By Sean Fernandez
It wasn't pretty, but Syracuse defeated Stony Brook on Saturday. A few days have passed since the Orange improved to 1-2, so let's take a look back at the 28-17 win over SBU. We'll look at the performance from a few different points of view.
Passing Offense- Ryan Nassib was terrific once again. He completed 22-35 passes for 335 yards and 3 touchdowns. He's third in the nation in passing, and his draft stock continues to rise. Marcus Sales continued his stellar season as well, catching 5 passes for 117 yards and 1 TD. He has now tallied 100+ receiving yards in four straight games, dating back to the SU win in the Pinstripe Bowl nearly two years ago. Prince Tyson-Gulley also caught his fair share of passes, including a 61 yard catch-and-run from Nassib in the first quarter. Jarrod West also caught a touchdown pass.
Rushing Offense- The Stony Brook front seven isn't as talented as USC's or Northwestern's, but it was still nice to see Syracuse have some success on the ground. Jerome Smith had his best game of the young season, carrying the ball 18 times for 95 yards. Freshman phenomenon Ashton Broyld was also able to find some holes and break through the line of scrimmage. He impressed alot of folks, rushing for 61 yards and a TD on 10 carries. PTG's impact wasn't really felt from the backfield, but the Orange ran for 231 yards, a season high.
Rushing Defense/Front Seven Everyone knew that stopping the backfield combination of Miguel Maysonet and Marcus Coker would be a key to beating the Seawolves. If you can recall, we didn't really do a good job of that. At all. Maysonet, an Iowa transfer, rushed for 158 yards on 21 carries (7.5 yds/rush), and Coker accumulated 59 yards on 17 carries. No disrespect to the Stony Brook running backs or offensive line, but the Syracuse front seven flat out has to play better. Giving up 200+ rushing yards to an FCS opponent is unacceptable, especially considering the fact that this unit will have to play against Pitt's Ray Graham and UConn's Lyle McCombs throughout the remainder of the season.
Passing Defense/Secondary- The game didn't get off to a good start for the secondary, but they turned it around with vengeance. After Kyle Essington connected with Kevin Norrell for a 61 yard touchdown, the Syracuse secondary turned it up a notch (or a few). Essington only completed 4 of his 19 pass attempts for 94 yards on the day, and a good reason for that was the stellar play of the Syracuse secondary. Jeremi Wilkes and Cameron Lynch each had an interception for the Orange.
Overall, a win is a win and Syracuse is 1-2 going into next week's clash with Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are 3-0, but don't let the record fool you. SU is every bit as good as Minnesota, and if the Orange play well, they could be .500 heading into Big East play.
