With Syracuse (1-0) coming off a 33-7 win over Colgate, the Orange begins its conference schedule against No. 13 Louisville (1-0) in the Carrier Dome Friday at 8 p.m. The Cardinals are coming off a 70-14 thumping of Charlotte in which sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson accounted for eight touchdowns, all of them before halftime.

UofL beat writer Steve Jones of the Courier-Journal answers five questions for The Daily Orange about Jackson, Louisville’s preparations for SU and more.

The Daily Orange: If there is a most effective way to slow down Lamar Jackson, what is it?

Steve Jones: There probably isn’t a real good way because I think it’s true — as has been the storyline since the spring — that he’s an improved passer this year. Not only is Jackson probably the fastest quarterback in the country, I can’t imagine anyone really has a stronger arm. (There is video evidence of him throwing it 100 yards.) He’s gotten pretty accurate, too, and he’s going through his reads and throwing to the tight ends and running backs more than ever before. In short, the guy has gotten really good. That said, I would still think the best way to defend Louisville is to make Jackson beat you with his arm and force him to stay in the pocket. Last year, Florida State, which has a fast defense that was equipped better than most to contain his running, held him to 32 rushing yards on 19 carries even as he had his best passing game of the year (307 yards, three touchdowns), and that was about as well as anyone defended him. There were some games (Auburn, NC State, Kentucky, Texas A&M) he had sub-50 percent completion percentage, but he still killed with his legs. One consideration with Jackson is that you play a tight man-to-man coverage, he can take off running when your DBs have their backs turned. But basically, I’d say keep him in the pocket and make him deliver the ball. That still might get you beat, though.

D.O.: What kinds of problems can Louisville’s front seven pose for a Syracuse ground game that struggled against Colgate?

S.J.: The nose tackle DeAngelo Brown is a load and really experienced guy who doesn’t let too much get through those central gaps. He’s probably one of the best handful of guys at that position in the country. The middle linebacker Keith Kelsey is a first-team All-ACC player who is a sure tackler and is always in the right spot. Lately, UofL has been using safety Josh Harvey-Clemons — a really big, athletic guy at 6-foot-5, 230 — up as a middle linebacker in a dime formation, and the staff thinks he’s gives opponents a matchup problem if you try to block him or catch a pass against him.

As for a pass rush, the guys to watch are the Cards’ two outside linebackers/rush ends — Devonte Fields and James Hearns. Fields is an All-America level guy who led the country in average tackles per loss last season, and he really cranked it up in the second half of the year with 18 tackles for loss in the last seven games. Hearns is explosive, too.

D.O.: What does Bobby Petrino seem most concerned about heading into Friday when it comes to Syracuse?

S.J.: Part of it has been the nature of the most common questions he’s received, but he has mostly talked about needing to get ready for the up-tempo offense, including the semi-controversy over if Syracuse got to snap the ball too quickly against Colgate. It certainly sounds like Louisville is working hard on trying to simulate in practice, with two scout offenses running in and out against the first-team defense and snapping it every 16 seconds. And the Cards would figure to keep using that dime defense to give them the flexibility to match up with a speedy spread offense.

The first thing he mentioned about Syracuse’s defense is that the Orange runs a lot of D-line movements and “line games” that will test Louisville’s O-line. Some more complicated stunts and line moves seemed to confuse UofL’s O-line last year, when it was second-to-last in the country in sacks allowed. Last year, Louisville started two true freshman tackles, a redshirt freshman guard and junior-college transfer guard a lot of the time, so it was a really inexperienced group. The staff claims the O-line’s a lot better this year because the guys actually know the plays and concepts. Charlotte probably wasn’t good enough to gauge if UofL actually is better up-front, but, for what it’s worth, Charlotte got no sacks and only one tackle for loss.

D.O.: What was most surprising from Louisville’s 70-point onslaught against Charlotte?

S.J.: The fact that Jackson got to eight touchdowns (six passing, two rushing) in a half was incredible, but that actually didn’t overly surprise me. He threw for eight touchdowns in basically a half in the spring game, and I thought UofL’s second-team defense (that he faced in the spring game) probably was better than Charlotte’s first-team defense. I would say the amount UofL threw to the running backs really stood out. It just wasn’t a key part of the offense last year. The group combined for 13 catches and zero touchdowns last season. On Thursday, they caught nine passes and three TDs. All those TDs came from Jackson in a pretty short span in the first half. It’s a sign Jackson is checking down, looking for more guys than he ever did last year. If it continues, it would add a big element to the offense.

D.O.: The last time Syracuse beat an opponent ranked this high was Louisville in 2012 at home. Is there any way that happens again?

S.J.: There’s a chance because Dino Babers’ teams can move the ball and score, but I don’t see it happening. Louisville strikes me as really good, and I’ve been thinking top-12 or top-15 good for a while. (That’s no stretch considering they are literally ranked in the top 15 this week.) Jackson is super athlete, the O-line should be better than last year because the group is more experienced, there are eight wide receivers on the team who were ranked four-star recruits by at least one site, and most of the starters are back from a top-20 defense. And Louisville blew Syracuse out last year when Jackson didn’t even play. The Orange are probably better, and they have a home-field advantage, but Louisville is better, too, so I think the Cards will win pretty handily.

Published on September 8, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman