Despite the loss, some positive statistical notes came out of the NC State game.
While the Syracuse Orange did lose this weekend, the team did manage some strong offensive numbers against the N.C. State Wolfpack. Particularly during a second-half surge, SU quickly racked up passing yards and helped some players climb single-game, season and career leader boards. It’s no substitute for a win, clearly. But we can take some positives nonetheless.
Each week, we’ll be highlighting the most notable (largely offensive) Orange statistical accomplishments in this space.
Passing
Eric Dungey’s put together another solid season for the Orange, but the numbers haven’t necessarily hit the astronomical heights we saw at times last year. Saturday’s 385 passing yards were actually the highest total for the junior all season, and were the ninth-most single-game passing yards in school history. It was also Dungey’s eighth career 300-yard game, which is a school record.
The 385 yards moved Dungey up to fifth on SU’s all-time passing list, 398 yards shy of Don McPherson for fourth. His one passing touchdown gave him sole possession of fifth on the all-time list (with 33), breaking a tie with Troy Nunes. While his 30 completions weren’t a record by any means, they did allow him to move up to fourth in school history on that list. He has 470 now, which is fourth all-time.
Nationally, Dungey is 12th in passing yards (with 1,437), fourth in attempts and fifth in completions. Syracuse’s passing offense is 15th overall in terms of yards per game.
Receiving
Ervin Philips took advantage of NC State double-covering Steve Ishmael for a good portion of the game, as he finished with 17 catches for 188 yards — both career-highs for him. The receptions total was also a school and conference record. Philips shared the old school mark with Art Monk and Ishmael at 14.
Erv’s breakout game vaulted him to second in the country in receptions, with 44 so far. Despite making just six grabs on Saturday, Ishmael maintained his national lead there, with 51 on the season. Both are on pace to shatter Amba Etta-Tawo’s single-season mark set last year.
Ishmael’s 632 receiving yards are a career-high, and put him just 15 yards away from James Washington (Oklahoma State) for the national lead there.
Both Orange players are obviously climbing the school record books as well. Philips is second in school history with 178 catches — just 23 away from Alec Lemon’s SU record now. Ishmael is 13 behind him in that category. Ishmael’s 2,176 receiving yards slot him in at fourth on the all-time list and he needs less than 600 yards to beat Marvin Harrison’s mark of 2,728 career receiving yards. Philips is further down that list at 1,585, but could easily finish among the top six or seven by the end of the year.
Total offense
On the year, Dungey has 1,714 total yards, giving him 6,335 on his career now. That’s the fifth-best total in school history and about 700 shy of Don McPherson in fourth. His 51 touchdowns (after three more on Saturday) put him 14 behind Marvin Graves for fourth on that list. With 18 rushing touchdowns in his career, he’s just outside the top 10 on that list as well.
At 460.2 yards per game, Syracuse is 34th in the country -- and clearly that total’s largely based on the passing game. Falling short of 30 points for two straight weeks has knocked the team down a bit in terms of points per game, as you’d assume. They’re averaging 33, which is 53rd in college football.
With 425 offensive plays so far, the Orange are averaging 85 per game, which is the fifth-highest total in the country. However, it’s not even the highest in the ACC, as Duke has run 13 more plays this year in the same number of games.
Getting just 20 first downs against NC State, the per-game numbers have fallen off a bit for SU. However, they’re still in the top 25, with 24 per game. The Orange were 7-for-17 on third down vs. the Wolfpack, which dragged their conversion rate down there as well. Syracuse is 40-for-95 (42.11 percent) on third this season, which is 48th-best in football.
SU’s 10-for-16 on fourth down this season, which doesn’t yield a very high percentage. However, just two teams have converted on fourth more times than they have this year.
Red zone scoring continued to be both good and bad. Syracuse is 23-of-26 scoring in the red zone this season (88.46 percent), which actually makes for the seventh-most red zone scores in the country. But with a touchdown percentage of just 53.85 percent (100th overall), it’s not doing us as much good as it could.
Spot any other statistical achievements from this week? Share below.
