and two other starters, along with OL coach Mike Schmidt. Statistically, Syracuse only gave up one sack which looks great. Colgate did have 6.5 Tackles for Losses however which is a figure higher than you’d like to see. However, most of these issues won’t show up on a simple box score.
Penalties were an issue once again for the Orange. Specifically, Chris Bleich, one of the returning offensive linemen had two false starts in the game. While the issue wasn’t as big as it was last year, when SU was the most penalized team in the country, it is still something that you don’t want to see from this year’s team. Seven penalties were less than the Orange averaged last year but still would be in the bottom 30 in the country. Last year, SU averaged two more penalties at home than on the road.
Outside of the penalties, Garrett Shrader faced pressure on a multitude of occasions and Colgate at times got to the backfield without much of an issue. It is just game one of the season so there is time to improve. But, the o-line could severely limit SU this season.
