For the second time in three games, Syracuse has a dual-threat quarterback to prepare for.

Villanova quarterback John Robertson racked up 115 yards on the ground against the Orange’s defense in the season opener. Now SU (2-0) is readying to handle Maryland (2-1) fifth-year senior C.J. Brown — who ran for 161 yards last weekend and has four rushing touchdowns on the year — on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

“(He’s a) quarterback that can beat you with both his feet and his arm,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said during the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches’ teleconference on Wednesday morning. “The thing C.J.’s done a great job of is bouncing back from a bad drive, and then he’ll have a really good drive and you can see his maturity as a player.”

When the Orange ventured to College Park, Maryland, last November, it held the Terrapins to just three points and contained Brown to five rushing yards on 15 attempts, while picking off two of his passes.

Shafer said his defense has “some things” it can take from facing Robertson to prepare for Brown this time around, but he added the game plan revolves around the fundamental defense that Syracuse exhibited in its 40-3 win over Central Michigan this past weekend.

“It starts by playing team defense and swarming to the ball like we did last week,” Shafer said. “Doing a good job keeping the ball where it’s supposed to be, inside and front. If they do run the ball with the quarterback, we’ve got to be an extremely physical, attacking defense.

“Taking shots and playing aggressive but also playing smart aggressive football.”