Syracuse football needs quarterback Eric Dungey to make a bowl in 2017
Syracuse football has made just three bowls in its last 12 years. To make one in 2017, they’ll need a healthy, productive Eric Dungey for all 12 games.
Second-year Syracuse head coach Dino Babers installed his high-octane offense in 2016, but it yielded similar results to the Orange’s 2015. The operator of his vaunted offense, sophomore Eric Dungey, took steps forwardm but injuries cut his season short. Babers will be in a better spot with Dungey in the starting lineup for the entire season.
Dungey is an electrifying playmaker that improved on his 2015 season. He increased every single significant statistical category this year, including raising his sub-60 percent completion percentage to 64.8. He’s shown accuracy and an ability to throw accurately on the run. He went 4-4 during starts that he finished. It was a much better mark from his 2-5 record in 2015.
The increase in accuracy was key considering he was in an offense that saw its last passer Matt Johnson complete 67 percent of his passes. Dungey will have two more years to sit in that same system and build on his career.
Furthermore, Dungey showed a clutch ability in big games, beating nationally ranked Virginia Tech and bowl-bound Boston College. The team failed to win another game in his absence, and ultimately Syracuse finished with a 4-8 record for the second straight year. His big-game wins and Syracuse’s struggles without him showed how well-equipped he is to take syracuse back to the bowl eligibility.
Despite all the improvements, he needs to add weight and avoid the hits that cost him multiple games from 2015-2016. He added five pounds from 202 to 207 during the 2016 offseason, but he still needs to add more.
For every highlight reel play like his hurdle against Virginia, he’s taken concussion-causing shots. They are unneeded especially in an offense so predicated on a passing quarterback.
He also needs to stay in the pocket and deliver strikes out of harms way or learn to slide. His brilliant ability to create causes defenses problems, but it also caused him to suffer through two injury-riddled seasons.
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It’s a pretty simple formula when he’s on the field the Orange have a chance to win. The offense needs its leader that can be an equalizer against strong competition.