| As fun as any OOC game between Power 5 teams is, this sure would have been a lot more fun around the turn of the century, to see Drew Brees and Donovan McNabb go after it. These teams did meet in 2004, their only prior meeting, but Purdue was peaking, and Syracuse was past theirs. The Boilermakers handled the Orange (maybe still the Orangemen then?) 51-0. Syracuse, early in the Dino Babers tenure, was successful once, but overall too reliant on the pass. Then, after a couple of down years, found a workhorse back in Sean Tucker in 2021. Maybe they've figured out a balance, with Tucker still the focal point, but Garrett Shrader being hyper-efficient, completing nearly 80% of his passes overall, at nearly 13 ypa last week, and 5 touchdowns. Sean Clifford figured out something against the Boilermaker secondary late, and that's the game film Syracuse needs to use. But the Syracuse defense hasn't seen a quarterback like this. Malik Cunningham is certainly a threat, but Syracuse dropped heavy, and bet that Cunningham couldn't throw into tight windows, and wouldn't be able to beat them consistently with his legs. Against UConn, they gave the Huskies everything underneath, and let their defensive backs make plays. They did, because they could out athlete them, even allowing 85% completions, for just 109 yards. Against Purdue, Aidan O'Connell will hit those tight windows if you don't pressure him, and if you trust the Syracuse DBs to make plays in space against the Purdue weapons, as inexperienced as they are, that's a losing bet. Even if Broc Thompson isn't 100% yet. |