UPDATED: Sept. 7, 2018 at 1:20 p.m.

Kendall Coleman raced after Western Michigan’s Jon Wassink. The Broncos’ quarterback tried to escape the pocket for a first down, but he never reached the line of scrimmage, as Coleman tripped him up from behind for a two-yard loss and turnover on downs.

The sack helped Syracuse (1-0) preserve a 20-point lead, which it held onto as the Orange took down Western Michigan (0-1), 55-42, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. But Coleman’s sack was the lone one in a lackluster effort from an experienced defensive line. It came against an offensive unit that allowed two sacks per game last year in a non-power conference.

With a healthy Coleman alongside defensive tackle Chris Slayton and 2017 SU sacks leader Alton Robinson (5.0 sacks), Syracuse expected its ability to pressure the quarterback to leap forward this season. Against Western Michigan, that didn’t happen.

“(We) kind of stalled out, a little bit,” Coleman said. “And that resulted in a lot of points being put on the board. We obviously could’ve handled that up front … Could’ve and should’ve.”

Syracuse’s difficulties getting to quarterbacks last season hurt the defense. With 17 sacks last season, SU ranked 113th (out of 129) in total sacks and 110th in sack percentage, reaching the quarterback on 4.07 percent of plays.

As opposing offenses received little pressure, they thrashed Syracuse through the air. Opposing quarterbacks completed more than 62 percent of their passes against SU last season, ranking the Orange 97th in the nation.

Syracuse had the lowest sack rate in the country on passing downs — anything past second down and eight yards to go or third or fourth down and five yards for a first — last season, at 1.3 percent.

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SU’s secondary played well in the first half, but when the Broncos found their groove in the third quarter (and the Syracuse secondary faltered) the defensive line did not give them any help.

“(Wassink) was definitely able to sit there in his comfort zone,” Coleman said. “That’s on us, as a front. Up front, the front four, we gotta handle that and make sure that the quarterbacks can’t find their comfort zone. Can’t get comfortable and they’re always passing under pressure.”

The key issue for the D-line, Robinson said, was an inability to detach from the WMU offensive line. He and the rest of the line struggled to separate themselves from the players in front of them and create open space to get into the backfield.

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“It wasn’t a lot that they did. Just missed assignment from guys up front,” Robinson said.

The line has to work on its explosiveness off the blocks, Robinson said, and disengaging from their opposition, which also hurt SU in stopping the run. WMU running back LeVante Bellamy gassed the Orange for 121 yards on 11 carries. That, combined with 379 yards in the air from Wassink, helped the Broncos storm back from a 27-point deficit to cut the lead to six.

“We can’t start pointing fingers and playing selfish ball,” Coleman said. “Can’t start thinking about saving touchdowns and not doing our job and playing our responsibilities.

“That third quarter was a big test of us, as a team,” Coleman continued. “Going through adversity. And I think the way that we responded in the fourth spoke volumes.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Syracuse’s opponent was misstated. Syracuse played Western Michigan last Friday. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on September 5, 2018 at 11:44 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu