Syracuse (1-2) throttled Wagner 54-0 in the Dome Opener on Saturday. It’s the first win of the Scott Shafer era, but he wasn’t focused on that.
“I didn’t think about my first win too much until they dumped the Gatorade on me,” Shafer said, with a chuckle. “But it feels great.”
The big story of the day revolved around, what else, the quarterbacks. Senior transfer Drew Allen started the game, but was yanked after he mustered just three points on three drives.
Sophomore Terrel Hunt spelled him, and that’s when the Orange offense started to click. On Hunt’s first five drives, SU scored five touchdowns. Though he appears to have won the on-going quarterback competition, Hunt said he’s going to worry about the team and let the coaches handle the personnel moves. Hunt finished the game 15-18 for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns.
One of those scores went to Jarrod West. The junior had a field day in the Dome; he racked up 147 yards on 5 catches plus the score. Coach Shafer said West played with a little more oomph than normal, and then mentioned that West’s grandfather had passed away that morning. West stayed composed while talking about his grandfather, someone to whom he was very close.
“My grandfather means a lot to me,” West said. “Before the game I prayed in the end zone and said I’d meet him in the end zone during the game, so it was pretty cool to score today.”
Highlights here: https://soundcloud.com/waer-sports/syracuse-vs-wagner-highlights
While the blowout victory did come against an FCS opponent, that doesn’t matter to Hunt.
“A win is a win,” he asserted. “It doesn’t matter who you played. We should be 3-0, but today was a confidence booster.”
The Orange has its second straight home game next week when Tulane comes to town. While the name might not scare SU fans, coach Shafer said that the Green Wave would be prepared to face his squad.
WAER’s coverage of the game starts at noon with Countdown to Kickoff, followed by the Orange and Green Wave at 12:30.