Know Thy Enemy: Previewing the Syracuse Orange with Mike McAllister

To preview Saturday's game against the Syracuse Orange, we spoke with Mike McAllister of All Orange, part of the Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated network. Make sure to follow him on Twitter.

AJ Black: Sean Tucker has been one of the greatest stories in college football but even still he's not getting the credit he deserves. Can you talk about his story just a bit, and what makes him so dangerous?

Mike McAllister: Tucker emerged during the 2020 season for Syracuse with two running backs opting out and a third getting injured. He was one of the few bright spots for the Orange that year. This season, Tucker is more elusive, has the speed to run away from people and has excellent vision. Tucker can do it all. If you want him to run between the tackles with power, he will hurt an opposing defense. If you want to get him outside to use his speed, he will hurt you that way as well. He is just a tremendous talent.

AJB: Garrett Shrader is in. Tommy Devito is out. How did the quarterback depth chart play out, and what led to Devito's transfer? And how has Shrader looked as a starter?

MM: DeVito started the season as the starter. In fact, in the season opener against Ohio, he played all of the meaningful snaps. For the next two games, Shrader and DeVito split time on the field before Shrader was named the starter against Liberty. When Syracuse won that game with Shrader playing in its entirety, he was given another shot to be the guy against Florida State. Each week Shrader has gotten better as has the Orange offense, with the exception of the loss to Clemson. As most teams do, Syracuse struggles to score on the Tigers defense. DeVito figured if he was not going to get into the game with the struggles against Clemson, he was not likely to see the field at all this season barring injury. Therefore he entered the portal. Shrader has been excellent using his legs. He is big, faster than you'd expect and really tough to bring down. He teams up with Tucker to form a potent rushing attack that has been among the best in the nation. Throwing the ball, Shrader has struggled to be consistently accurate. He has shown improvement in that area, however, especially on Syracuse's final two drives against Virginia Tech.

AJB: Syracuse's pass defense is one of the best in the ACC. This seems to be a growing theme with Dino Babers. How has he been so successful in growing such solid defensive backfields?

MM: I think it starts with recruiting. Syracuse has done a nice job identifying defensive back recruits that perhaps are a bit underrated coming out of high school when you look at guys like Andre Cisco, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Garrett Williams, etc. Combine talent evaluation with having strong assistant coaches and that leads to developing that talent.

AJB: Who is the X factor for Syracuse's offense and defense?

MM: Offensively, it's the offensive line. The improvement in that area has been such a huge factor in the offensive improvement overall. Yes Tucker is a special talent. Yes Shrader puts a ton of pressure on defenses with his legs. But neither is able to have success if the offensive line does not play well. It has been much better this season, and that has sparked the offensive success. Defensively it is linebacker Mikel Jones. He is the quarterback of the defense. Jones makes all the defensive adjustments, makes sure guys are in the right position and is one of the veterans the young guys look to for leadership.

AJB: Syracuse has had a pretty solid season given that they were almost universally picked to be the bottom of the ACC Atlantic. What is the pulse around this team and especially around Babers?

MM: Internally, the team remains confident in the talent on the roster, the coaching staff and the direction of the program. That has not changed and will not change. The fan base is split. There are those who are still behind Dino Babers and this coaching staff. There are also those who believe Dino is not the answer regardless of how the rest of the season plays out.

AJB: Finally, how do you see this game playing out?

MM: I think this game is setting up for a Syracuse win. Syracuse is a much better team on both sides of the ball than last season, when it was just a three point game in the Dome. It feels like Syracuse is trending up and Boston College is trending down. I think the Eagles defense is going to have a hard time stopping the dynamic duo of Shrader and Tucker. That said, I do feel the Eagles have an advantage on special teams and Syracuse struggled to stop the run last week. If Boston College is going to win this game, those are two areas it will have to dominate. Ultimately, I am picking Syracuse to win 34-24.