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Tommy DeVito headed to the Syracuse sideline with minutes left in Saturday’s game against Duke, but he wasn’t walking off the field after another drive. On crutches, DeVito made his way back from the locker room, this time just minutes after a defender potentially ended his season. 

Injuries are mounting for Syracuse, who entered the year with less depth and more inexperienced players than usual. DeVito is likely out for the season, according to 247Sports. The Orange’s best player, All-American safety Andre Cisco, will be out for an extended period of time along with running back Jawhar Jordan, head coach Dino Babers said. Linebacker Geoff Cantin-Arku and safety Ja’Had Carter both departed Saturday’s game early, and starting safety Eric Coley was in sweatpants and a walking boot for the entirety of the game.

Including DeVito, the Orange are missing 10 key contributors who started the season but did not finish Saturday’s game. Syracuse isn’t able to go three-deep at most offensive positions, Babers said.

Syracuse sits at 1-3 after four games, but the outlook on the 2020 season appears far gloomier following Duke’s 38-24 demolition of the Orange’s typically stingy defense. 

“Duke rolled in here with their football team with more on their traveling squad than we had for a home game,” Babers said. “That’s not an excuse — we have to get our numbers up, and we are working very hard in doing that.”

The lack of depth affects everything Syracuse wants to do. Without enough players, Babers can’t run his offense as fast as he’d like to, especially when the Orange’s offense went 3-and-out seven times on Saturday. It’s why the Orange are now middle of the pack in pace just a few years after “Orange was the new fast,” as Babers likes to say. 

Instead of the Orange wearing out opponents, Duke wore them out on Saturday, Babers said. 

Syracuse’s depth problems began before the season, when the Orange’s top two running backs, Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard, opted out. Guard Dakota Davis suffered a foot injury, and while he’s working toward returning, the move shifted Chris Elmore from fullback to starting left guard. Since then, Coley suffered a foot injury in the secondary, and the Orange lost Cisco following a “lower extremity injury,” Babers said. Cisco collided with reserve wide receiver Ed Hendrix during the Georgia Tech game warmups. 

He limped to the locker room, and returned without pads to watch from the sideline. On Saturday, Cisco wasn’t spotted on the Syracuse sideline. 

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Against Georgia Tech, Jordan left early with what Babers described as an “owie.” His departure opened the door for true freshman Sean Tucker, who broke out for 112 rushing yards in the win. But by the end of the third quarter against Duke, Tucker, who had leapfrogged Markenzy Pierre on the depth chart, was also injured.

Like many others, Tucker watched as Pierre took most of the snaps at running back. The Orange’s offense already ranks dead-last in the country for both overall offensive efficiency and success rate, and that was with DeVito. Without him, Jordan and possibly Tucker, it might not matter if the offensive line improves anymore. They’re running out of skill players. 

“Those things are uncontrollable,” tight end Luke Benson said. 

Even without SU’s top four running backs, the biggest blow came during SU’s best sustained drive of the afternoon. In the middle of a 12-play drive, DeVito tried to scramble from the pocket when his leg was caught under a Duke defensive lineman, who landed on the quarterback with all of his weight.

He clutched his left leg and couldn’t leave the field without assistance. Minutes later, DeVito was on crutches, watching Rex Culpeper finish the game. DeVito has missed snaps and games, but he’s never missed as much time as he’s now expected to miss.

“Based off of some of the stuff I have heard, it’s not good,” Babers said postgame. “We’re pulling for him and we’re wishing him the best, but like I said, it’s not good.”

The next player up is Culpepper, who completed 8-of-19 passes for 113 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in four appearances this season. Other than a 69-yard touchdown to Taj Harris against Pittsburgh in the second game, Culpepper has 44 passing yards on his 18 other attempts. 

The Orange’s offense hasn’t been statistically better when Culpepper has taken the snaps, whether it’s in the middle of the game or garbage time. SU does have two true freshman quarterbacks, David Summers and Dillon Markiewicz, but neither have appeared in a game. Summers, a three-star from Connecticut, originally committed to Maryland before flipping to Syracuse. Markiewicz was the third quarterback dressed on Saturday, an indication from Babers that he would be next in line should Culpepper be ineffective in the coming weeks.

Markiewicz, a three-star recruit from Texas, chose the Orange over Boise State. Though DeVito has two years of eligibility remaining, he’s set to graduate this December, opening up other potential options.

Babers can either stick with Culpepper, who’s played in spurts throughout his Orange career, or turn to a true freshman. 

At safety, Babers has also been forced to look deeper down the depth chart. Cisco and Coley’s departure led to Robert Hanna and Cam Jonas playing most of the snaps at safety. Though Syracuse’s pass defense hasn’t significantly suffered yet, it could when the Orange face more prolific passing attacks in future weeks.

But the Orange’s run defense from the linebackers and secondary has struggled mightily in the last two games. Jonas and Hanna’s tackling struggles led to six runs of 15 yards or more for Duke.

Syracuse has already had its first bye week. The extra time to get healthy has passed, and the time to prepare a new quarterback is short. Many would have penciled in Liberty as a win prior to the season, but now the Flames enter the Carrier Dome as 3-point favorites on Saturday. 

With seven games remaining in 2020, the Orange face a new reality. Shorthanded and young, Syracuse now has a small window to rescue its season, and it’s closing.

“Hopefully we can get those numbers up if we can get enough seniors to come back,” Babers said. “We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Published on October 11, 2020 at 9:55 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo