Orange Overcome in Opener

By: Matt Michael

In the movie "Heartbreak Ridge," Clint Eastwood plays a Marine sergeant who has to overcome a myriad of obstacles and challenges to get a platoon of fresh recruits into shape before leading them into battle during the American invasion of Grenada in 1983.

In this unprecedented football season created by the COVID-19 pandemic, Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers can relate to Eastwood's character.

"It's like 'Heartbreak Ridge' with Clint Eastwood," Babers said. "You have to adjust and improvise in 2020, and we've really done a good job with that. We've been adjusting and improvising since March: going three practices and shutting down spring ball; having Zoom calls in April, May, June until (the student-athletes) got back June 8; and all of the stuff we had to do leading up to this."

The team's ability to adjust and improvise was on full display Saturday, when the Orange throttled Georgia Tech 37-20 for their first win of the season in their first game at the renovated new stadium. From a delayed start to injuries to key players to playing at their home stadium just two days after being in it for the first time this year, the Orange practiced what Babers often preaches about the need to be a family and stick together during difficult times.

"I think the big thing is there was so much adversity, before, after, and during and I really liked how we stayed together as a family," Babers said.

As the Orange (1-2) enters their first bye week of the season before facing Atlantic Coast Conference foe Duke Oct. 10 at the renovated stadium.

While kickoff was delayed over 30-minutes to confirm negative COVID-19 results for the Orange, it didn't stop Syracuse from starting hot out of the gate, opening up a 17-0 lead on the Yellow Jackets in the first quarter.

"We were fine with it," Babers said. "We would play it at 12, 12:30, we'd play at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We needed to get a game in, we were ready to go and when everybody thought it was safe for us to do so, we would start."

The Orange also had another five takeaways on defense this week, and did so without the nation's active leader in interceptions. Defensive back Andre Cisco was sidelined after an injury in pregame warmups. In the preseason All-American's absence, freshmen DBs Ja'Had Carter and Rob Hanna picked off two passes and veterans Trill Williams and Josh Black each came down with an interception as well.

"With Andre, that's my closest friend and I look at him like a brother," Williams said. "And him not being out there (Saturday) was kind of tough, but we've got players who stepped up."

Linebacker Steve Linton added a fumble recovery to the four interceptions to mark a five.

Another player who stepped up was freshman running back Sean Tucker. Jawhar Jordan was temporarily sidelined in the Orange's second drive giving Tucker more carries. The rookie took his third run to the house for the first touchdown under the new roof and didn't stop there. He was the first freshman since Jordan Fredericks in 2015 to run for over 100-yards, finishing with 112.

"I thought Jawhar was going to have a good game and then he got a little nicked up and Sean just took it over," Babers said. "The guys who get touched on the 20 and tackled on the 25, those are the guys who can keep the running game going and I thought (Tucker) did a good job with that (Saturday)."

Syracuse enters its bye week to prepare for its second of three-straight home games vs. Duke on Oct. 10.

Syracuse University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Josh Black

Ja'Had Carter

Andre Cisco

Rob Hanna

Jawhar Jordan

Steve Linton

Sean Tucker

Trill Williams

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