Syracuse barely held on to beat Central Michigan 30-27 in overtime on Saturday. The Orange was shut out in the second half and blew a 14-point halftime lead before triumphing with an overtime touchdown after allowing just a field goal to CMU. Here’s a look at where some players stand after the up-and-down contest.

Stock Up

Jason Emerich, junior center

Playing in place of injured senior center Rob Trudo, Emerich filled in seamlessly. Trudo left midway through last week’s game against Wake Forest after a Demon Deacon crashed into his right leg. Emerich, who started two games last year, received praise from head coach Scott Shafer after Week 2 and his solid play continued on Saturday. While having to work with three different quarterbacks throughout the game, Emerich stayed consistent and provided the necessary protection for the offense to run a significant number of option plays. SU also averaged 5.5 yards per rush.

Ron Thompson, junior defensive end

After being injured in training camp and limited in Week 1 against Rhode Island, Thompson proved how big of a difference-maker he could be for the second week in a row. His two forced fumbles, two sacks and three tackles for loss were all key plays and perhaps even most importantly, Thompson made the stop that forced Central Michigan to take a field goal in overtime. On third-and-goal from SU’s 1-yard line, Thompson busted through the CMU offensive line and took down Devon Spalding for a loss of a yard. On the next possession, Syracuse scored a touchdown and since the Chippewas were held to just a field goal, SU won the game.

Stock Down

George Morris, junior running back

After getting ample opportunities, and not taking advantage, in the first two weeks of the season, Morris only received one carry — a drop-off from 12 and six carries in the first two weeks, respectively. While Morris continued to split time with starter Devante McFarlane and backup Jordan Fredericks, it was Fredericks who became the go-to player as he got every carry in overtime.

“If somebody gets a hot hand, we’ll start to give it to that guy a little more,” Shafer said after the game. “… We got three or four pretty good running backs I think that we believe in.”

Syracuse secondary

Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush finished the day with a career-high 37 completions and lit up Syracuse’s secondary for 430 passing yards. While he did throw one interception, it wasn’t even caught by a defensive back — instead it was linebacker Zaire Franklin. It’s the second week in a row that SU’s secondary was exposed — Wake Forest’s John Wolford put up 373 yards in Week 2.

And with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter, the Orange couldn’t come up with a stop. CMU got the ball down by seven with 2:17 left to play, needing to go 90 yards to tie the game. Eleven of Central Michigan’s 12 plays were passes and the drive culminated in a 27-yard touchdown pass that went right over cornerback Julian Whigham, who failed to knock the ball down.

Published on September 20, 2015 at 1:10 pm

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