Scouting the Colgate Raiders

An in depth look at Syracuse football's week one opponent.

Syracuse, N.Y.-- For every week of the 2023 season, I will preview each opponent for the Orange to provide more insight on what to expect before game day. Syracuse enters week one of the campaign by hosting the Colgate Raiders on Saturday afternoon at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Here’s what you need to know. 

THE BASICS

Colgate went 3-8 last season, finishing fifth in the Patriot League with a 2-4 conference record. Even with their lackluster record from a year ago, Colgate has much higher expectations in 2023. Stan Dakosty enters his third season as head coach, even though he’s spent time in multiple roles since graduating from Colgate in 2005.

The Raiders slide in at number three in the Patriot League preseason poll behind Holy Cross and Fordham. They have five players on the all-league preseason team, highlighted by junior QB Michael Brescia and DB Owen Goss. Colgate returns a lot of experience with 27 seniors and fifth-year players who played key roles a year ago.

The Raiders are a NCAA Division 1 program in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), meaning that they are not eligible for bowl games and do not receive as many resources as their Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) counterparts. Instead of bowl games and the College Football Playoff, the FCS has a 24-team tournament to determine their champion.

FCS programs can only have 63 players on scholarship in comparison to 85 at the FBS level. They also play an 11-game schedule instead of 12 games like Syracuse. 130 programs compete in FCS across 14 different conferences.

MATCHUP vs. CUSE

The series between Syracuse and Colgate dates back to the Orange’s third year of program existence in 1891. Surprisingly, the all-time record between the two programs is 31-31-5. Syracuse has only played Pittsburgh (78) and Penn State (71) more times in program history.

Syracuse increased their win streak against Colgate to 16 after their 33-7 victory in the opening week of the 2016 season. The Orange scored 33 unanswered points in the comeback victory that was also the head coaching debut for Dino Babers at Cuse.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB Michael Brescia: The dual-threat quarterback is one of the most impressive in all of FCS. In his sophomore campaign, Brescia threw for 1,656 yards and seven touchdowns while running for over 750 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Hinsdale, Illinois native was recently named a captain for the second-straight season and showed his leadership this offseason as a camp counselor at the Manning Passing Academy for high school prospects.

Brescia’s big play ability is something that Syracuse has to be ready for with his accurate deep ball and niche for putting his head down in the run game. He showed immense growth from his nine starts as a true freshman, and I expect the same in year three.

RB Max Hurleman: The senior running back is a dynamic pass catcher that Colgate works perfectly combining with fellow RB Jaedon Henry. Hurleman has started all 22 games for the Raiders over the last two seasons and averaged close to five yards per carry in his 83 attempts last year.

With 1,263 all-purpose yards since 2020, one would expect him to have more than two touchdowns in his collegiate career. He was also featured as a kick and punt return specialist towards the end of the conference slate. It would make sense for Colgate to have a more balanced approach that features Hureleman in trips to the red zone this season.

INTERESTING STATS

-Pass blocking was a struggle for Colgate last season as Brescia was sacked 27 times. On the defensive side, the Raiders had just 10 sacks as a team.

-Even though the offensive line struggled in pass protection, Colgate did have the third-most rushing yards in the Patriot League (1,734). Senior OL and all-league preseason team member Bardhyl Gashi highlights the returners in the trenches for Colgate.

-Colgate was not very efficient on third down in 2022. They converted 54 of 156 opportunities (34.62%), a rate towards the bottom in all of FCS. Their opponents third down conversion rate was over 45 percent, also ranking poorly compared to all FCS programs.

-An 80% conversion rate in the red zone (26-32) is solid, but only 17 of those trips resulted in touchdowns for Colgate. For an offense that only scored about 21 points a game, that’s a lot of missed opportunities in enemy territory.

WATCHING TAPE

I went back and watched a few different games of Colgate last season, but the one I want to focus on the most was against No.14 Fordham on the road. Colgate lost 52-38 in their final game of the year but were only down eight points with 6:43 remaining.

Fordham had a historic day posting 725 yards of total offense against Colgate. Due to their weak pass rush, Fordham QB Tim DeMorat had all day to throw in the pocket as he finished with a career-high six touchdown passes. Fordham had 271 yards on the ground from chunk plays right up the gut that Colgate had no answer for.

Colgate went with only three linemen throughout most of the game to respect the Rams passing attack. This left them susceptible in the middle of the field as Forham continuously ran spread formations in four receiver sets. Even with soft coverage from the Colgate corners playing seven yards off the line of scrimmage, the secondary struggled because DeMorat had all day to throw.

The biggest positive for Colgate was Brescia willing his team to stay in the game. In the second quarter down 21-10, the 6-3 200 pound quarterback had a six-man rush up the middle on 3rd and 5 and somehow evaded the pressure and scampered for a 58-yard touchdown. He played fearless all game long against Fordham mixing in some deep shots and threading the needle across the middle to receivers in traffic.

Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the JMA Dome on Saturday. You can watch on ACC Network Xtra or listen on WAER locally.

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