5 Things to Know: Syracuse at Cal
11/13/2024 8:48:00 AM | Football
Syracuse hits the road to face Cal on Saturday at 3 p.m. eastern (Noon PST) on The CW. Here's five things to know about the matchup:
1. Road Warriors
Saturday's game concludes a stretch of five-of-six games outside the JMA Wireless Dome, which began the first week of October. The Orange were away from home for 35 days before returning home to host Virginia Tech, and are now on their second-straight road game following that. The five road games include two trips to the pacific time zone and two weeknight games. 'Cuse is looking for its third true road win of the year on Saturday, which would be the most since 2018.
2. Go West
This will be the Orange's second game of the season against one of the conference's new members, but first trip to one of its campuses. Syracuse has not visited Cal since 1968, a trip that was part of a two-game series with the Golden Bears after they visited the 'Cuse the year prior.
This will be the furthest Syracuse has traveled for a game (2,798.8 miles between stadiums) since 1989 when the Orange played Louisville in Tokyo. The Orange had a 2010 trip to Washington, were at USC in 2011, made a pair of Fiesta Bowl appearances and played in the 2001 Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix in that span, but Syracuse to Berkeley has the narrow edge atop the distance list by miles.
3. McCord on Record Watch
QB Kyle McCord moved into second place in a number of passing categories on Syracuse's single-season record lists last week. He's now within striking distance of some all-time school marks.
McCord needs 19 completions to tie the single-season completions record (294) that Ryan Nassib set as a senior in 2012. McCord is also just three touchdowns shy of Nassib's mark (26). McCord enters Saturday's game ranked 10th in school history for career touchdown passes with 23 – despite spending just nine games in Orange.  He has 3,153 yards through the air this season, 591 yards from Ryan Nassib's record, which he set in 2012.
McCord is also on pace to shatter the single-season and career (min. 2,000 passing yards) yards per game records at Syracuse. He's got a 53-yards-per game on Eric Dungey's 2016 campaign for the school record and is 111 yards-per-game ahead of Dungey's career mark.
4. Spreading the Wealth
Syracuse is one-of-two schools nationally with three players that average 65.0 or more receiving yards per game, the other being Ohio State. Jackson Meeks (72.6), Trebor Pena (71.0) and Oronde Gadsden II (66.4) are all getting theirs this season.
Pena (60), Meeks (55), LeQuint Allen Jr. (47) and Gadsden (46) are all rapidly rising on the school's single-season receptions list. Syracuse has never had three players reach 50+ receptions in a single season, much less four. The Orange were close in 2016, as Amba Etta-Tawo (94) and Ervin Philips (90) posted two of the top receiving seasons in school history, but Steve Ishmael and Brisly Estime each finished with 48 catches apiece to fall short of the 50 mark.
5. Senior Day Next Week
Syracuse will hold its Senior Day before its second-to-last home game next week. The decision was made in order to give player families better travel opportunities with the final home game being Thanksgiving weekend.
Fans are encouraged to get to the Dome early to honor those nearing the end of their 'Cuse career in a pregame ceremony. Get your tickets today at Cuse.com/Tickets.
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1. Road Warriors
Saturday's game concludes a stretch of five-of-six games outside the JMA Wireless Dome, which began the first week of October. The Orange were away from home for 35 days before returning home to host Virginia Tech, and are now on their second-straight road game following that. The five road games include two trips to the pacific time zone and two weeknight games. 'Cuse is looking for its third true road win of the year on Saturday, which would be the most since 2018.
2. Go West
This will be the Orange's second game of the season against one of the conference's new members, but first trip to one of its campuses. Syracuse has not visited Cal since 1968, a trip that was part of a two-game series with the Golden Bears after they visited the 'Cuse the year prior.
This will be the furthest Syracuse has traveled for a game (2,798.8 miles between stadiums) since 1989 when the Orange played Louisville in Tokyo. The Orange had a 2010 trip to Washington, were at USC in 2011, made a pair of Fiesta Bowl appearances and played in the 2001 Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix in that span, but Syracuse to Berkeley has the narrow edge atop the distance list by miles.
3. McCord on Record Watch
QB Kyle McCord moved into second place in a number of passing categories on Syracuse's single-season record lists last week. He's now within striking distance of some all-time school marks.
McCord needs 19 completions to tie the single-season completions record (294) that Ryan Nassib set as a senior in 2012. McCord is also just three touchdowns shy of Nassib's mark (26). McCord enters Saturday's game ranked 10th in school history for career touchdown passes with 23 – despite spending just nine games in Orange.  He has 3,153 yards through the air this season, 591 yards from Ryan Nassib's record, which he set in 2012.
McCord is also on pace to shatter the single-season and career (min. 2,000 passing yards) yards per game records at Syracuse. He's got a 53-yards-per game on Eric Dungey's 2016 campaign for the school record and is 111 yards-per-game ahead of Dungey's career mark.
4. Spreading the Wealth
Syracuse is one-of-two schools nationally with three players that average 65.0 or more receiving yards per game, the other being Ohio State. Jackson Meeks (72.6), Trebor Pena (71.0) and Oronde Gadsden II (66.4) are all getting theirs this season.
Pena (60), Meeks (55), LeQuint Allen Jr. (47) and Gadsden (46) are all rapidly rising on the school's single-season receptions list. Syracuse has never had three players reach 50+ receptions in a single season, much less four. The Orange were close in 2016, as Amba Etta-Tawo (94) and Ervin Philips (90) posted two of the top receiving seasons in school history, but Steve Ishmael and Brisly Estime each finished with 48 catches apiece to fall short of the 50 mark.
5. Senior Day Next Week
Syracuse will hold its Senior Day before its second-to-last home game next week. The decision was made in order to give player families better travel opportunities with the final home game being Thanksgiving weekend.
Fans are encouraged to get to the Dome early to honor those nearing the end of their 'Cuse career in a pregame ceremony. Get your tickets today at Cuse.com/Tickets.
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