Two days removed from No. 22 Syracuse’s 51-41 win over North Carolina State, head coach Dino Babers reflected on last week’s quarterback competition. Neither Eric Dungey nor Tommy DeVito knew who was starting unti gameday, Babers said.

“They had to go through an entire week of not only competition but also they needed to get graded on the game their exams had to be great,” Babers said. “It was extremely thorough. It was extremely fair.”

Dungey started, and gathered 443 total yards of offense. The senior quarterback’s second-highest passing mark of his career helped the Orange clinch their first bowl game since 2013.

On Sunday afternoon, SU appeared in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, for the first time since 2001.

“The national exposure of the game and how we played in the game, I think that there’s no doubt that that helped us maybe with the rankings that recently came out,” Babers said. “I don’t think that necessarily we’re exactly where we’re going to end up being or exactly where we need to be. There’s room for improvement the team understands that the coaches understand that.”

As the season progresses forward, Syracuse has slowly racked up injuries, particularly in the secondary. Injured cornerbacks, Scoop Bradshaw (undisclosed) and Chris Fredrick (ankle) played on Saturday, but their substitute Ifeatu Melifonwu left with an apparently hamstring injury.

Babers has mentioned several times throughout the season that preventing injuries from piling up in the latter half of the season will be a key to success.

“We’re going to try to get them all back,” Babers said. “I can’t promise you we will, I really can’t, it’s getting close to that trick or treat month that always comes up to spook us.”

Syracuse will play at Wake Forest Saturday at noon. The Demon Deacons are coming off a 56-35 drubbing of Louisville on the road. Running back Matt Colburn rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

Saturday provides a mix of two negative trends for Syracuse. The Orange have won one road ACC game since Babers took the helm in 2013 and their rush defense currently ranks 72nd in the country allowing 166 rushing yards per game.

“When you look at them, you look at that offense,” Babers said. “It is explosive. It’s wide open it’s very familiar and we’re going to have our hands full with it. And if you want to beat them, you’ve got to stop that offense. If you don’t stop that offense you’re going to be in for a long day.”

Published on October 29, 2018 at 12:49 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44