Adjustments on 3rd, 4th down dictate Syracuse’s success against Army

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It was truly a tale of two halves for Syracuse on both sides of the ball.

In a first half that featured just 19 combined pass attempts, the fast pace and running clock didn’t leave SU with much possession time. In four first-half drives, the Orange fell flat in the clutch, failing to convert all three of their third-down opportunities. They also let Army running back Jakobi Buchanan convert three straight fourth downs.

Neither side was clicking, and the Orange went into the half down 10-3. That’s when defensive coordinator Rocky Long came in. Just like last week, Long gathered all his defensive players in the locker room to learn a new play at the half, Isaiah Johnson said. Similar to the play he drew up at Purdue, Long shifted the responsibilities of the defensive front to confuse Army at the line.

Johnson didn’t detail the adjustment, but whatever it was, it worked…again.

“We took it, we ran with it, and we understood exactly what we had to do,” Johnson said. “It was just really about the attitude and the aggression… We knew if we could get them behind the sticks, not give them five yards on first down, and then we could really force them to play out of their comfort zone.”

After going 5-for-11 on third down tries and 3-for-3 on fourth down attempts in the first half, Army (2-2, Independent) went 1-for-6 on third and 0-for-1 on fourth in the final 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the offense also came out with an altered mindset, allowing Garrett Shrader more leeway to be aggressive late in downs. Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) went 0-for-3 on third downs in the first, but bounced back by converting three in the second, prevailing 29-16.

Entering this game, the Orange averaged the eighth-best third-down conversion rate in the country (.571) and the 24th-ranked defensive third-down rate. They expect to win in those situations. In the first half, they didn’t, and that’s why they fell behind.

On his first pass attempt of the game, Shrader almost gave the Black Knights six free points. Dropping back on 3rd-and-3, Shrader threw to Umari Hatcher on a short comeback route from the far hash. Cameron Jones jumped it perfectly, but the ball bounced off his hands and bailed Shrader out.

The defense endured similar failures as Buchanan picked up three straight fourth-down tries with the same concept. He went right up the gut as offensive linemen pressed up against the Syracuse front to help him fall forward for the first down. Even when SU knew the play call, it couldn’t stop it.

The first half was universally sloppy. The run game was timid, the offensive line collapsed constantly and Shrader forced throws out of desperation. By the end of the half, Syracuse had only one more pass attempt than Army.

“I’ll pin a lot of the first-half stuff on me, just not making routine plays,” Shrader said. “Once we got in the second half, getting the ball to guys who needed it.”

One of the few times Shrader looked to throw deep in the first half, he was sacked on 3rd-and-5 for another failed conversion in enemy territory.

“We had some miscues with communication in the first half,” head coach Dino Babers said. “From a military standpoint, if you want to attack a subject or an empire or a country, the first thing you do is take down their communication. Our communication was not smooth in the first half, but in the second, going in at halftime we got a bunch straightened out and it got a lot better.”

Shrader said he didn’t make any concrete adjustments at the half, but just started to see their path to points open up as the fatigue piled on.

On the first set of downs out of the half, Shrader faced a 3rd-and-4. Against a four-man rush, Shrader hung in the pocket and then zipped a strike to Donovan Brown on a crosser over the middle. Instead of scrambling once the edge rusher entered his peripheral, Shrader settled himself and threw the ball beyond the sticks for a 14-yard gain.

Early on, Shrader didn’t show the patience that he used to make this play. He said most of the first-half woes on offense could’ve been avoided if he had made the simple play. That conversion jump-started a stagnant SU passing game after Shrader totaled just 59 yards at the break. By the end of the game, Shrader had two total touchdowns and 295 total yards.

With the game tied at 10-10, Syracuse faced a 3rd-and-9 from the opposing 13. When Shrader dropped back to pass in the shotgun, Army’s zone defense left a gaping hole for Hatcher up the right seam. Shrader immediately fit the pass between two defenders in the end zone, and the sophomore came down with it untouched.

That bunch concept with the primary target going up the seam is something Syracuse runs a lot but couldn’t capitalize on until the second half. Of the three drives where SU converted on third down, it scored twice.

Defensively, Syracuse stuffed Army at the line for the final two quarters, allowing negative-four rushing yards to the No. 9 rushing offense in the nation. SU players got behind the line of scrimmage consistently, blowing up plays before they even started.

By committing to deception and aggression in the early downs, Long and the SU defense forced a run-happy Army team into passing situations. The SU secondary locked the Black Knights’ receivers down in 1-on-1 matchups, which was always the plan for defensive backs this week. Long’s little wrinkle was enough to stump the Army offense throughout the second half.

“One of the biggest things about Coach Long is, once he makes the adjustment, he knows that the rest is up to us,” Johnson said. “The rest is about us meeting the opportunity and rising to the occasion.”