It may not seem like it based on the “Rickie! Rickie!” chants during Syracuse’s home opener against UConn, but quarterback Steve Angeli has brushed off the noise and culminated himself into the nation’s leading passer through the first three weeks of SU football.
Angeli has thrown for 1,072 yards and tossed eight touchdown passes thus far. This comes albeit two interceptions for SU.
The crazy timing comes with the fact that Kyle McCord ended last year as the NCAA leading passer, and Angeli has surpassed his numbers through the first three weeks between the two from last year to this year.
In the first loss of the season against then-24th-ranked Tennessee in the season-opening Aflac Kickoff Game, Angeli threw for 274 yards and a touchdown along with an interception. To his credit, SU’s offensive line didn’t help one bit as he was sacked five times.
But the O-line has stepped up in recent weeks, given the fact that some of the backups have been playing more and some are recovering from injury.
The O-line let up three sacks against UConn, and then followed up in the second game in the Dome with zero sacks, granted it was Colgate.
In many eyes, the success from Angeli comes from the direct success from the offensive line. And the numbers would agree.
Each week that Angeli has been sacked less, he has seen an uptick in either passing yards or touchdowns.
All of this can be said and the argument can be made that Angeli has only faced one ranked opponent so far: Tennessee. However, Angeli can continue to build on his impressive start to the season in Death Valley against Clemson this weekend.
The Tigers are just 1-2 on the young season, but have basically put themselves in a position to win in all three games. They suffered a tough loss to begin the year against LSU and then followed that up with a heartbreaking game-winning kick from Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Dabo Sweeney and Fran Brown square off for the first time Saturday at noon in Memorial Stadium.
