Photo by: Charles Wainwright
Sunday Sidebar: Strickland Breaks Out
9/18/2016 2:52:00 PM | Football
Running back Dontae Strickland logged 30 carries for 127 yards versus USF
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Orange head coach Dino Babers and Co. relied on the ground game more against USF yesterday than they did in the first two games of 2016. The result was a season-high 199 rushing yards and the first career 100-yard game for running back Dontae Strickland.
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Strickland racked up 127 yards on a career-best 30 carries. To put those numbers in perspective, he ran the ball a total of 38 times for 129 yards in his previous 14 career games. The sophomore got involved early against the Bulls, toting the rock eight times for 36 yards on the game's opening drive, and tallying 15 carries for 75 yards in the first quarter.
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"They were taking certain things away, and it became Strickland's day," Babers said. "Something we tell all of our personnel is you never know when your day is going to be. The defense decides we can do certain things and make sure certain guys get the ball on certain plays. For the most part, for the offense to flow you have to have weapons all across the board. That's when it really gets to be good because it doesn't matter what they take away you've always got a weapon somewhere else."
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For his part, Strickland was quick to tout the performance of Syracuse's offensive line for its work against the Bulls.
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"I give all the credit to my offensive line," Strickland said. "The blocking schemes were pretty good and the play-calling was awesome today. Just all the credit to them. I couldn't have gotten those yards without them."
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The success on the ground contributed to Syracuse topping the 500-yard mark in total offense for the second time in three weeks. Against USF, the Orange tied the Atlantic Coast Conference single-game record for most plays (105) and accumulated 549 yards of offense.
For complete coverage of Syracuse and Syracuse football, follow us on Facebook (Syracuse Orange & Syracuse Football), Twitter (@Cuse & @CuseFootball), Instagram (@Cusepics, @CuseFootball) and watch exclusive video content on Cuse TV.
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Strickland racked up 127 yards on a career-best 30 carries. To put those numbers in perspective, he ran the ball a total of 38 times for 129 yards in his previous 14 career games. The sophomore got involved early against the Bulls, toting the rock eight times for 36 yards on the game's opening drive, and tallying 15 carries for 75 yards in the first quarter.
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"They were taking certain things away, and it became Strickland's day," Babers said. "Something we tell all of our personnel is you never know when your day is going to be. The defense decides we can do certain things and make sure certain guys get the ball on certain plays. For the most part, for the offense to flow you have to have weapons all across the board. That's when it really gets to be good because it doesn't matter what they take away you've always got a weapon somewhere else."
Â
For his part, Strickland was quick to tout the performance of Syracuse's offensive line for its work against the Bulls.
Â
"I give all the credit to my offensive line," Strickland said. "The blocking schemes were pretty good and the play-calling was awesome today. Just all the credit to them. I couldn't have gotten those yards without them."
Â
The success on the ground contributed to Syracuse topping the 500-yard mark in total offense for the second time in three weeks. Against USF, the Orange tied the Atlantic Coast Conference single-game record for most plays (105) and accumulated 549 yards of offense.
For complete coverage of Syracuse and Syracuse football, follow us on Facebook (Syracuse Orange & Syracuse Football), Twitter (@Cuse & @CuseFootball), Instagram (@Cusepics, @CuseFootball) and watch exclusive video content on Cuse TV.
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