Syracuse struggled in the first half, but came out firing on all cylinders in the second half to overpower Army, 29-16.

Here are six quick hits from the win.

Whatever the halftime adjustments were for the Syracuse defense, they flipped the game around.

Army’s yards per play by down in the first half:

• 1st – 14 plays for 48 yards, average of 3.4

• 2nd – 13 plays for 43 yards, average of 3.3

• 3rd – 11 plays for 48 yards, average of 4.4

• 4th – 3 plays for 10 yards, average of 3.3

Army’s yards per play by down on the first five possessions of the second half:

• 1st – 6 plays for -7 yards, average of -1.2

• 2nd – 5 plays for 3 yards, average of 0.6 (and an interception)

• 3rd – 4 plays for 0 yards, average of 0.0

• 4th – 1 play for 0 yards, average of 0.0

That is a total of 16 plays for -4 yards.

The Orange offense, meanwhile, shifted to a pass-first attack following their first second half possession to find success. In their first five possessions, SU had 11 runs for 40 yards and one first down while 14 pass plays netted 54 yards and three first downs with an interception.

On their next three possessions, 10 runs were converted into 73 yards and four first downs while 12 passes rolled up 131 yards and seven first downs. After two passes picked up 50 yards, the Army defense faltered and the next four Syracuse runs were for gains of 13 (touchdown), 5, 26, and 15 yards.

Why did the Orange need to make those halftime adjustments? Army’s first half scoring drives lasted 17 and 19 plays. Syracuse had 17 plays in the entire first half.

There is a new top receiving threat for the Orange. In the last two weeks, Damien Alford has led the team in receptions and yards in both games, amassing 13 catches for 205 yards. At 6’6” and 210 pounds, Alford’s size and reach make him a mismatch against pretty much everyone and it is up to the coaching staff to utilize him that way going forward.

Army came into the game converting 40 percent of their third downs and all six of their fourth down attempts against FBS opponents. SU held them to 6-of-17 on third down and 3-of-4 on fourth down.

A more impressive split is that Army was 5-of-9 on third and 3-of-3 on fourth on two scoring drives and 1-of-8 on third and 0-of-1 on fourth on all other possessions.

D’Marcus Adams had an adventure making a fair catch following Army’s second possession, leading to Trebor Pena making his season debut on the Black Knights’ next punt. Adams would later appear as punt returner, as the duo would split the responsibilities for the rest of the game.

Syracuse will have their second straight early kickoff at home next Saturday when they host Clemson (2-2, 0-2 ACC) in their conference opener (12:00pm Eastern, ABC). The Tigers dropped an overtime decision at home to #4 Florida State, 31-24. Clemson never trailed in the game until giving up the eventual losing score on the second play of the extra session.

The Tigers, who ran for 174 second half yards in erasing SU’s 21-10 fourth quarter lead en route to a 27-21 win last season, are averaging 199 yards on the ground this season with Cade Klubnik averaging 244 more through the air. The Clemson defense is very stingy to opponent ground games, giving up 79 rushing yards per outing and just over 2.7 yards per rush on the season.

The Orange are 1-9 against the Tigers since joining the ACC, including dropping the last five in the series, but three of those last five have had a margin of six points or fewer.

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