Syracuse (4-6, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) snapped its four-game losing streak and won its first ACC game on Saturday, taking down Duke, 49-6. The Orange defense dominated, forcing turnovers on three drives in a row in the second half and holding the Blue Devils without a touchdown in their first game under interim defensive coordinator Steve Stanard.

SU scored a touchdown on its first possession of the game and doubled its lead later in the first quarter, but failed to score in the second. It was after halftime that the Syracuse defense picked off a pair of Quentin Harris passes and forced a fumble, leading to a trio of Orange scores that put the game away.

Here’s whose stock is up and down after Syracuse’s largest win over an FBS team since 2000.

For the first time all season Syracuse finally put together a stable 60 minutes up front in both the passing and running games, thanks in part to moving Carlos Vettorello to center and Airon Servais to left tackle. Tommy DeVito was sacked just once, tying a season-low, and SU featured a pair of running backs with 115 yards rushing in Moe Neal and Jarveon Howard. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the best game of the season by the offensive line also coincided with the Orange’s best game as a whole, and whether or not they can continue their success will be something to look at moving forward.

After not having a 100-yard rusher in nearly two months, the Orange went out and ran for a season-high 286 yards and four touchdowns against the Blue Devils, who couldn’t find a way to stop any of SU’s backs. While Neal and Howard ran for 115 yards and a score each, true freshman Jawhar Jordan recorded his first touchdown and DeVito added another. It was the first time all season that Syracuse truly managed to showcase the talent in the backfield, which was highly touted during the preseason but had yet to get going until Saturday.

Usually, an entire side of the ball doesn’t earn stock up or stock down honors, but holding a team to 3.3 yards per play isn’t typical. Defensive tackle McKinley Williams made his season debut and had an immediate impact, recording three tackles and a half-sack and tackle for loss each. Meanwhile, Lakiem Williams continued his breakout season to the tune of 14 tackles, including 2.5 for loss and Evan Foster added a career-high dozen of his own. The three third-quarter takeaways were the most SU has produced in a game since Sept. 21, when it had four versus Western Michigan.

It’s one thing to allow nearly 500 yards of offense and get fired from your defensive coordinator position the next day, but it’s another to see your replacement have the day Stanard did during the next game. How much the season-best defensive performance by SU was influenced by Stanard is unclear, but that probably doesn’t matter much to head coach Dino Babers, who described the game as Stanard “painting the background” for his ownership of Syracuse’s defense. Ward undoubtedly had strong moments as SU’s defensive coordinator during the past few years, but through one game of Stanard’s tenure, it appears moving on from Ward may have been necessary.

Graphics by Kevin Camelo | Co-Digital Editor

Published on November 18, 2019 at 10:37 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34