The Syracuse football program hosted its annual spring showcase on Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome. The orange squad, which featured most of the SU starters from a season ago, topped Team White, 14-0. Syracuse opens its regular season Friday, Sept. 1 [11]against Central Connecticut State at the Carrier Dome.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s scrimmage:
Both sides struggled offensively throughout the contest
Syracuse’s up-tempo offense struggled to gain any momentum Saturday, with the two sides registering just one total touchdown. Team White and Team Orange combined for five turnovers and rushed for just 62 yards
Syracuse’s lone offensive score came in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Eric Dungey [12] connected with Devin C. Butler [13] for a 35-yard score. Dungey, who took every snap for Team Orange in the scrimmage, connected on eight of his 14 pass attempts for 99 yards.
“It’s always great to be in front of the fans,” Dungey said. “Those practices that we had this spring, it was very physical.”
Tight end Jesse Connors [14], a redshirt in 2016, led all receivers with three catches for 53 yards.
Antwan Cordy’s return could have a major impact on the Syracuse defense
The Syracuse defense surrendered 38.6 points per game in 2016, which ranked last in the ACC.
But, the Orange secondary should receive a boast from the addition of graduate transfer Devin Butler and the return of redshirt junior Antwan Cordy [15]. Cordy suffered a season-ending arm injury in Syracuse’s second game of 2016, a 62-28 loss to Louisville.
Cordy made his presence felt early in the first quarter on Saturday, when he opened the scoring with a pick-6. Cordy jumped a route, hauled in the pass and returned it 40-yards for the score. His touchdown was one of just two scored in the scrimmage.
“It was good going out there today,” Cordy said about the spring game. “With my injury [last year], it was really tough for me.”
Syracuse head coach Dino Babers liked what he saw on Saturday
Despite the offensive struggles, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers’ said that he was pleased with his team’s performance in the spring showcase.
“I thought the young men gave a fantastic effort out there,” Babers said. “The spring was extremely physical. To put 75 good plays in against each other, [it was] nice, hard work. I thought it was outstanding.”
Babers [16] said that the SU defense has improved throughout the spring and the he was encouraged by their play Saturday.
"I just thought it was a fantastic effort by them," Babers said. "I was really proud of the defense…We’re definitely excited about the improvement on the defensive side.”
