Photo by: Charles Wainwright
Sunday Sidebar: Running Game Shows Growth
10/27/2019 12:00:00 PM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After limited success running the football the last two weeks, Syracuse's ground game showed improvement yesterday afternoon against Florida State, especially in the second half.
The Orange logged a season-high 51 carries for 192 yards, their highest output of the season against an ACC opponent. Syracuse accumulated 157 of those yards after halftime and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Excluding lost sack yardage, the Orange gained 216 yards on 44 attempts (4.9 avg.) against the Seminoles.
"We wanted to run the football. It's not that we didn't want to run before, but we were going to be headstrong about it," said head coach Dino Babers. "I think the guys finally had had enough. They reached the boiling point and the really wanted to move the ball on the ground and I thought they did a nice job. I'm fired up about that. To me that's the best we have run the ball probably in the last three games against really, really good competition that didn't want us to do it. Those [Florida State] D-linemen are real in there. That's something to build off of."
Senior Moe Neal paced the ground-gainers with 74 yards and a touchdown, the 12th rushing score of his career. Redshirt junior Abdul Adams picked up 56 yards and was responsible for the Orange's other touchdown. Sophomore Jarveon Howard (32 yards) and quarterback Tommy DeVito (32) also contributed to the effort.
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"They were dropping more, trying to prevent the pass," DeVito said. "Our running backs did an awesome job, the offensive line stepped up and had a big role in it and we started to move the ball that way."
The Syracuse front five featured a new member Saturday, as freshman Matthew Bergeron received the first start of his career at right tackle. A Victoriaville, Quebec native, Bergeron stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs 311 pounds. He was rated the No. 2 overall Canadian prospect in the last recruiting cycle. His addition to the first unit made him the first true freshman to start a game at tackle for the Orange since Quinn Ojinnaka in 2002.
"He's a fighter, and he's a lot older than a normal freshman coming from Canada," Babers said. "He's got a little bit more physical maturity than some of the other younger guys."
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The touchdowns by both Adams and Neal capped off 13-play drives, both of which featured a heavy dose of running the football. The physicality displayed by the offensive line contributed to the increased production.Â
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"I thought they did a better job and I thought that there was some fighting going on as far as trying to move guys out of the way," Babers said. "There was some growth in that group."
For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
The Orange logged a season-high 51 carries for 192 yards, their highest output of the season against an ACC opponent. Syracuse accumulated 157 of those yards after halftime and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Excluding lost sack yardage, the Orange gained 216 yards on 44 attempts (4.9 avg.) against the Seminoles.
"We wanted to run the football. It's not that we didn't want to run before, but we were going to be headstrong about it," said head coach Dino Babers. "I think the guys finally had had enough. They reached the boiling point and the really wanted to move the ball on the ground and I thought they did a nice job. I'm fired up about that. To me that's the best we have run the ball probably in the last three games against really, really good competition that didn't want us to do it. Those [Florida State] D-linemen are real in there. That's something to build off of."
Senior Moe Neal paced the ground-gainers with 74 yards and a touchdown, the 12th rushing score of his career. Redshirt junior Abdul Adams picked up 56 yards and was responsible for the Orange's other touchdown. Sophomore Jarveon Howard (32 yards) and quarterback Tommy DeVito (32) also contributed to the effort.
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"They were dropping more, trying to prevent the pass," DeVito said. "Our running backs did an awesome job, the offensive line stepped up and had a big role in it and we started to move the ball that way."
The Syracuse front five featured a new member Saturday, as freshman Matthew Bergeron received the first start of his career at right tackle. A Victoriaville, Quebec native, Bergeron stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs 311 pounds. He was rated the No. 2 overall Canadian prospect in the last recruiting cycle. His addition to the first unit made him the first true freshman to start a game at tackle for the Orange since Quinn Ojinnaka in 2002.
"He's a fighter, and he's a lot older than a normal freshman coming from Canada," Babers said. "He's got a little bit more physical maturity than some of the other younger guys."
Â
The touchdowns by both Adams and Neal capped off 13-play drives, both of which featured a heavy dose of running the football. The physicality displayed by the offensive line contributed to the increased production.Â
Â
"I thought they did a better job and I thought that there was some fighting going on as far as trying to move guys out of the way," Babers said. "There was some growth in that group."
For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
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