What will enable an Orange victory
While most people expect the Syracuse Orange to have an easy time with the Washington State Cougars in the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl, we still can’t assume that the Orange can just show up and win the game. Here are three keys to securing the 10th win in Fran Brown’s debut season:
Win the turnover battle
In Syracuse’s three losses, the Orange ended up -5 in turnover margin. While that number would be 0 if we removed the Pitt game, it showed the weakness of the Syracuse offense this year came when they didn’t take care of the ball, especially in key spots. Both Stanford and Boston College scored defensive touchdowns against the Orange, so to avoid the upset it’s important that the offense doesn’t give Washington State easy points.
Finish drives in the end zone
Another way to give a team hope is to settle for field goal attempts when you get into the red zone. Syracuse scored touchdowns on a nice 69.1% of their red-zone opportunities, which was good for 31st in the country. Against FBS opponents this year, Washington State’s defense allowed 10 touchdowns in 14 red-zone attempts. When you play a team missing their top two offensive players, you want to put the pressure on by scoring touchdowns to complete drives.
D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Make the Cougars Offense Work
Without John Mateer, Washington Sate will feature two quarterbacks who combined attempted 9 passes this season. The Syracuse defense needs to limit the big plays and force the Cougars to embark on long drives to get points. If the Orange can make Washington State play a methodical game, it increases the chance for mistakes and would help Syracuse when it comes to creating turnovers and getting the ball back to the offense.