Syracuse Isn’t Interested in Explaining Their Strategy at QB Before NC State

This past Saturday, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers benched Senior Starting Quarterback Eric Dungey late in the 4th quarter in the Orangemen’s home matchup versus UNC, and brought in Redshirt Freshman Tommy DeVito. Dungey was 17 of 33 for 225 yards when he was taken out. DeVito proceeded to throw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Nykeim Johnson with 1:39 left in regulation to tie the game to and send it to overtime. He threw two more touchdown passes in the two overtime periods, leading the Orangemen to a 40-37 come-from-behind ACC victory over the Tar Heels. DeVito finished the game 11 of 19 for 181 yards with 3 touchdowns (1 interception).

Dungey has been the starting quarterback at Syracuse since Game 1 of his Freshman season back in 2015, but Babers felt like they needed a spark if they were going to beat UNC this past Saturday.

“I just thought it might be a spark,” Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. “I just felt we needed to do something different. I just felt like they had a little bit of a beat on us. Sometimes when you change one character it throws off the defense. I don’t know if it worked or not. I’m just happy with the result.” (ESPN)

DeVito also helped lead the Orangemen to a victory over FSU earlier this year when Dungey was injured late in the 2nd quarter. Syracuse held a 6-0 lead over the Seminoles at the half, but with DeVito under center, the Orangemen went on to win 30-7.

Babers has been hush hush this week on what the plan is at quarterback tomorrow against NC State, forcing the Wolfpack to plan for both Dungey and DeVito.

“What I like about both of those young men is that they are unselfish players,” Babers said. “I mean, those guys have a great relationship. Obviously there’s only one starting quarterback to a football team, but I’ve never seen a relationship any closer than those two.”

“Tommy asks Dungey all kinds of questions and Dungey is always helping Tommy, so that’s the thing I love both about them,” Babers continued. “From an individual standpoint, I wouldn’t separate one from the other. I think they are both really good quarterbacks and they are capable of leading this football team.” (Link)

“My thing is, when you have children, you always want to be fair,” Babers said. “You always want to be fair. When you’re the leader of any organization, the leader of a football team, you’ve got 107 sons. They’re not step-sons, they’re not strangers, they’re not kids who play in the neighborhood around the corner; they’re your sons. And you want to be fair.

“So that’s the big thing is just making sure that you’re fair and that you’re always crystal-clear with the family, that they know what’s going on.” (Link)

“I think that everyone internally doesn’t have to necessarily know what the plan is for Saturday,” Babers said, “but I think the major guys that it involves the most, I think they have an understanding of how it’s going to be.” (Link)

Dungey is a brute of a quarterback, rushing for 28 touchdowns over the past 4 seasons. DeVito is a capable runner, but doesn’t possess the size of Dungey, and is more likely to sit in the pocket and pick you apart.

I would be shocked if Dungey didn’t at least start the game, but I expect both of them to get playing time.

As Dave Doeren has said this week, they will game plan for both, and have to adjust with whatever Syracuse puts on the field.