Execution dooms Orange

As the final buzzer went off this afternoon, Dino Babers and his Syracuse Orange lost their third game of the season. How they lost was not a surprise as it looked to be the same way they lost their other games this season. Big play after big play and not being able to capitalize on the mistakes of the opposition.

Here is a look at CuseConfidential.com’s five impact factors and how Syracuse played in regards to them.

The Run Game:

As it stands after game five Syracuse has no real run game to speak of and today was just another example of that. This afternoon Syracuse ran the ball 37 times for a total of 126 yards. If you take away Orange quarterback Eric Dungey Syracuse totaled just 77 yards. The Orange signal-caller did have designed runs, but almost half of those runs if not more seemed to be him calling his own number.

Any team in the FBS is going to have a hard time winning a game when their quarterback is the leading rusher on that day.

Going forward the Orange need to improve their run game if the plan to have sustained drives and improvement. One fix might not be far away as last season’s leading rusher; Jordan Fredericks is on the sideline and not giving the chance to play regularly. An experienced running back that in the past has shown the ability to make runs between the tackles.

Still as the season progresses the ground game will be something to watch.

First Down Defense:

This was on display the first play of the game as Notre Dame connected for a huge pass of 79 yards that resulted in a touchdown. That was the worst play given up on first down, but the rest of the game was not that great. As a team the Fighting Irish totaled 654 yards, 356 of those yards came on first down. As if that was not bad it gets worse because if you grab your handy dandy calculator you can see that is an average of just over ten yards. It is hard to get stops on defense when you are giving up first down after first down.

Syracuse had no answer for Notre Dame’s defense today, but what is crazy is that the Orange made enough plays to stick around in the game. That stems from Notre Dame not being able to hammer down the game.

Red Zone Offense:

This might not be as red zone specific as CuseConfidential indicated yesterday, but more execution based. Syracuse left a nearly game changing eight points on the field because of poor execution. To start the Orange had an extra point blocked, a turnover on downs from inside the 15 yard line, a fumbled snap on an extra point, and a missed field goal. Nothing in sports is guaranteed, but if your team executed well the game could have been closer at the end and it could have impacted the game.

It is always fun to play the “what if game”, but imagine if Syracuse executed on those mistakes. If you are playing along at home then you can see that when Syracuse scored at the 6:52 mark in the fourth quarter the game could have been Notre Dame 48-Syracuse 41. That last six minutes and change could have been different if the Orange were able to execute.

Can Syracuse Pressure Notre Dame:

Did Syracuse get two sacks in the game this afternoon? The answer, yes. They also say every now and then a blind squirrel finds a nut. DeShone Kizer had all day to pass because there was no pressure at all. There is really no need to talk about this situation anymore. The Orange defensive line needs help.

Feed The Beast:

Again at the end of the game and you look at the box score and Amba Etta-Tawo has huge numbers. With his big game it led to other players being able to make plays, Ervin Philips had a solid game and last season’s leading receiver Steve Ishmael had his best game of the season. As the season goes on look for receivers not just Etta-Tawo to have big days.