FSU football: 3 keys to defeating Syracuse Orange
By Kelvin Hunt
Contain Garrett Shrader/Sean Tucker
The Syracuse offense, even when fully healthy, has centered around their Syracuse players. Quarterback Garrett Shrader, running back Sean Tucker, and receiver Oronde Gadsden.
The latter and Tucker are the two leading receivers, and Shrader and Tucker are the team’s two leading rushers. You can see where this is going.
Syracuse looks to hand the ball to Tucker or get the ball to him as a receiver in space, with vertical plays downfield to Gadsden. The other wrinkle is Schrader will pull the ball down and take off as a runner, which is something the FSU defense found out the hard way last year.
The difference this year is he has improved as a passer. He has more confidence and experience. FSU contained Tucker for the most part last year, and Syracuse had no threat of a passing game.
The biggest thing was Shrader running with the ball, but FSU has already faced two of the best mobile quarterbacks in the nation this year.
The return of Fabien Lovett should help with Tucker, and FSU defends passes to running backs fairly well. They’ve faced receivers as good, if not better than Gadsden already this year.
I know FSU fans don’t want to hear it, but keeping everything in front and forcing Syracuse to execute in the red zone is the way to go. They only score touchdowns 53 percent of the time against Power 5 competition in the red zone. If Shrader doesn’t play, their offense won’t be a problem to defend.