NC State football opponent scouting report: Syracuse

NC State football still has plenty to play for when it hosts Syracuse at 4 p.m. in Carter-Finley Stadium and on the ACC Network Saturday afternoon. That’s despite losing control of its destiny in the ACC’s Atlantic Division following a loss at Wake Forest last Saturday.

The Wolfpack is No. 20 in the updated College Football Playoff standings and 7-3 overall on the season, including 4-2 in the ACC. A win Saturday preserves a chance at a 10-win season plus an undefeated home record for the year. It could potentially keep alive hopes for a division title depending on the result of the Wake Forest at Clemson game that starts at noon.

WFU needs one more win to clinch the Atlantic, but if it loses at Clemson and at Boston College, and if the Wolfpack wins out, NC State will be playing in Charlotte Dec. 4 for the conference championship.

Syracuse is 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the ACC but has been competitive in all but one of its losses.

Here is a full scouting report on the Orange:

Five Syracuse Players To Watch

Sophomore linebacker Mikel Jones (No. 3)

Jones has continued his trajectory to becoming one of the better linebackers in the ACC.

In 2019, Pro Football Focus (PFF) named Jones to its third-team All-Freshman team after he had 38 tackles and made four starts.

A year later, Jones was honorable mention All-ACC. He led all conference linebackers with four interceptions and paced the nation with eight takeaways when including fumble recoveries and forced fumbles. He also had a team-high 69 tackles.

This season, Jones is fifth in the conference in tackles per game (8.2) and has the most solo tackles in the ACC with 47. He also has three sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

Senior defensive end Cody Roscoe (No. 18)

Roscoe is taking full advantage of his super senior year. The McNeese State transfer gained valuable experience in the ACC in 2020, making six tackles for loss and two sacks.

He has moved to another level of production in 2021. Through 10 games, Roscoe has 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks. He has at least assisted on taking down the opposing QB in all but three games.

Roscoe is tied for 19th in the country in sacks and is 19th in tackles for loss.

Sophomore quarterback Garrett Shrader (No. 16)

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Shrader, who played his high school football at Charlotte Christian.

Shrader originally signed with Mississippi State and made four starts among 14 appearances over two seasons for the Bulldogs before transferring.

He took over as the starter in week four and helped Syracuse beat Liberty. He has remained entrenched as QB1 since.

What makes Shrader dangerous is his dual-threat abilities. He has rushed for at least 137 yards in three ACC games and had a 78-yard effort against Boston College. Shrader has 713 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground this year. He is the conference’s fifth-leading rusher and second in rushing scores.

As a passer, Shrader is not the most efficient at 98 of 190 (51.6 percent) for 1,165 yards, but he generally protects the football. He only has three interceptions vs. seven scoring tosses.

Freshman running back Sean Tucker (No. 34)

All conversations about Syracuse revolve around Tucker.

He has been named one of 15 semifinalists for The Maxwell Award, given to the most outstanding college football player, and on Saturday, Tucker will likely set a new Syracuse record for most rushing yards in a season. He needs just 11 yards on the ground to do it.

The second-year freshman was picked for both the Associated Press and PFF midseason All-American teams.

Tucker has rushed for at least 100 yards in all but two games, and in one of the two he came up short he finished with 95 yards on 18 rushes (at Louisville on Nov. 13). For the season, Tucker has run 220 times for 1,362 yards and 11 scores, and is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.

Tucker has 267 more rushing yards than any other player in the ACC through last week, and his touchdown total is second highest in the conference. For good measure, Tucker is also second on Syracuse in receptions (17) and receiving yards (239) and tied for the team-high with two scoring catches.

Redshirt freshman corner Garrett Williams (No. 8)

Another North Carolinian having a homecoming Saturday is Williams, who played at Hickory Ridge High in Harrisburg.

Williams was a Freshman All-American by The Athletic last year and honorable mention All-ACC when he led the league in passes defended with 12 (including two interceptions, one of which was a pick-six) and was third on the Orange defense with 64 tackles.

Thus far this year, Williams has 44 tackles, including five for loss, and nine pass breakups, which ties for the conference lead. He is also second in the ACC in passes defended per game (1.13).

What To Watch For From Syracuse Against NC State Football

1. An aggressive rushing attack: Syracuse’s formula offensively is fairly simple: it’s going to run the football.

The Orange is the only team in the ACC to have more rushing yards (2,367) than passing (1,553). Syracuse is fifth nationally and tops in the ACC in rushing yards per game at 236.7, and it’s second in the conference and 20th among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in carries per game (42.8).

On the flip side, no team has attempted less passes in the ACC than Syracuse’s 242, and its yards per game output of 155.3 is nearly 33 yards fewer than any conference squad. Only nine teams nationally throw for fewer yards per game, and three of them are the service academics — Air Force, Army and Navy — which all run the rushing-based triple option offensek.

In ACC-only games, that passing yards total drops to 141.3 per contest for Syracuse.

2. An aggressive defense: Syracuse likes to get into the opponent’s backfields on defense.

It is fourth in the ACC and tied for 17th nationally in tackles for losses this year with 74. It is especially good at getting to the quarterback. Only Pittsburgh in the ACC and four other teams nationally have more sacks than the Orange’s 34.

That’s a major reason why Syracuse ranks second in the ACC in yards per game allowed at 323.2. It is almost equally effective against the run (fourth in the conference in yards per game allowed at 129.3) and the pass (third in ACC giving up 193.9 yards per game).

3. A veteran offensive line: Eight players have started multiple games for Syracuse on the offensive line. The 173 combined starts makes them one of 11 schools at the FBS level to have more than 160 offensive line starts on the active roster.

That experience is showing up in games. They have improved from last in the conference in sacks allowed to eighth this season, and that stat is somewhat skewed by allowing six to Rutgers in the second game of the year.

In its other nine games, Syracuse is allowing just 1.9 sacks per contest. If it held to that average against Rutgers, the Orange would be tied for second in the ACC in sacks against.

That total can also be partially attributed to Syracuse’s commitment to running the football, but the rushing output is another sign of the improved front for the Orange.

Three Keys To The Game For NC State Football

1. Contain the run: Shrader entered the game in relief against Albany and never looked back as the starter. Starting with the Albany contest, Syracuse has rushed for at least 138 yards in every game, at least 228 yards in all but two and eclipsed 300 yards twice and nearly a third.

The Orange is going to gain yards on the ground Saturday, but keeping it in check is the key. In the only three games Syracuse scored 14 points or fewer, it ran for 165 yards or fewer in what was the three lowest outputs of the year.

No team in the ACC is more heavily titled towards running the football. However,Syracuse has yet to prove it can move the football relying on the pass.

2. Hold the front: Only three ACC teams have managed to move the football and score on Syracuse.

Wake Forest had 34 points and 400 total yards in offense in regulation before winning 40-37 in overtime. Virginia Tech had 437 total yards in a 41-36 Syracuse road win. And Louisville had 415 yards in a 41-3 triumph over the Orange last Saturday.

In those games, Syracuse only had one sack against Louisville, just three tackles for loss at Virginia Tech and five tackles for loss against Wake Forest.

The Orange is not a team that turns offenses over. It has only forced two fumbles, recovering neither of them, and has only three interceptions. Adding in three fumbles that were unforced by Syracuse but nevertheless recovered by the Orange, Syracuse’s six turnovers gained is tied for the fewest among 130 teams in the FBS.

The strength of the defense is disruption in the backfield.

3. Find your motivation: Syracuse is battle-tested and a win away from reaching a bowl game for the first time since 2018 and just the second in head coach Dino Babers’ six seasons at the helm. For a team picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division, that’s an accomplishment.

The lopsided loss to Louisville was the first time the Orange was manhandled in a game this year. Its other four defeats were by a combined 19 points, and its other three ACC losses were all by three points each.

NC State football will have to match the visitors’ intensity, and that could prove to be a challenge if Wake Forest has clinched a division title right around the time the Wolfpack takes the field.

Three Numbers Of Note For NC State Football vs. Syracuse

7-0 NC State football record when sophomore running back Zonovan Knight has at least 10 carries in a game. It is 0-3 when he has less than 10 (hat tip to Fayetteville Observer reporter David Thompson for the stat.)

6 Number of sacks Syracuse has allowed in its five wins. In five losses, it has surrendered 17, including six to Rutgers.

64 Number of career field goals for Syracuse junior kicker Andre Szmyt, most in school history and third all-time in the ACC.

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