Orange Scores 40-Unanswered to Roll Past Central Michigan

After allowing a Central Michigan field goal on the opening possession of the game, Syracuse scored 40 unanswered points to roll to a 40-3 win and improve to 2-0 on Saturday. The Chippewas (2-1) were held to just 217 yards of total offense, with 66 of that coming on the opening drive of the game while the Orange offense, led by quarterback Terrel Hunt's 267 yards and four touchdowns, moved its way to 464 total yards on the day.

CuseTV: Highlights | Coach Shafer Press Conference | Hunt Interview | Philips & Crume Interviews
Links: Final Stats | Postgame Notes | Infographic | Photo Gallery

Hunt was sharp with his arm and his legs, going 20-of-30 passing for 175 yards and a touchdown with 92 yards on 13 carries and three rushing scores.It marks the first that a Syracuse quarterback rushed for three touchdowns since Donovan McNabb on Senior Day vs. Miami in 1998 and the first time any Orange back did it since Delone Carter vs. Akron in 2009.

Adonis Ameen-Moore led all rushers with 106 yards, which was good for a career-high. Freshman Ervin Philips got the first nine carries of his career, rushing for 55 yards on nine carries, 50 of which came on one drive that was capped off by Hunt's first rushing touchdown.

After a Ryan Norton field goal tied the game at three at the start of the second quarter, it was the SU defense that found the back of the end zone first for the Orange.

Defensive tackle and Michigan native Eric Crume strip sacked Chippewas quarterback Cooper Rush and the ball wound up in the hands of Marqez Hodge who took it 36 yards for the score.

After forcing another Central Michigan punt, Hunt led the Orange on a 13 play drive and capped it off with a four-yard touchdown pass – his first of the season – to Brisly Estimewith 1:52 to go in the half.

The score sent Syracuse into the locker room with a 17-3 lead.

The defense got the Orange on the board again at the start of the second half, when after a Riley Dixon punt pinned the Chips inside of the five, Cameron Lynch pressured Rush in the end zone forcing an intentional grounding call that resulted in a safety.

It was the first safety for the Orange since the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl victory over West Virginia.

Hunt put the game out of reach late in the third quarter, when he rushed for a pair of touchdowns just 33 seconds apart. After punching it in from one-yard out with 3:43 remaining in the third, Rodney Williams recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the Orange the ball back. Hunt took full advantage, running it in from three yards and his second rushing touchdown.

The quarterback put the exclamation point on the win with 59 seconds left in the game for his career-high third rushing touchdown of the day.

In the passing game, Hunt spread the ball around with 11 different student-athletes catching a pass on the day.

Ashton Broyld led the team in receptions for the second game in a row, catching four balls for 42 yards.

Lynch once again led all 'Cuse tacklers, coming up with eight tackles. The senior captain also made three sacks on the day.

Syracuse also didn't commit a turnover for the second-straight game.

The Orange will now return home and welcome Maryland (2-1) to the Carrier Dome next Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Shafer: Let us Never Forget

Head coach Scott Shafer held his weekly press conference on Thursday morning, where the coach stepped outside of normal football discussion to take time to reflect on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, on the 13th anniversary of the attacks.

"Let us never forget what happened" Shafer said. "It was horrible; my two children were younger then. For me I was sitting there watching tape and with the facilities we didn't have [at Northern Illinois] we were still using videotape, so every time you clicked the tape out the screen would come on and we had a television channel in the backdrop and there it was. About 45 minutes later the tower dropped and coach [Joe] Novak came in and said 'call your families and make sure everyone is ok.'

"I took off and saw Missy, she went and grabbed Wolf and Elsa who was very young at the time. My brother-in-law was working downtown [in New York] at the time and he was one of those people who had to make the long walk out of the city.

"It was just crazy. Ever since then we've looked at life in the United States so differently, every one of us. So we can never forget and we have to make sure that when we make the decision to vote, we vote for the guy or gal who is going to protect our country. It's just profound. We look at life differently now.  As parents and as you get older you look at how everything changed as we well know. So let's be on the defense and make sure that every opportunity we get we give a hug to a troop member or say a small prayer for a member of the military."

In addition to reflecting on the day, Shafer looked ahead to this weekend's matchup with the Chippewas, a team that enters Saturday's contest 2-0 after topping Purdue 38-17 last week.

We'll have a great challenge in front of us, with a very potent run game," Shafer said. "It's a veteran offensive crew with the addition of [Thomas] Rawls running the ball has proven to be potent. Coach [Dan] Enos has done a great job on both sides of the ball of getting his kids prepared to win, and they've done a great job as was the case last weekend when they annihilated Purdue."

Orange Talk Central Michigan

Shafer and the Orange Look Ahead

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Coming off a bye week in week two of the season, head coach Scott Shafer and the Orange are eager to get back on the field.

Shafer, who wasn't pleased with Syracuse's performance in the season opener, is looking forward to his team's next opportunity.

"The biggest thing I want to see is to play the type of football that we expect," Shafer said. "I was disappointed with the way we played [against Villanova] and that starts with me. I want to be able to turn on the tape after the game and say 'that looks like Syracuse football' again."

To do that, SU will have to get past Central Michigan, a team that enters the contest 2-0 following a 38-17 beating of Purdue.

"Coach Enos has those kids playing extremely well," Shafer said. "You look across the board, Mid-American Conference football, Northwestern got beat by Northern Illinois, Ball State came up just short to Iowa and the job Central Michigan did against Purdue was extremely impressive."

The Chippewas were led offensively by running back Thomas Rawls, who earned MAC player of the week honors for his 155 yards and two touchdown performance in the win. The Michigan transfer is someone that the Orange knows it has to contain on Saturday.

 "He plays the game with great passion and he runs the ball extremely hard," Shafer said. "He'll be physical and run through you. He reminds me of Jerome Smith when he played for us last year, so we'll have a great task in front of us and we're really looking to getting back on the field."

Shafer also announced that quarterback Alin Edouard will now enroll at the mid-year mark.

"He and his family decided that it was in his best interest to enroll in school in January," Shafer said. "Like I've been saying all along, we're going to do what's best for Alin and his family. So we're excited that what he chose to do. It'll give him a chance to still be a freshman and still have four years of eligibility. He can practice in spring ball, summer ball and then get started. It'll create a little natural separation between him and the other freshmen on the team who will then be sophomores."

Kickoff between the Orange and Chippewas is scheduled for Noon.

LINKS:

Cuse.com: Game Notes

Orange and Central Michigan to be Nationally Televised

Syracuse's game at Central Michigan will be televised nationally.

The game, which is scheduled for a Noon kickoff, will be broadcast on ESPNews the network announced.

ESPNews channel listings:
Time Warner Cable (CNY): 302
DirecTV: 207
Verizon FiOS: 302

Both teams will enter the game undefeated, with Syracuse winning its lone game against Villanova 28-27 in the season opener and Central Michigan coming off a 38-17 victory over Purdue to move to 2-0.