Buy-In, Belief Leads to Syracuse's Unconventional Win Over Pitt

The Orange snapped a five game losing streak.

The historic matchup at Yankee Stadium had the same ending it did 100 years ago with Syracuse coming out on top over Pittsburgh. The century old game was a 3-0 Orange victory while this time around it finished 28-13. This meeting saw Syracuse churn out over 380 yards on the ground with a game plan that seemed about as old school as it gets.  

The reason why? Coach Babers says it was because of the buy on and belief from his team with trying out that new offensive scheme.

“At first the guys were a little hesitant but it’s like when you are a young kid and your parents have to move for work and you start saying I don’t want to go because of leaving your friends and stuff, but you finally get in the car because its family and you follow family,” said Babers. “By the end everyone got in the car as a family and that is why we were able to be successful today.”

Dan Villari came to Syracuse having played Quarterback his whole life, but their year was given an opportunity to try a new role as a tight end, a position he fully embraced and worked his way into a starting role.

At the time he switched, never imagining that a few months later in the Bronx and in front of 75 of his family members would he have his breakout career that would lead to a combination of his previous and new position.

Villari did it all for the offense between rushing, catching touchdown passes and even taking over as the QB on numerous plays. An opportunity that became possible earlier in the week once Coach Babers and Villari had frequent meetings going over calling plays, mostly Wildcat and other passing routes. Even in the limited number of reps under the pocket, Villari still walked away as the leading passer on the team.

Now the scheme worked for a much-needed win, but is it something that can last and what does this say about Garrett Shrader’s health? That is the true mystery.

Shrader returned to the field after missing the Virginia Tech game and on the first drive of the game looked as healthy as ever running the ball and making a touchdown pass. The magic wore off quickly seeing that Shrader was clearly injured as he finished the goal with three complete passes.

Somehow despite the 17 total passing yards the offense had 400 yards 382 of that being on the ground, the offense walked about successful due to their physicality. A lesson that the coaching staff wanted to draw back to from the famous first-ever college football game at Yankee stadium versus Syracuse vs. Pitt game that drew in a 3-0 win and nothing but straight run tough and out work mentality.

When Villari was asked if he believes this offensive approach could work in their next to matchups versus Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, he responded with a confident yes.

For the rest of us, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

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