Moe Neal burst through the offensive line in the middle of the third quarter and into a sea of green turf. No Chippewas stood between him and the end zone. The problem was his desired destination was 90 yards away. 

The sophomore ran with the straight-line speed Syracuse fans have grown accustomed to since he scored a touchdown on the first carry of his freshman year. But now, he had lots of ground to cover.

Neal peeked over his shoulder, and it was a decision he later said was a mistake. Glancing at the jumbotron would have served him better, he said. Two Central Michigan defenders caught up and brought Neal down 71 yards from where the play began, at Syracuse’s own 10.

“It was a great play, a great hit to spark the team,” Neal said, “but runs like that I want to finish.”

Three snaps later, Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey walked into the end zone from one yard out to score another Syracuse touchdown. This one gave SU a two-possession buffer, and it would only expand in the Orange’s 41-17 win over CMU. Syracuse, for the first time under head coach Dino Babers, ran for more yards (300) than it passed for (279). It was also the highest rushing total under Babers.

“How cool is that?” Babers said.

Neal said that particular play, which was SU’s longest until Dungey broke out a 74-yard run of his own, was the result of halftime adjustments. In the first two quarters, Chippewa defenders clogged the A and B gaps. Neal learned he needed to bounce out wider to the C gap. So he did, and with a pull-block coming from left to right, Neal hit the hole full-speed.

The play was a relief for an offense that’s struggled with rushing production. In Weeks 1 and 2, there was little to show for an offseason that stressed improving the run. Neal and primary SU running back Dontae Strickland had not yet combined for 100 yards. Quarterback Eric Dungey, as he did again Saturday night, led the team in rushing in each of SU’s first two games.

“Everybody in the country knows we can pass the ball,” Neal said. “We just want to establish the run game and put our foot down and let teams know we’re not one-dimensional.”

Against CMU, Syracuse did more to prove that than it had before. Dungey avoided any major hits en route to 105 yards. Neal finished with 81 yards on five carries. The game’s star, Sean Riley, carried four times for 47 yards. Freshman left guard Sam Heckel said earlier this week he felt like the line was finally starting to figure it out. After they paved this kind of result, he echoed that same sentiment.

Underneath those 300 yards are numbers Syracuse still wants to improve. On 15 carries, Dontae Strickland averaged just 3.0 yards. Freshman Markenzy Pierre lost a fumble on one of his six carries.

The magnitude of the ground game’s success came as such a surprise that Babers needed confirmation on his own rushing numbers at the postgame press conference. He said that it can add dimensions to the offense that will allow the space for more playmaking. That was visible by the numerous deep shots Dungey took over the top of the defense as the game went on.

Syracuse’s running success will only be harder next week, when Syracuse travels to Louisiana State. Through two games, the Tigers own best rushing defense by yardage in the FBS.

“Do we know if that’s going to happen the next week or the week after, or the week after? No,” Babers said. “But we’re sure in the heck going to go back to work to see if we can reduplicate it again.”

Published on September 16, 2017 at 9:46 pm

Contact: jtbloss@syr.edu | @jtbloss