If the Syracuse Orange had held on to win against the Clemson Tigers I think we’d feel a lot better about the offensive game plan. That’s not to defend the lack of touches for Sean Tucker, but going back to the game log shows that the Orange kept a similar strategy in each half.
The big difference? Mistakes killed Syracuse in the second half. We’ll get into those but here are the first-down numbers for the game.
First down offense vs Clemson
| Run or Pass- 1H | Yards | Run or Pass- 2H | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run (Shrader) | 11 | Run (Shrader) | 3 |
| Run (Shrader) | 6 | Pass (Pena) | 5 |
| Pass (Gadsden) | 18 | Run (Tucker) | 23 |
| Run (Shrader) | 3 | Pass (Incomplete) | 0 |
| Pass (Cooper) | 25 | Run (Shrader) | -3 |
| Pass (Tucker) | 12 TD | Pass (Pena) | 5 |
| Pass (Pena) | 3 | Run (Tucker) | 15 |
| Pass (Incomplete) | 0 | Run (Shrader) | 3 |
| Run (Tucker) | 13 | Run (Shrader) | -3 |
| Run (Allen) | 1 | Sack (Shrader) | -9 |
| Run (Shrader) | 8 | Pass (Gadsden) | 10 |
| Kneel | 0 | Pass (Tucker) | 3 |
| 1st Half | Plays | Yards | Avg yards per play |
| Run | 6 | 42 | 7 |
| Pass | 5 | 58 | 11. |