Syracuse’s defense smothers Colgate in season-opening victory

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For nearly all of Syracuse’s blowout 65-0 win against Colgate, new defensive coordinator Rocky Long hovered around the 20-yard line. Long positioned himself there as he watched his defense shut out the Raiders. He never really had to move away from the 20-yard line because the Orange allowed the Raiders’ offense past the 50-yard line only once, which came late in the fourth quarter.

Even when Jeremiah Wilson picked off Colgate Michael Brescia’s jump pass and strolled into the end zone to make the score 20-0, Long didn’t move a muscle as the whole team celebrated on the sideline.

Long commanded a unit that had been using the 3-3-5, the same defense that he helped invent. Syracuse (1-0) used Long’s creation to sack Colgate’s (0-1) quarterback three times, notch two interceptions and record a shutout in the largest margin of victory during Dino Babers’ tenure as head coach. Linebacker Marlowe Wax had SU’s only full sack on the day and had seven tackles, impressing Babers and backing up his assertion that he is the head of the defense. Younger defenders like redshirt defensive back Greg Delaine also contributed, masking up some of the early defensive mistakes.

“We just wanted to come out here and play fast and get ready,” Wax said. “That’s how the defense is looking.”

Especially on third downs in the first half, SU had a clear goal: blitz Brescia. On the Raiders’ first third down of the afternoon, which was a 3rd-and-5, Brescia attempted to change the play as the Orange put six defenders in the box. Brescia faced an almost immediate hit from Leon Lowery, forcing an overthrown ball to his top receiving target, Treyvhon Saunders.

On Colgate’s next drive, the Orange rushed Brescia again with Wax creeping up on the right edge of the defense and sacking Brescia to force one of the Raiders’ nine punts during the game. Colgate head coach Stan Dakosty and his staff recognized SU’s tendency to blitz on third down and decided to be more conservative the following drive. After Brescia threw an incomplete pass on a backpedal and the Raiders got penalized for a false start, they called a draw play to running back Jaedon Henry.

Wax said that he knew his fellow linebackers and defensive linemen had the speed to overwhelm Colgate’s offensive linemen. He added that if the Orange specifically got to Brescia, they would have success.

Babers went further and called Long’s 3-3-5 a “movement” defense that required a lot of man-to-man. He knew this of his defensive coordinator, and the two never needed to talk on the sideline as they were almost always on opposite sides of the ball. While the Orange did incorporate zone throughout the day, Babers emphasized the need to playing perfect man coverage.

“You apply a lot of man to man,” Babers said. “If you got one cornerback, that’s good. If you got two cornerbacks, oh my god. So we need to find out if we’ve got two corners.”

Syracuse’s head coach didn’t specify if there were two cornerbacks that impressed him today. But the position group generated both of Brescia’s interceptions on the afternoon. Wilson’s pick-six was the first of those interceptions. Brescia got forced into the aforementioned jump pass because the SU defense ran another blitz on a 3rd-and-5. Caleb Okechukwu, Kevon Darton and Denis Jaquez Jr. all got a piece of the quarterback before he threw the errant pass right to Wilson, the sophomore defensive back who made his first collegiate start this afternoon.

“He’s been through a lot,” Wax said of Wilson. “I just saw all the excitement on his face when he was called up.”

Once the second half started, the defense started rotating out the starters like Wax and Justin Barron, giving an opportunity for Delaine to tally his first collegiate interception. On a 2nd-and-10 midway through the third quarter, Brescia threw a low ball to the right intended for Saunders. But Delaine had the jump on the throw and snagged the ball before it touched the turf.

Both Delaine and Wilson’s interceptions also helped to mask some earlier defensive mistakes for the Orange. In the postgame press conference, Babers never mentioned those picks but talked about the seven penalties SU got called for. On Colgate’s second drive, the Orange were called for an illegal formation and an offside, turning a 4th-and-9 punt into a first down. Babers just kept his head down as some boos reigned down at the JMA Wireless Dome.

“Those are problems … and I’m not happy about that,” Babers said of the penalties. “We’re going to go back and we’re going to get the results and solve those problems.”

Still, the early penalties didn’t matter in the end as Babers was also quick to sing the praises of Wax. As a former running back, Wax was always quick to identify which gaps Colgate starting rusher Henry wanted to hit, eventually resulting in more turnovers for the Raiders. Not even a play after Wilson scored on the pick-six, the Orange got the ball right back because of Wax.

Henry received a shovel pass on the left side from Brescia and tried to take off for a first down, but Wax punched the ball out and defensive back Alijah Clark scooped the ball. The play eventually set up kicker Brady Denaburg to make the score 23-0. While Wax, one of the three defensive captains, felt that he was the leader of the defense, Babers put him in the same breath as Mikel Jones and Zaire Franklin.

“Marlowe needs to be the new Karate Kid because he waxes on and waxes off,” Babers said, referencing the classic 1984 film. “I think he’s doing it. He’s going to do a fantastic job and I think we’re going to be really excited.”