Athens, Ohio — Sean Tucker was locked in for Syracuse’s opener against Ohio. Heck, the second-year running back from Syracuse was even locked in 30 minutes after the Orange’s game against Ohio.
As Tucker took his turn at a podium outside the Syracuse locker room late Saturday night following a 29-9 win, quarterback Tommy DeVito crept in close behind the reporters asking him questions and followed the fourth query with a shout.
“Yeah Tuck!,” DeVito yelled, delivering a loud dose of interview interruption.
It’s a customary moment for young football players getting their first turns in the spotlight. Their teammates are happy to watch them recognized for their achievements and, perhaps, eager to keep it from going to their heads.
Most never seem quite sure how to respond. Many break down in laughter at their teammates’ joke. Some roll their eyes. Others look down at the ground and smile.
Tucker deadpanned his way through it all, brushing DeVito aside and churning out one serious answer after another — the same way he churned out one serious run after another against the Bobcats or pushed through one serious workout after another this offseason.
“It felt good,” Tucker said. “Helping my team win. Helping my team get yards. Helping my team get points on the board and come out with a win today.”
Tucker was so locked in on Saturday that even his interviews were a marvel of verbal efficiency.
He delivered a career game in the Orange’s season-opener, rushing 25 times for 181 yards and a touchdown that put the game out of reach.
He was the offensive star in a grind-it-out game, building off a stellar freshman year and the belief of teammates that he is good enough to wear Syracuse’s fabled No. 44 by the time his career is complete.
It was the most for a Syracuse player since Eric Dungey rushed for 200 yards against Western Michigan in 2018, and the best by a running back in nearly a decade, dating back to when Prince-Tyson Gulley gashed West Virginia for 213 in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2012.
Tucker was constant and consistent. Only one of his carries went for negative yards. Ten secured first downs or touchdowns. Seventeen went for at least 3 yards.
He was the primary driver of the Orange rushing attack against Ohio, one that also included one of the better rushing performances in the career of DeVito (seven carries, 49 yards and one touchdown).
Together, the pair showed the efficiency of a well-run, read-option offense that is one of the centerpieces of the Syracuse attack.
With Ohio struggling to stop Tucker, the Bobcats were forced to devote extra manpower into the middle of the field each time it looked like he could get the ball. The attention allowed DeVito to pull a hand-off away from Tucker, darting to the outside while the running back’s gravity pulled defenders into the middle of the field.
“He was doing extremely well and had a real feel for what we were trying to do,” Babers said of DeVito. “We were basically running the ball and running a lot of checks and a lot of offense. We were really excited about his performance.”
And while Tucker and DeVito might have been the statistical beneficiaries, they probably weren’t the players that needed the moment the most.
For a unit that has been bludgeoned with blame for Syracuse’s struggles the past two years, prompting the hiring of a new position coach, the Orange offensive line relished the opportunity to beat down someone else for a change and show that last season’s late improvements – perhaps not-to-coincidentally when Dakota Davis came back from an injury – were legitimate.
Offensive guard Chris Bleich said the Bobcats frequently changed their defensive line’s alignment directly before the snap to try to confuse the Orange and test their communication. Bleich said Syracuse navigated the challenge nicely.
“Years past we’ve kind of been considered the weak link,” Bleich said. “Everyone came in thinking it would be the same issue. We had a chip on our shoulder to be more aggressive and physical. I think it showed up in the rushing yards today.”
Babers said the biggest source of optimism for him from the opener was how the Orange dictated things up front against an opponent he considers very physical, something he believes bodes well for the future.
“There’s points when it clicks during the game,” Bleich said. “A bigger challenge for us will be Rutgers and the Big Ten. Ohio is a great team, but Big Ten is tougher competition. If we can do it week in and week out, then we can actually say that we did it.”
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