Central Michigan head coach John Bonamego hasn’t had much time to watch Syracuse tape between his first-ever head coaching win on Saturday and a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan on Sunday.

But Bonamego did carve out some time on Sunday to look back at SU’s first couple of games. He said the first thing that stood out to him was the experience of its offensive line and thinks the Orange is impressive on that side of the ball.

“I know that the loss of a quarterback is significant,” Bonamego said. “But the young man that’s playing, did a very good job last week staying within himself. … They give you a lot to defend.”

That “young man”, of course, is Syracuse’s (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) freshman quarterback Eric Dungey, who the Chippewas (1-1) will have to go against at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Last year, the Orange beat the Chippewas, 40-3, in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. But Bonamego wasn’t around for that, and neither was Dungey or a newly-oriented Syracuse offense.

“(SU head) coach (Scott) Shafer has always had great defenses,” Bonamego said. “For us to go there and play in that environment, a school that has as much tradition as Syracuse, we know it’s going to be a big challenge and we’re excited to make the trip up.”

Bonamego said he thinks his team has played defense “exceptionally well” in CMU’s first two games, with the exception of a few series. He said he wants his team to get better in the run game and minimize on its mistakes.

In its first game of the season, CMU gave up a 13-10 second-half lead to Oklahoma State at home before losing 24-13. On Saturday, the Chippewas beat Monmouth at home, 31-10.

“Syracuse is a quality opponent,” Bonamego said. “You can’t expect to go in there and compete with them by turning the ball over or committing foolish penalties.”

Published on September 14, 2015 at 1:23 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3