Dino Babers began his press conference on Monday the same way he did the week before. He rattled off player names, team stats and other figures pertaining to the opponent SU will face — Louisville on Friday.

But this time, instead of starting with his opponent’s offense or coaching staff, Babers went straight to the defense.

“Defensively for Louisville they return eight starters,” he began. “They were 18th in the country in total defense, 14th in the country in rushing defense. They tied for eighth in sacks with 38 sacks in 2015.”

Then he got to the key players: DeAngelo Brown, Devonte Fields and Keith Kelsey. All named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference team. All part of a dominant Louisville front seven.

Syracuse’s (1-0) offensive line will have its work cut out against the No. 13 Cardinals (1-0) at 8 p.m. Friday in the Carrier Dome. An SU unit that struggled to run the ball against Colgate will be facing one of the conference’s best fronts.

“They’re outstanding,” Babers said. “Their nose tackles, their one and three techniques, their rush-ins. (Keith Kelsey) is extremely physical. I think their front seven is definitely the strength of that defense.”

Louisville lost defensive end Sheldon Rankins to the NFL this offseason — he was the 12th pick overall. But Brown, Fields and Kelsey all decided to stay for their senior seasons after thinking about leaving for the NFL.

Brown anchors the defense at the nose tackle spot, while Kelsey slides in at middle linebacker and Fields sits at outside linebacker. Brown doesn’t give up much ground at the point of attack and Kelsey is able to fill most of the holes. Fields excels at creating a pass rush along the edge.

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Syracuse faced three first-team All-Patriot League players on the front seven against Colgate. The Orange gave up three sacks and ran the ball for only 117 yards on 35 attempts.

Babers said the offensive line played “well” and center Jason Emerich called the performance “pretty good.” But SU’s next opponent in the Cardinals are in a completely different league.

“I can’t really talk about them as a whole,” Emerich said of the offensive line after his two-word assessment. “Myself, there’s some good things, there’s some bad things.”

Babers cited a 49-yard touchdown run by running back Moe Neal as the best-blocked play of the game. It was also the only sizable hole created for a running back group that would have totaled 49 yards on 21 carries without it.

The Raiders did stack the box all game, essentially giving up the pass, but Emerich declined to say whether he thought SU will have more room to run in the future with teams probably respecting the pass more.

“I’m not a defensive coordinator so I can’t answer that question,” Emerich said.

Louisville, meanwhile, gave up 48 yards on the ground in its first game against Charlotte — a 70-14 thrashing — and managed four sacks and seven tackles for a loss. Those rank 12th, 14th and 45th in the nation, respectively, through one game.

Where the Orange may be able to take advantage is with its up-tempo play. Louisville frequently rotates its defensive linemen, so if SU can keep an underperforming or tired out defensive linemen on the field by snapping quick and not substituting, it could exploit that side of the line.

“The key there is to finding the right way to do it and the breaks on when you can get them in,” Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said. “We’ve been conditioning hard, and we understand the tempo that they play at is very fast.”

But the offense wasn’t as fast as Babers or the players wanted in Week 1. And the controversy over whether or not the chains have to be set could give the Cardinals more time to rest or substitute.

That leaves SU’s offensive line with the tall task of controlling Louisville’s starting front seven straight up.

“It’ll be a good test for us upfront as a new offense,” Emerich said.

Published on September 8, 2016 at 11:10 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus