Syracuse football: first down offense vs Georgia Tech

First half was outstanding but it dropped off in the 2nd

The Syracuse Orange offense was really clicking for the first half of last weekend’s game. It really showed in the first down numbers against Georgia Tech.

In the first half, Syracuse averaged 9 yards per first-down play and if you do that, you’re going to be pretty successful. Those numbers are more impressive when you dig in a bit and see that the Orange had 5 of their 20 first down plays go for 0 yards.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon kept the Yellow Jackets off-balance and when his calls clicked, they hit for some big chunk plays. Included in those were the two touchdown throws to Trebor Pena.

It was a different story in the second half as the Orange weren’t able to build momentum after the first play went for 15 yards. They weren’t able to get the ball in the hands of Pena, Haynes or Gadsden over the final two quarters. On the bright side, Syracuse only had four possessions in the second half and they scored on two of them, and held the ball at the final whistle on the fourth.

Overall McCord was 16-22 passing on first down and he spread the ball around to 7 different receivers. With this bye week, it will be interesting to see what Nixon and the Orange staff come up with for Stanford, and we’ll be watching closely.