Only two weeks after Syracuse quarterback Terrel Hunt was ejected for punching [12] an opponent in the team’s home opener, Central Michigan’s Joe Ostman made sure he didn’t forget about it.
With SU up 30 points in the fourth quarter, Ostman tackled Hunt after a whistle and tried to provoke him. But this time, Hunt had a more peaceful response.
“(Ostman) said ‘Punch me in the face,’ and I said, ‘Nah, just take a look at the scoreboard,’” Hunt said. “You’re losing. You know, you say some words, but the scoreboard hurts a lot more.”
With a calm and collected Hunt in charge of an explosive SU offense, the Orange cruised to an easy 40-3 victory Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The senior gunslinger had four touchdowns, including three on the ground, as SU piled up the yards and points against an overmatched Chippewa defense.
For a Syracuse team with a trio of Michigan natives -- Eric Crume, Parris Bennett and Ron Thompson -- and a former Central Michigan coach in Tim Daoust, it was a statement performance that erased the bad memories from a sluggish week-one victory over Villanova.
“Offensively… 289 yards rushing. Great job,” Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer [13] said. “I thought we took care of the football, which is key, and it was great to see so many kids get to play and be a part of a productive victory.”
The two schools had only met once before, as Syracuse prevailed 47-7 in 1999. Much like that game, Saturday’s was already over by halftime.
Debuting white uniforms that looked as cool and crisp as the Michigan air, SU began to assert its dominance on both sides of the ball late in the first quarter. Following a Ryan Norton field goal, Marquez Hodge returned a CMU fumble 36 yards to give the Orange its first lead. Brisly Estime’s score with 1:2 left in the half gave SU a commanding 17-3 lead.
Then the second half belonged to Hunt, whose three rushing touchdowns were the most for an SU quarterback since Donovan McNabb’ [14]s trio of scores against Miami in 1998.
Central Michigan (2-1), on the other hand, struggled to move the ball. Depsite entering the game off to their best start in 12 years, the Chippewas could only muster 217 yards of total offense. As soon as the final whistle blew, they hung their heads and trudged off the field in disgust.
Wide receiver Jesse Kroll [15] was just one CMU player frustrated by the team’s inability to execute offensively.
“I made a lot of critical errors,” Kroll said. I [want] to get film and figure out those things and get it fixed for next week.”
Kroll also gave Hunt credit, calling him a “smart quarterback” that stepped up and made plays when SU needed him.
Syracuse can now look ahead to next weekend’s game against Maryland, which is averaging almost 38 points [16] per game this season. For Shafer and his staff, that means another long week of preparation in pursuit of a third win to open the season.
“Well I think our coaching staff, my assistant coaches, did a great job,” Shafer said. “We kept our thumbs on them good and hard. We were physical — we had a lot of physical practices. I’m not going to tell you the kids were feeling good coming into the game. They were sore.”
