2023 Season preview: Syracuse
The 2023 Pitt football season is less than two months away. The Panthers are coming off a 9-4 season, which was capped off with a dramatic 37-35 win over UCLA in the Sun Bowl. After starting the 2022 season with a disappointing 4-4 mark, Pitt surged down the stretch and won its final five games and finished No. 22 in the final AP poll. 2022 marked the second straight season Pat Narduzzi’s team finished the year ranked.
The Panthers’ success on the field translated to some notoriety off of it. Pitt boasted six NFL draft picks in April, including Calijah Kancey, giving the Panthers a second straight year with a first round pick. The talent lost is undeniable, but Pitt still returns some key players and ending the year with a five-game winning streak creates some optimism for the 2023 season.
Given we are in the month of July, we will start to slowly prepare for the start of training camp next month and the season opener on September 2nd. We will take a game by game look ahead at all 12 of Pitt’s regular season matchups.
Today we will look at one of the more intriguing games on the schedule, not so much due to the opponent, but because of the location. Pitt will travel to New York City on November 11th to take on Syracuse with the game being held at Yankee Stadium. The game is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the first football game being played at Yankee Stadium, a 3-0 Syracuse win over Pitt, back in 1923. There is plenty of history here between the two programs.
Let’s take a closer look at the Syracuse Orange.
Game details: Saturday November 11, 2023. Yankee Stadium (46,537 capacity) 3:30 TBA
Opponent: Syracuse University, established 1870
School location: Syracuse, New York
2022 record: 7-6 (4-4 ACC)
Postseason: 28-20 loss to Minnesota in Pinstripe Bowl
Head Coach: Dino Babers, 8th season, 36-49 (73-65 in 11 seasons overall)
Returning Starters: 11 (5 offense, 6 defense)
Last Meeting: November 5, 2022: Pitt 19, Syracuse 9
All-Time Series: Pitt leads 43-31-3
Rivals Recruiting Rankings by year:
2023: 96th
2022: 65th
2021: 51st
2020: 54th
2019: 64th
Offense
2022 season ranks
Total: 75th (374.8 ypg)
Scoring: 69th (27.7 ppg)
Passing: 66th (232.3 ypg)
Rushing: 73rd (142.5 ypg)
KEY Players
Garrett Shrader QB
Lequint Allen RB
Oronde Gadsden TE
Damien Alford WR
Chris Bleich RG
Outlook: The Syracuse offense has largely been defined by its star running back the past three seasons. Sean Tucker left Syracuse as the program’s third all-time leading rusher after posting 3,182 yards and 27 touchdowns for his career. Tucker also amassed 64 receptions for 622 yards and four scores as a receiver. He was a key component to what Syracuse liked to do on offense, but the Orange should at least have some firepower in the passing game for this season.
Garrett Shrader took a significant jump from 2021 to last season as he totaled 2,640 passing yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 65% of his passes. Shrader is dangerous runner as well and has over 1,200 rushing yards and 23 scores over the past two seasons as the team’s top quarterback. An injury kept Shrader out of the Pitt game last season and the offense sputtered that day at Acrisure Stadium.
The running game will take a hit losing Tucker, but LeQuint Allen gained some experience as a freshman and looked solid in the bowl game back in December with 94 yards on 15 carries against Minnesota. It will be hard to replace Tucker fully, but Allen has some ability.
The receiving corps lost some key components, but the Orange have one of the better all-around weapons in the conference in Oronde Gadsden II. Gadsden recorded 61 catches for 969 yards and six scores. The 6’5” tight end/receiver can be a matchup problem and should be an asset for Shrader in the red zone.
The offensive line returns two starters led by Chris Bleich, a one-time Pitt target. Bleich, a Pennsylvania native, has started 19 games at right guard for Syracuse over the past two seasons. He will be joined up front by Kalan Ellis, a nine-game starter at left guard from a season ago.
Defense
2022 Season ranks
Total: 20th (328.6 ypg)
Scoring: 39th (23.1 ppg)
Passing: 14th (184.8 ypg)
Rushing: 57th (143.8 ypg)
Key Players
Kevon Darton DT
Caleb Okechukwu DE
Marlowe Wax LB
Justin Barron S
Alijah Clark S
Outlook: Syracuse had one of the best defenses in the ACC last season. The Orange sustained some serious losses, but there is still enough in place for this to be a very difficult defense to play against once again. Syracuse lost cornerback Garrett Williams to the NFL Draft and two starting defensive backs hit the transfer portal with Duce Chestnut ending up at LSU and Ja’Had Carter winding up at Ohio State. Despite those losses, this will still be a formidable defensive unit.
It all starts with linebacker Marlowe Wax, who is entering his fourth year with the program. Wax led the team with 91 tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss. He also recorded 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles last season. Wax will be joined by Derek McDonald, who started eight games last season and posted 43 tackles.
The defensive line is anchored by defensive end Caleb Okechukwu, who led the team with seven sacks a year ago. Undersized defensive tackle Kevon Darton is also back up front. And perhaps look for Alabama transfer Braylan Ingraham to make an impact as well.
While the secondary lost some key components, they aren’t without experience on the back end. The safety duo of Justin Barron and Alijah Clark both are back off of last year’s defense which ranked 14th nationally against the pass. Clark is a true safety, while Barron plays more ‘rover’ in the Orange’s 3-3-5 defensive alignment and is a pretty sure tackler from that spot.
Final Thoughts: Syracuse dominated this series in the 1990s, but Pitt really reversed the course starting in 2002. Since then Pitt has won 18 of the past 21 meetings, including a five-game winning steak against the Orange. The two teams have met every since 1955 and with the new ACC scheduling model the annual series is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
There is a lot of history in this game. The series dates back to 1916 and the storyline surrounding this week will be about the return to The Bronx. It’s not the original Yankee Stadium of course, but these are two of the oldest programs in the sport playing in a traditional venue from back in the day.
As for the game itself, Pitt certainly benefitted from not having to face Shrader last season. He is a tough quarterback and helped engineer a 6-0 start for his team last season, but once the schedule picked up, Syracuse did hit a late season swoon. Shrader should have this offense as a threat and the Orange defense should be solid. Pitt should have the upper hand in talent, but Syracuse won’t be an easy out by any means.