Dungey throws for 3 TDs; Syracuse beats BC 28-20

 Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey hesitated a bit before finally admitting that being in a first-quarter melee got him a little more excited.

Dungey threw three touchdown passes, Ervin Phillips had a pair of scores and Syracuse beat Boston College 28-20 on Saturday, sending the Eagles to their 12th straight Atlantic Coast Conference loss.

Dungey went 32 for 38 for 434 yards. He also ran 17 times for 54 yards for the Orange (4-4, 2-2 ACC).

"I'm always anxious to get the ball back, but I guess a little bit," he said.

Phillips could see the excitement in his quarterback.

"He was definitely fired up," he said. "I think he composed himself well though."

In the opening quarter, a brief fight broke out on the Syracuse sideline between Dungey and a couple of Boston College players after an interception by BC'sWilliam Harris.

Dungey threw Harris to the ground and pushed BC linebacker Matt Milano into an equipment container near the stands after he stepped over the QB.

Players from both teams - with a few from BC running across the field - got involved in the shoving. A Syracuse staff member threw Harris to the ground before the officials and coaches got things under control.

"I was trying to finish the tackle. I get tackled all the time," Dungey said. "Some guy's standing over me talking smack. I just tried to get him off of me. One thing led to another."

Harris wouldn't comment on the member of Syracuse's staff - wearing an orange hat - who threw him down.

Last week, Dungey became the first player in school history to throw for over 300 yards and rush for over 100 in an upset victory over then-No. 17 Virginia Tech.

"I told (Dungey) that his job is to get the guy down, not hit him like a middle linebacker," Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. "He needs to preserve himself. Did a great job of stopping the touchdown. After that he needs to protect himself."

Patrick Towles went 4 of 14 for 45 yards for Boston College (3-4, 0-4) but did run 75 yards for a touchdown. He was taken out of the game early in the fourth quarter and appeared to be favoring his right leg with a hamstring injury.

"We were better today," BC coach Steve Addazio said. "The consistency in our throw game was just not there."

Back-up Darius Wade drove the Eagles deep into Syracuse territory, but was sacked and then threw incomplete on fourth-and-14 with just under 2 minutes left.

The Orange went 86 yards for a score to make it 21-10 after an interception by linebacker Parris Bennettinside their own 5.

Receiver Steve Ishmael made an 11-yard TD catch along the side of the end zone, making a leaping grab and getting one foot to touch before he was knocked out of bounds.

One play later, Towles broke around left end and went down the sideline for his score on the final play of the third quarter. Mike Knoll's second field goal - a 39-yarder - cut it to 21-20.

Dungey's third TD toss - a 68-yarder to Amba Etta-Tawo - made it 28-20.

Boston College's Myles Willis had an 89-yard kickoff return for a TD.

HONORED

At halftime, Boston College retired former linebacker Luke Kuechly's jersey, hanging it alongside retired No. 22 - worn by Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie.

After leading the nation in tackles for two straight seasons, Kuechly left as the most decorated player in BC history, collecting the Nagurski, Butkus and Lombardi awards.

SERIES

It was the 50th meeting. Syracuse leads 31-19.

THE TAKEAWAY

SYRACUSE: The Orange didn't play smooth offensively, collecting a handful of false start penalties and turning the ball over three times, but they go into a bye week with a pair of key victories.

BOSTON COLLEGE: The Eagles can't make key plays when the game's close. They were driving for a possible go-ahead score late in the third when wide-open receiver Michael Walker bobbled a pass - with the ball flying into the air and into the hands of linebacker Bennett.

UP NEXT

SYRACUSE: Travels to No. 4 Clemson on Nov. 5.

BOSTON COLLEGE: Faces North Carolina State on the road next Saturday.

Eric Dungey leads Syracuse past No. 17 Virginia Tech, 31-17

Eric Dungey rode off the field on celebrating fans' shoulders after Syracuse knocked off No. 17 Virginia Tech 31-17 on Saturday for its first victory over a ranked opponent since 2012.

Dungey accounted for 417 yards and two touchdowns to help the Orange beat the Hokies 31-17 on Saturday. Syracuse had lost 12 straight games against ranked opponents by an average of more than 20 points since a topping then-No. 9 Louisville in 2012.

"You can't explain it. It's unbelievable," Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. "Anytime you're trying to rebuild a program, you need that one signature win. ... To get this game right now, at this time, at this moment - this is big."

Dungey passed for 311 yards and ran for a career-high 106. He scored on a 1-yard sneak to give the Orange (3-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) a 24-17 lead with 7:56 to go, and hit Erv Phillips on a 58-yard scoring play in the first quarter. Syracuse shredded Virginia Tech's third-ranked defense for 561 yards.

"Coach Lewis (co-offensive coordinator Sean) and Coach Babers did a great job all week breaking them (Virginia Tech) down," Dungey said. "They helped us prepare to put us in the situation we were in today."

The Hokies were coming off a 34-3 victory at North Carolina.

"We played hard. We weren't as sharp at a couple of positions, but we'll look at that," coach Justin Fuente said. I think you have to give Syracuse credit. They played really well. They played very hard and played inspired football. That's what these guys do. They've been putting points up on everybody."

Held to their lowest offensive output of the season, the Hokies (4-2, 2-1) tied it at 17 with 13:53 to go on Jerod Evans' 10-yard pass to Bucky Hodges and a 2-point conversion catch by Chris Cunningham.

"We've had some trouble before (in the fourth quarter) but the crowd was really behind us," Strickland said.

The Orange had 347 yards of offense in the first half, 221 in the second quarter. The Hokies, ranked second nationally and first in the ACC in pass defense at 132.2 yards a game, yielded 310 yards passing in the first 30 minutes and 405 overall.

"Before the game we felt like we needed to come out with a chip on our shoulder," said running back Dontae Strickland, who connected with Brisly Estime for an 84-yard touchdown. "Even though we were the underdogs, we did that from the jump and you saw what happened. A lot of people doubted us about this game."

The Orange defense had its best half of the season, limiting the Hokies to Joey Slye's 36-yard field goal.

The Orange scored on their sixth play of the game, the 58-yard pass play from Dungey to Philips. On the second play of the second quarter, the Orange used a bit of trickery for their second score. Dungey flipped to Strickland, who threw a perfect strike to Estime for the 84-yard touchdown play and a 14-3 lead. Cole Murphy's 51-yard field gave the Orange a 17-3 halftime lead.

"I think we needed a win like this just to give us some momentum," Phillips said. "A win like this against a ranked opponent gives us a lot of confidence."

The Hokies had Evans' 17-yard touchdown run in the first half nullified by a holding penalty, and Slye then missed a 45-yard field goal. Syracuse defensive back Rodney Williams intercepted Evans' pass from the Syracuse 7 in the end zone, killing a drive, and Evans fumbled with 4:08 to go.

"Those were big momentum plays that changed the momentum," Fuente said. "The interception in the end zone was a big game-changer. We had everything going our way but they stepped up and made a great play."

SITTING OUT:

Syracuse starting defensive end Kendall Coleman sat out the first half as the result of a targeting penalty against Wake Forest a week ago. Coleman, a true freshman who had started every game, was penalized for targeting quarterback John Wolford in the fourth quarter of a 28-9 loss.

POLL IMPLICATIONS:

Virginia Tech will plummet after the upset loss, possibly out of the Top 25 poll.

THE TAKEAWAY:

Virginia Tech: The Hokies had only allowed 661 yards through the air in their first five games. Syracuse had 405. Virginia Tech had only allowed 20 points combined in its previous three games. The Hokies averaged 39.4 points entering the game.

Syracuse: Three Syracuse players completed passes in the first half: Dungey, Strickland and Estime. Dungey was not sacked in the first half but was knocked out of the game for one play on a hit by free safety Mook Reynolds. Zack Mahoney replaced him. Philips had 11 receptions, Estime eight, Steven Ishmael six and Etta-Tawo five.

UP NEXT:

Virginia Tech: The Hokies host Miami on Thursday night.

Syracuse: The Orange travel to Boston College next Saturday.

Wolford scores 2 TDS, leads Wake Forest over Syracuse 28-9

 John Wolford ran for two touchdowns and threw for 140 yards to lead Wake Forest to a 28-9 victory over Syracuse on Saturday night.

Wolford was 13 of 22 and scored from the 7 and 37-yard line in the second quarter. Cade Carney added 104 yards rushing on 29 carries, including a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Demon Deacons (5-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).Cameron Glenn returned a fumble 83 yards for a TD with 1:30 remaining to seal it for Wake Forest.

Dontae Strickland carried 13 times for 74 yards and a score to lead the Orange (2-4, 0-2). Eric Dungey was 16 of 25 for 156 yards passing.

The game was played through the outer bands of Hurricane Matthew, with a steady rain through the first half.

Syracuse forced a safety on the Deacons' opening drive. Dungey's pass from the Wake Forest 12 was picked off by Amari Henderson in the end zone with a second left in the first half and the Deacons leading 14-9.

THE TAKEAWAY

SYRACUSE: The Orange had their four-game win streak snapped against the Demon Deacons, and has lost four of its last five games. Syracuse could not move the ball consistently, picking up just two first downs in the first quarter and none in the third.

WAKE FOREST: The Demon Deacons are 5-1 for just the eighth time in the program, their first since 2006. The 1944 team started 7-0. Wolford managed a solid game despite indicating pain in his right throwing hand for most of the second half.

UP NEXT

SYRACUSE: The Orange host No. 25 Virginia Tech on Saturday.

WAKE FOREST: The Deacons travel next Saturday to No. 23 Florida State.

Kizer covers for shaky D as Notre Dame beats Syracuse 50-33

DeShone Kizer threw for a career-best 465 yards to help Notre Dame overcome another shaky performance by its defense and special teams and beat Syracuse 50-33 Saturday.

The Irish snapped a two-game losing streak, but did not show much defensive improvement in the first game since Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly fired coordinator Brian VanGorder. The Irish (2-3) allowed more than 30 points for the fourth time this season.

The tackling on punt coverage might have been even more concerning. Syracuse's Brisly Estime had a 74-yard return late in the first half that setup a touchdown for the Orange and left Kelly fuming on the sideline.

Kizer and the offense made it all OK. He connected on three touchdown passes - two to Equanimeous St. Brown - that covered at least 54 yards each and ran for a score. Dexter Williams reversed field on a 59-yard touchdown run that made it 47-27 midway through the third quarter.

Eric Dungey passed for 325 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three scores for Syracuse (2-3).

TAKEAWAY

Syracuse: The Orange defense has already been shredded by Lamar Jackson and Louisville and now Kizer and Notre Dame. An in-season fix seems unlikely. The middle of the field always seems to be open against the Orange secondary. FYI: Clemson and Deshaun Watson play the Orange on Nov. 5.

Notre Dame: Kelly elevated Greg Hudson from analyst to coordinator and got more involved in the defense this week. Kelly pledged to play more players and make a few tweaks, and the players said they would play with a renewed passion. There is still a long way to go. The Irish secondary still struggled to stop deep passes and the front got little pressure on the quarterback. Positives: The Orange ran for only 117 yards. The Irish allowed seven second-half points and did a decent job of tackling after the catch when Syracuse used quick, short passes.

UP NEXT

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish make their first trip to North Carolina State.

Syracuse: The Orange play at Wake Forest.

Syracuse uses late 99-yard drive to beat UConn 31-24.

 Amba Etta-Tawo caught 12 passes for a school-record 270 yards and two touchdowns and Syracuse beat UConn 31-24 on Saturday.

The graduate transfer from Maryland scored twice in the game's first five minutes on touchdown receptions of 57 and 30 yards. His 59-yard catch on third down from the shadow of his team's goal line highlighted a 12-play 99-yard fourth quarter drive that put the game away for the Orange (2-2).

Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey completed 26 of 40 passes for 407 yards and those two scores. He also scored on a 6-yard run to complete the length-of the field drive.

Noel Thomas had 14 receptions for 111 yards for UConn (2-2).

It took Syracuse just 51 seconds to score its first touchdown and 92 on its second for Dungey and Etta-Tawo to make it 14-0. Etta-Tawo had five catches for 115 yards in the first quarter.

The Huskies put up 148 yards in the second quarter and for the second straight week, the Orange couldn't hold the early double-digit lead.

Cordell Hudson pickup off a tipped pass from UConn quarterback Bryant Shirreffs and ran 22-yards down the left sideline for a touchdown that gave the Orange a 24-17 lead. It was just the second interception for the Orange this season.

The Huskies had a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter after holder Tyler Davis, a former high school quarterback, hit tight end Tommy Myers with a 17-yard pass on a fake field goal to set the Huskies up at the Syracuse 8-yard line.

But Syracuse's defense held, and stopped Shirreffs on a fourth-and goal from the 2-yard line with just over 6 minutes left, and the Orange marched the length of the field to put the game away.

THE TAKEAWAY

SYRACUSE: Etta-Tawo showed that he is an elite receiver. He beat UConn's best defensive back, Jamar Summers in single coverage all afternoon. His 270 receiving yards tops the Syracuse record previously held by Scott Schwedes against Boston College in 1985.

UCONN: Since the start of last season, 11 of UConn's 17 games have been decided by a single score (eight points or fewer). The Huskies are now 6-5 in those games.

UP NEXT

SYRACUSE: The Orange close out their non-conference schedule next Saturday at noon when they play Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

UCONN: The Huskies return to conference play with a visit to Houston on Thursday night. The Huskies handed the Cougars their only loss last season, a 20-17 upset in East Hartford. UConn is 0-1 in the American Athletic Conference this year after losing to Navy, 28-24 on Sept. 10.

Adams, Mack power USF to 45-20 comeback against Syracuse

 Being down 17-0 to Syracuse was no problem for South Florida on Saturday. Not with its quick-strike offense. And not with the Bulls playing in the Carrier Dome, one of its favorite road venues.

"It's a great environment, we just had to block out the crowd, come out and play football," said receiver Rodney Adams, who scored three touchdowns. "The turf felt like a speed track. I liked it."

The rest of his teammates did, too, especially after the first quarter when the Bulls (3-0) found themselves trailing big. All the Bulls did the rest of the way was outscore the Orange (1-2) 45-3 for a 45-20 win. The victory moved South Florida to 5-0 at the Dome.

"It was a slow start, but we had to just calm down and play football like we normally do," Adams said. "That's exactly what we did. Coach (Willie) Taggart preached about facing adversity. We calmed down and just played football."

Syracuse dominated the first 15 minutes but its offense stalled and defense yielded quick scores the rest of the way. The Bulls stormed back to win in a laugher.

"We're got hit by a storm," said running back Marlon Mack, who added two scores," but Coach T said we just need to fight back and stay calm."

"We knew we'd face adversity and I wanted to see how this 2016 team handled it," Taggart said. "They didn't flinch. They (Syracuse) threw the first punch and our guys kind of took it, then our guys settled down and thing started to really take off for us."

"I thought the first part of the game we were able to do the things we wanted to do," Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. "I thought we started off well. Once the second quarter, third quarter, second half (started), we weren't quite able to finish. I thought we could really win that game and I'm a little disappointed that we didn't."

The Bulls, who have won 10 of their last 12 games, gained at least 200 yards on the ground for the eighth-straight game, led by Mack's 115. South Florida has scored 149 points this season. The Bulls had four scoring drives under two minutes

Despite the lopsided score, the Orange outgained the Bulls 549-456 and had 30 first downs to the Bulls' 20. But things weren't close on the scoreboard as the Bulls kept the Orange out of the end zone in the final 45 minutes despite a stifling Dome and despite Syracuse running 105 plays, which shattered the school single-game record and tied the most in ACC history.

"Heat? We live in Florida," Taggart said. "It was a little cool in there today. We just tried to keep our guys fresh, and rotate them in and out the best we could."

Taggart said his defense made some basic adjustments after the first quarter.

"Tackling, tackling, tackling," he said. "There were a lot of missed tackles early and our guys did a better job of tackling. Things turned around for us."

D'Ernest Johnson returned a punt 84 yards to score for USF.

Quinton Flowers was 12 of 24 for 183 yards passing for the Bulls and rushed for 51 more. Eric Dungey was 32-for-48 for 350 yards and two TDs for Syracuse. Dontae Strickland led SU's ground game with 127 yards. Erv Philips andAmba Etta-Tawo had 10 and eight receptions, respectively, for Syracuse.

Playing with a depleted secondary and a defense that was torched by Louisville a week ago, Syracuse dominated the opening quarter, outgaining USF 214-64 yards. The Orange registered 12 first downs in the quarter to USF's three and scored on pass plays of 24 and 47 yards from Dungey to Philips and Brisly Estime, and a 40-yard field goal by Cole Murphy.

TAKEAWAYS:

USF: Mack was held pretty much in check by the Orange - at least until late in the third quarter. Mack, who gained 184 yards against SU a year ago, had 55 yards on five carries in the first half, but 40 of those came on one play. He scampered untouched for a 52-yard touchdown late in the third quarter and now has 14 100-yard games, a South Florida record.

SYRACUSE: The Orange was playing without three-quarters of its starting secondary. Antwan Cordy and Juwan Dowels, who were both injured against Louisville, are out for the season with forearm and knee injuries, respectively, and Kielan Whitner also sat out Saturday.

UP NEXT:

USF: The Bulls host in-state foe Florida State next Saturday. Expect the Seminoles to be smarting from this week's drubbing at the hands of Louisville

SYRACUSE: The Orange goes out of conference for a road game Saturday against former Big East rival UConn.

Jackson leads No. 13 Louisville past Syracuse, 62-28

 Lamar Jackson continued his early season onslaught, throwing a long touchdown pass and running for four more scores to help No. 13 Louisville rout Syracuse 62-28 on Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Jackson, the national offensive player of the week for his performance in the opener against Charlotte, a 70-14 victory, picked up right where he left off. He hit a wide-open James Quick for a 72-yard score on the game's first play from scrimmage to put the Orange defense on its heels, and it stayed there during a first-quarter blitz by Jackson and company.

The elusive Jackson also hit Jaylen Smith for 61 yards and Jamari Staplesfor 55 in the opening spree.

"He had a great game," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. "What I was most pleased with was how well he prepared for the game. He worked extremely hard all week. He did a great job executing. He threw the ball around and ran real well. He did a great job of everything we asked him to do."

Jackson, who was rarely pressured by a Syracuse defense that was content to lay back, scored on runs of seven, 72 and 13 yards to give Louisville a 28-7 lead after one quarter. He had 108 yards rushing and 207 yards passing as the Cardinals (2-0) outgained the Orange 352-98 in the period, then tacked on a 9-yard scoring run in the second for a 35-7 lead. That was one for the highlight reels, with Jackson displaying hurdler-like ability with a leap over a Syracuse defender at the goal line.

"I had to take flight, score and get into the end zone," Jackson said. "I think I did something like that in high school. I feel like I can score (on any play). I feel I can get my team in the end zone on any play."

Jackson finished with 199 yards rushing on 21 carries and was 20 for 39 for 411 yards with one interception as the Cardinals set a school record and came within 13 yards of the ACC record with 845 yards offensively. It was the most ever allowed by Syracuse, eclipsing the mark of 654 by West Virginia in 1993.

"I'm not sure anybody could catch him," Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. "You get mad because they couldn't catch the guy. He's the fastest guy on the football field. He got into space. I saw him outrun contain with three guys who were exactly where they were supposed to be. He should have got tackled for a 2-yard loss and he runs all the way to the other sideline and steps out of bounds."

Eric Dungey was 25 for 51 yards for 255 yards passing and scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter for the Orange.

Syracuse (1-1) tried to claw its way back into it with a pair of scores late in the second, both by wideout Amba Etta-Tawo in the final three minutes of the period. On a 47-yard catch-and run, Etta-Tawo broke two tackles and slipped another on his way into the end zone and capped the rally with a four-yard catch in the final minute.

In the opener against Charlotte, Jackson accounted for eight touchdowns and 405 yards in the first half, then sat the second. No breather on this hot night inside the Carrier Dome.

Louisville halted the Orange rush with another score early in the third quarter, capped by a 21-yard end around by wideout Traveon Samuel for a 42-21 lead.

The Cardinals moved up six spots in the AP poll after their lopsided victory over Charlotte. Jackson accounted for a stunning 405 yards and eight touchdowns, six passing in the first half of that game. Another jump is on the way next week.

THE TAKEAWAY

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals proved the opening week was no fluke. They're for real, and as long as Jackson stays healthy the Atlantic Division of the ACC promises to be more interesting. Jackson's only concern on offense might be his receivers, who had six drops in the first half and more in the second. Jackson read blitzes well enough against Charlotte to hit running backs who converted those catches into TDs. He didn't need to against Syracuse, which rarely blitzed, as Louisville averaged more than 10 yards per play.

SYRACUSE: The defense wasn't tested in the opener against FCS Colgate. It was by the Cardinals, early and often. The Orange has a lot of work ahead on both sides of the ball, but showed some grit by not caving under the early barrage. The new up-tempo offense of new coach Dino Babers stalled a week after purring (Dungey was 34-for-40 passing for 355 yards in the 33-7 win over Colgate). But the Orange have found a go-to guy in Etta-Tawo, who has 19 catches for 314 yards in two games. The Orange also could use some semblance of a run game after gaining just 104 yards on 39 carries, it second straight subpar performance.

UP NEXT

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals get their first true test of the young season when they host No. 3 Florida State on Sept. 17.

SYRACUSE: The Orange host South Florida on Sept. 17, their third straight home game.

Syracuse rolls past Colgate with 33-7 win

Buckle up. The Syracuse football ride is only going to pick up speed from here.

That was the message delivered by new Orange coach Dino Babers after his team christened his fast-break style of offense with a 33-7 win over Colgate in the season-opener for both teams Friday night.

Overall, SU gained 554 yards on 81 plays.

Babers' reaction?

Yawn.

"That will be the slowest game you ever see us play," Babers said. "Did you see the paint dry? I did. It will never be that slow again."

Babers' no-huddle attack was nearly a model of perfection. SU put the ball in the air 46 times and only six times did it kiss the Dome turf. Eric Dungeyopened the game with 13 straight completions en route to a 34-of-40-effort. His 34 completions are the second-highest single-game total in school history and his 355 yards ranks ninth.

For the first-time in program history, two SU receivers notched at least 10 receptions in a single game. Ervin Philipsgrabbed a school-record 14 catches and Amba Etta-Tawo snared 12 for 210 yards, the fifth-highest total in school history.

"From day one, we knew in this type of offense there's room for a lot of plays," said Etta-Tawo, a transfer from Maryland. "So we had to click up day one. We did a lot of stuff in the summer, leading into the season, to just prepare for opportunities like this."

The Orange zipped off 33 straight points after FCS Colgate, defending Patriot League champion, scored the game's first points on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jake Melville to Owen Rockett with nine minutes left in the first.

"We came out and threw a punch at them and drove down the field," Melville said. "I wish we could have continued that throughout the game, but it's something we've got to learn from and move on."

Dungey tied the game on a 43-yard strike to Etta-Tawo to cap a 79-yard, 6-play scoring drive just 1 minute 45 seconds later. Syracuse freshman running back Moe Neal ignited the rout 2:31 into the second quarter, taking his first college carry 49 yards for a touchdown.

"I don't think it was fast enough," Dungey said of the team's pace. "I'm pretty sure coach, he already was saying, no, we're not fast enough. There's tons of room for improvement."

THE TAKEAWAY

SYRACUSE: Give the entertaining Orange offense credit. For the most part it was crisp and executed as advertised. But there's still some fine-tuning to do - especially in the ground game and punching it across in the red zone - and Syracuse can't rely on a quick pace alone to get the job done against better foes.

Babers especially wants to pick up the ground game, which produced 117 yards.

"They just decided that they were going to take away the run, which means that they were going to give up the pass," Babers said. "Now, coaches are hard-headed sometimes. I've been known to have quite a hard head every once in a while myself. I just feel that you have to be able to keep trying to run the football. I just don't want to throw the ball every single snap, even though we might be able to. That's just not my style. I thought all the backs left some, as we would say, some meat on the bone."

COLGATE: Despite the final score, overmatched Colgate showed itself to be talented and poised club with a lot of good pieces. The Patriot League will have its hands full with this team.

KEY STAT

SU was 3-for-3 on fourth downs, an aggressiveness that Babers said will continue.

"We will do what we think we need to do to win," Babers said. "And on that note, going down the road, on fourth down if we have to go for it we have to go for it. But I'm already telling you, after our first game, that we're going to do those things because we're not playing to be close. We're playing to win."

UP NEXT

SYRACUSE: The Orange opens ACC play Sept. 9 by hosting No. 19 Louisville in both the first real test of the Babers era and a measure of fans' early optimism about his ability to turn around this program.

"Hopefully you walked away with a glimmer. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel of what this could become once you work all the kinks out and you have the right type of individuals giving you the right efforts in the right positions," Babers said.

COLGATE: The Raiders get a week to regroup before a contest at Yale on Sept. 17, Colgate's second of three straight road games to open the campaign. Taking a 2-1 mark out of that stretch would really catapult the Raiders into the heart of their season.

Syracuse Orangemen Season Preview

Shafer will welcome back 45 lettermen, though only 11 starters...Spring priorities on off ense will be to develop some playmakers and rebuild an off ensive line that loses a pair of key starters...Starting QB Terrel Hunt returns aft er missing the fi nal seven games last fall with injury...A dual threat to run or pass, Hunt completed 57 percent of his passes and also ran for 6 TDs...In his absence, sophomore QB AJ Long impressed (935 yards passing, 4 TDs), at least until he too, was hampered by injuries.... Having both back healthy is a good beginning...Ts Ivan Foy and Omari Palmer, C Rob Trudo and G Nick Robinson return to lead the off ensive line with redshirt freshman Aaron Roberts fi lling the remaining guard position... RBs George Morris, II and Devante McFarlane also return and both have seen playing time...Ishmael (27 catches, 15.4 avg.) and Lewis (24 catches), who has moved to H-Back, will lead a promising receiver corps that also includes WRs Brisly Estime and Alvin Cornelius, H-backs Ashton Broyld and Philips, as well as TE Josh Parris...Defensively, the Orange will have to replace eight starters who combined for 203 starts... WLB Marqez Hodge (38 tackles) and MLB Zaire Franklin (44 tackles) are a good start...Soph Parris Bennett came out of spring as the starter at SLB ahead of Jonathan Th omas and Oliver Vigille...DE Ron Th ompson is the only returning starter upfront but senior DE Ronnie Simmons claimed the other spot in spring with junior DE Luke Arcienega competing for playing time...Redshirt freshman NT Kayton Samuels and senior DT John Raymon emerged inside as starters...In the secondary, only CB Julian Whigham (28 tackles, 1 Int.) returns, but Antwan Cordy (10 tackles, 1 Int.) Corey Winfi eld (14 tackles) and Wayne Morgan and Chauncey Scissum all saw action as reserves...Whigham and redshirt freshman Cordell Hudson will compete for one CB berth while Morgan and Winfi eld will battle for the other...Cordy came out of spring as the starter at SS with Scissum and redshirt freshman Rodney Williams competing at FS.