We’ve still got four games to go...
Though the Syracuse Orange made us sweat things out for a bit on Saturday in a 28-20 win over the Boston College Eagles, the offense still put up plenty of numbers. As always, leading the statistical accolades were Eric Dungey and Amba Etta-Tawo, who are now within striking distance of several SU records.
Passing
Dungey’s 32 completions added his name to the school’s top 10 single-game totals once again — the fourth time he’s had more than 30 in a game this season. Going into the year, just one quarterback (Ryan Nassib) had every completed the feat in school history, and he did so twice in his career. Completing 84.2 percent (32-for-38) of his throws, Dungey had one one of the most accurate games in SU history, and the second-most accurate of passers with over 20 throws in a game. The most accurate was also him, earlier this year vs. Colgate (85 percent).
With 434 yards passing yesterday, Dungey compiled the second-highest total in school history (Ryan Nassib having the record of 482). Dungey and Andrew Robinson are the only Syracuse QBs with multiple 400-yard games in their career. It’s happened just seven times overall.
Looking at single-season records, Dungey now has 224 completions, which is the third-best total in school history. He trails Ryan Nassib by 70 for the top mark there. His 2,631 passing yards so far are also third, though he’s behind Nassib by 1,118 for the record in that category. Dungey’s 346 attempts are fourth-highest in school history. With 15 touchdown passes, he’s tied with Marvin Graves for the ninth-highest total in a season.
Dungey is moving up the ladder in terms of career numbers too. His 522 attempts are the eighth-most in school history, as are his 329 completions and his 3,929 yards. With 26 touchdown passes, he’s sixth all-time, and just six behind Troy Nunes for fifth.
Looking at the country’s other top passers, he’s now in second in terms of yardage, but well behind Texas Tech’s Pat Mahomes. Mahomes tied an FBS record last night with 734 yards through the air, which increased his national lead in that category. Dungey’s thrown and completed the fourth-most passes, but his touchdown total’s a bit lower than the other top names (though he also has six rushing scores).
Rushing
Nope.
Receiving
Etta-Tawo’s pace was thought to be slowing, but then he put in a 10-catch, 144-yard game against Boston College. With 1,074 yards on the season, he’s the fourth Orange player to ever pass the 1,000-yard mark, and he’s just 57 yards shy of Marvin Harrison’s record from 1995. His 66 catches are the third-highest total in school history, and he’s just four away from tying Alec Lemon’s record from 2012. Etta-Tawo’s seven touchdown catches have him tied for 10th on the single-season list.
Looking at career numbers, he may not amass enough yardage to be in that top 10, but he’ll end up pretty close (10th in 1,653 by Quinton Spotwood), and same goes for touchdowns. If he stays at his current pace of receptions (8.25 per game), he’d finish the regular season with 99, short of the top 10 by five at the moment.
Though he’s just 40 yards or so behind Louisiana Tech’s Trent Taylor for the national yardage lead, he’s 29 receptions behind national leader East Carolina’s Zay Jones, and fourth overall.
Etta-Tawo also isn’t the only Syracuse receiver making his presence known in the SU record books, either. Ervin Philips’s 60 catches are the eighth-most in the country, and are tied for the fifth-best single-season total in school history.
Quietly, both Philips and Steve Ishmael have crept into range of the top-10 career receptions list for the Orange. Philips sits just outside the list with 104 (bottom of the list is 105). He would’ve been in the top 10 if not for Ishmael, who is now eighth with 107.
Scoring
As we’ve discussed before, Syracuse’s per-game scoring totals aren’t other-worldly. Their 26.6 points per right now are just 83rd in the country.
SU is just 19-for-25 scoring in the red zone, which is the 109th-best rate in the country. Still, the Orange manage to score from outside of the red zone pretty regularly, so that’s the bright side of all of this.
Conversions
Syracuse went 6-for-14 on third down vs. Boston College, boosting their season rate slightly to 42.47 percent. That’s the 49th-best clip in the country. They’ve had more third down attempts than any other team.
SU didn’t have any opportunities to go for it on fourth down, leaving that number (64.71 percent) unchanged from last week.
Total Offense
Through eight games, Syracuse has amassed 3,894 yards of offense, which is 23rd in the country. The school record for yards in a season is 5,127 (in 1997). This year’s team is averaging more yards per game than any previous year’s team, so that mark could certainly fall.
The weather slowed down the Orange a little against Boston College, but they still managed to run 73 offensive plays. That makes for 672 on the year, most in the country. Syracuse is 189 behind the school record of 861, set in 2002.
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Any other stats stick out to you this week? Share whatever else comes up in the comments.
