Once again, bounce back performances this week helped to overcome a crushing loss last week.
Once again this season, the Syracuse Orange (7-3, 4-3) rebounded from a tough loss to get back in the win column after heading out to Berkeley and beating the California Golden Bears (5-5, 1-5) on Saturday.
Unlike the past few games, Syracuse started off on a strong note to go ahead 27-7 by halftime, and that fast beginning proved to give the team just enough of a scoring margin despite Cal outscoring the Orange 18-6 in the second half. Bounce back performances on both sides of the field allowed Syracuse to exceed its win total from last year and match its number of wins from 2022 with two regular season games still remaining.
The result: a healthy number of positives in the grade book this week. Here are the position grades for the Orange after their road win over the Golden Bears:
Quarterbacks: A
Kyle McCord once again topped 300-plus yards and threw the ball north of 45 times, but the key in this game was avoiding giving Cal any quality field position the Golden Bears could turn into points. After rewatching the game, I only counted one pass that was really close to being intercepted. On paper it wasn’t one of McCord’s best games of the year, but on tape he was helping Syracuse keep a good Cal defense guessing and allowing the Orange to win the time of possession battle.
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Running Backs: A
It was another productive performance from LeQuint Allen, who had 109 of the Orange’s 148 total rushing yards and successfully picked up enough yards on the ground to open things up in the passing game. He finished with 23 carries, 100+ rushing yards, 4.7 yards per carry and another 25 yards in receiving. As a collective, the rest of the running back rotation (mainly Jaden Hart and Yasin Willis) only carried the ball four times for six yards combined, but an A- still feels right given how well Allen played.
Wide Receivers: A-
Oronde Gadsden led the way on the receiving front, but still an overall really strong day for the receivers. Trebor Pena (team-high 11 catches, 97 yards, 8.8 YPC) once again commanded a high usage and faired well with all the targets he was getting. Justus Ross-Simmons had one catch that went 40 yards, Jackson Meeks went four catches for 38 yards and Umari Hatcher had a nice caught for 10 yards. There were a few unfortunate drops, but that’s picking nits in an otherwise impressive day for Syracuse’s passing attack.
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Tight Ends: A+
Gadsden led the team in receiving yards (109) and yards per catch (13.6), doing a pretty great job attacking Cal’s secondary and passing coverage. Dan Villari had a very quiet game, but Gadsden’s production alone was strong enough to bump this grade all the way to the full A+.
Offensive Line: B
Probably one of the stronger days collectively for the offensive line, and it certainly helped Syracuse’s offense continue to make its way down the field while chewing up clock. By my count from rewatching the game, the first O-line holding/false start penalty didn’t occur until the third quarter. It’s at least part of the reason why the Orange had 471 total yards — 323 in the air and 148 on the ground.
Defensive Line: B-
This was the grade I struggled with the most. I fluctuated between a C+ and B, ultimately settling for B-. Cal did still have 166 yards on the ground, but 128 of those yards came off of big runs from Jaydn Ott and Jaivian Thomas. Outside that, the Golden Bears really didn’t have much success running the ball and were at least part of the reason Fernando Mendoza forced a few interceptions and scrambled out of the pocket. The counting stats aren’t amazing, but Fadil Diggs played more as a pass rusher and you could definitely feel that watching the game.
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Linebackers: A-
Slotting Justin Barron and Marlowe Wax together at the linebacker spots have led to what is arguably the best position group on the Orange’s defense. Barron and Wax finished first and second, respectively, in total tackles and tackles for loss. Wax had a major pick in the first quarter that led to an early score plus a sack. Barron’s name was said on the broadcast numerous times and can certainly fly across the field.
Defensive Backs: C
Another position group where there can be some malleability with the grade. The highlights included an incredible interception from Davien Kerr in one on one coverage (Mendoza’s second of the game) and a limited passing offense from Cal in the first half. The cons: a few broken/bad angle tackles led to those aforementioned big runs by Cal’s running backs and the Golden Bears moved the ball much better in the second half. A game with tons of positives and not-so-positives leads to a C, but I can see this being as high as a C+.
Special Teams: A-
Is the special teams unit fully back? It played like it versus Cal. The big story: Jackson Kennedy going a perfect 7/7 on kicks, including knocking down two field goals on the Orange’s first two possessions and a few kicks in the second half to keep the team ahead. Jack Stonehouse only punted twice but both were good kicks. Bumping the grade up to an A- for getting that onside kick in the fourth quarter to seal the deal.
Coaching: A
It’s the best grade coach Fran Brown and the rest of the staff have received since we added this section into our weekly grades exercise. The usual caveat as always: I do not see a coaching career in my future (unless the Miami Dolphins need some help still down the road), so take this particular part of the grades with a huge grain of salt.
The broader and really important theme: Syracuse really came out on Saturday with a chip on its shoulder and clear motivation to get off on a better note and it did. Especially coming off the BC loss and some recent slower beginnings to games, Syracuse controlled the clock and momentum for pretty much the entire contest. It was certainly a change of pace from recent games. Considering this was also seen as a possible “trap” game during the preseason (Cal’s good defense, the road trip out west, going from BC right to California), it was a very good day all-around.
For more specifics, there were three points that need to be brought up. Offensively, Brown’s aggressiveness to go for it on fourth down all four times totally worked and were done at the right moments. That was very calculated and successful risk taking. Tactically, whether it was Allen, Pena or someone else, getting the ball moving on the outside opened things up everywhere else on the field.
Defensively, considering Cal’s inconsistencies on offense this year, limiting the running game (broadly speaking) and getting Mendoza uncomfortable in the pocket was the main way to stop the Golden Bears from scoring. It wasn’t a completely clean game, but the big plays were made on those picks and the defense held its own for over half of Cal’s drives.
Now it’s your turn: how would you grade the Orange after their 33-25 win over Cal? Where do you agree or disagree with the most?