Highlights & Recap: Syracuse Wins Season Opener vs Colgate

The Orange was dominant from start to finish in convincing victory.

Well, they did give up some sacks. But, Colgate put up a goose egg, totaling just 106 yards of offense and six first downs, and there were no injuries to report besides a minor Alijah Clark stinger. For just a few moments early in the first quarter, there was an eerie sense of deja vu in the Loud House with four first quarter penalties, including two false starts by starting guard Chris Bleich, that had a lot of fans worried about the trends of last year bleeding into this season. However, first game jitters seem to have been more the culprit than anything else, as the Orange rebounded with the highest scoring output of the Dino Babers era en route to a 65-0 spanking of Colgate. 

Garret Shrader and the Jason Beck-led offense was on cruise control most of the first half, going 18-24 for 257 yards and four touchdowns, with his only blemish being an interception right before the half. Head coach Dino Babers did express his displeasure with the seven penalties the team ended up with after being one of the most penalized FBS teams last year.

“Yeah, those are problems, so I’m popping P’s now and I’m not happy about that, and we’re going to go back and get those results and solve those problems,” Babers said.

One thing to be bullish about was the production that came from the underclassmen that have been waiting in the wings. LeQuint Allen led the way with 107 yards and the first touchdown of the season, while true freshman Ike Daniels finished with 63 yards on 11 touches, all coming in the second half. 

It was a banner day for the young receiving core, with sophomore Umari Hatcher hauling in four catches for 107 yards and a TD, newly minted starter Donovan Brown coming away with a sturdy five catches for 65 yards, and two guys, KJ Long and true freshman Darrell Gill Jr, getting in the box for their first career touchdown receptions. For Brown, it was the culmination of things already expected.

“It turnt me up," Brown said. "It's like, everybody finally [was] doing something. I thought last year was supposed to be like that, and we had a great receiving corps last year. This year, I feel like everybody that was younger and got a chance to step up now, we can finally pop out and do our thing.”

With losing two starters in last year’s season opener, health was near the top of the priority list, mixing the need to get out of this game and working guys like Stef Thompson and Terry Lockett, both coming off season-ending injuries, back to 100% and allowing them to stack full-speed reps well after the outcome of the contest was decided. That fact wasn’t lost upon Babers

“The main thing was winning the football game, once you win the football game you want to come out healthy," Babers said. "Based of my talks with the trainers, right now I feel we’ve accomplished that, although sometime the guys can go away, go to bed, and something will pop up….So, so far, so good. We’ve got to wait for the opportunity to see them tomorrow, but if we came out of it healthy, compared to last year that would really be a blessing.”

Perhaps the most interesting comments of the post-game presser came with Babers speaking about Hatcher, the redshirt sophomore from Virginia, and how his growth and maturity paved the way for a breakout year this season.

“He’s changed his nightlight," Babers said. "And because he’s changed his nightlife, he’s changed his day life. And now he’s different during the day than he was before.”

Your Syracuse football team will be back in the Dome next Saturday, September 9th at 3:30 PM to take on the Western Michigan Broncos, before the first true test of the season in Week 3 as they’ll head over to West Lafayette to take on Purdue. The Boilermakers are coming off a tough week one loss to Fresno State. 

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