I went ahead and rewatched the Akron game on the glorious ESPN3 network, and took notes on any and all Syracuse players that had an impact.  Before I get into the player-by-player breakdown, here ere are some quick headliners that I noticed:

• Chandler Jones is an absolute freak of nature.
• Mike Holmes needs to be taken away from all punt returning duties – immediately!
• Other than a few great passes, Ryan Nassib was sloppy.
• This wide receiving unit can be explosive if used correctly.
• The defense could have very special year.

Now on to the analysis.

OFFENSE

QB Ryan Nassib – Showed great mobility and a fairly calm sense of the pocket throughout the game.  Twice in the first quarter he got off a pass with a LB draped all over him.  Twice in the first quarter he almost threw an interception (passes to Van Chew and Cruz).  His fumble in the first quarter was recovered by Syracuse, but sloppily.  The 47 yard pass to Van Chew was all Van Chew making a play on the ball.  Fumbled again when running the original 2 minute offense at the end of the first half. On second chance at end of first half, Nassib made some solid throws.  His pump fake to freeze the safety Josh Richmond and lofted pass to Van Chew was gorgeous.  Threw way behind Alec Lemon on a pass early in the third quarter.  Tried the pump fake in the second half, Brian Wagner was all over it, very ugly interception across the middle.  On the large pass interference play with Alec Lemon, Nassib had him wide open deep and threw an awful ball behind him.  Easily could have been a touchdown.  Used play action perfectly to the post corner route to Provo, beautiful pass.  Great show of athleticism on last run – that was undoubtedly a touchdown.  Overall a pretty good game.  Nassib definitely has the tools, he just needs to play smarter and be more accurate.

RB Delone Carter - Had a good blitz pickup in the first quarter.  Shuffling his feet too much in the hole.  Didn’t break many tackles.  Great push on goal line to get touchdown.  Overall, he got the ball a lot, just didn’t do much with it.  Averaged only 3.5 yards a carry.

RB Antwon Bailey – Showed great hands and shiftiness on quick pass on first drive of the game.  A good athletic play ruined by a fumble on 3rd down around midfield.  Can’t put the ball on the carpet.  Started the third quarter for the Orange with a great reverse run for 27 yards, explosive.  Bailey is the lightning of this backfield, he can make big plays.  He just has to avoid fumbling.

WR Van Chew – Looked at early and often.  Good down field block on option in first half.  Fantastic 47 yard grab, jumping with contact and coming down with a monster play.  Solid catch over the middle in the second quarter as well.  Unreal diving catch in end zone at the end of the half.  Van Chew is a baller – doesn’t drop the ball and should be a steady receiver for Nassib all year.

WR Aaron Weaver – The Hofstra Transfer could be the X factor in this offense.  His touchdown catch came off of a beautiful underneath route.  Showed great athleticism for a WR of his size going across middle.

WR Alec Lemon – A pretty solid game, nothing too exciting.  Not getting past the first down marker on a 3rd and 7 pass was brutal to watch.  Got an ear full by Marrone after the play.

TE Nick Provo – Phenomenal route and catch on the long pass play in the 4th quarter.

FB Adam Harris – Laid a perfect block on the goal line for Delone Carter’s touchdown.

OL Andrew Tiller – A very shotty game for the offensive lineman.  He missed a block in the first quarter that led to Delone Carter getting popped at the line of scrimmage.  Later in the first, he had a good pull block on a run to open a hole.  Later in the game on a 3rd and 5, Tiller got beat easily causing Nassib to have to throw the ball away.

OL Michael Hay – A hot and cold game for Hay as well.  He was beat hard off the snap in the first quarter forcing Nassib to scramble on 3rd down.  Two times, Hay did a great job of setting the edge and getting to the next level to spring some good runs.  He was charged with a false start penalty in the third quarter.

OL Justin Pugh – Beaten badly on a sack in the second quarter.

OG Zack Chibane – Good job at getting to the next level as he pulled across the line.  In the third quarter he was extremely late on a pull causing Bailey to get tackled for no gain.

Overall: Started and finished the first half with touchdowns.  3 for 3 on 3rd down on first drive. On third downs throughout the game, used a lot of 4 WR staggered formation (2 stacked on each side)

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DEFENSE

DE Chandler Jones – The best defensive player I have seen on Syracuse in a very long time.  I counted five instances of pressure in the first half that led to incompletions and the end of drives.  He had great pursuit on a bubble screen in the second quarter that you typically don’t see out of a defensive end.  On one play, he dropped back in coverage and then pursued the QB and brought him down.  His quickness is unreal.  He even has developed a great club move that he used in the fourth quarter to get around the OT and create pressure on the quarterback to cause an incomplete pass.  His leap to block the 39 yd FG attempt typified his performance.

DL Bud Tribbey – Very impressive.  Had a great tackle in the first possession of the game.  Second quarter, double teamed and still breaks through to stop a run for no gain.  Extremely impressive.  With Akron on the SU 23, he got off the block and single-handedly stopped the RB for no gain forcing a FG attempt.

CB Phillip Thomas – About average.  Good support on first run of game.  Beaten on crossing route in the end zone, a bad throw bailed him out.  On a third and one pass to the fullback, Thomas was out of position and got hit hard by the offensive player.

DB Da’Mon Merkerson – Good in pass coverage, but horrible in run support.  In the third quarter, he was beaten easily over the middle but the receiver Jalil Carter dropped the pass. On 3rd and one, absolutely owned by running back’s stiff arm and even charged with a face mask penalty.  On the play Suter got juked, and Merkerson got leveled by the running back.  Two good plays on deep balls in the fourth quarter.

DT Andrew Lewis – brought some solid pressure up the gut in the second quarter.

DT Anthony Perkins – Great rush on 1st play after Nassib’s fumble towards the end of the second quarter.  Flowed down the line perfectly to drop the RB for no gain in the 3rd.

S Orlando Fisher – Good special teams hit to open second half.  Great safety help on a corner blitz, laid a hard hit down on the WR.

LB Doug Hogue – Pretty quiet game.  Did fill the gaps nicely for a big tackle on the first play after the Nassib INT in the 3rd.

LB Derrell Smith – Very active in the second half.  Showed some good coverage skills in the 3rd.  Granted it was a screen, but Smith’s speed to the QB caused Nicely to rush the throw.  Pass rush caused a holding penalty at the end of the third.  Last play of the third quarter, Smith nailed RB Nate Burner in the hole hard to force third and short.

LB Marquis Spruill – Solid run tackling in the second half.

DB Max Suter – Unforunately the only thing that caught my eye was when Suter was juked hard by a running back on a big gain to start the 4th quarter.

DE Brandon Sharpe – Great job at keeping QB in front of him in pursuit and coming away with a sack.

DB Shamarko Thomas – Phenomenal break on the ball in second quarter to break up a pass.  Left on an island in the flats and delivers a great tackle.

DB Jeremy Wilkes – Good Corner blitz on a big third down that caused an errant pass in the third quarter.

DB Mike Holmes – One of the worst punt returning games I have ever seen.  A number of muffed punts, boneheaded decisions, and scary first catches.  He NEEDS to be taken off this role.  Defensively, he had great pressure on a 3rd and long pass in the third quarter.  He also made a great play on a sack in the 4th quarter.  And simply right place, right time for FG return.  Definitely has speed.

Overall: On 3rd and long in the first half, Syracuse only brought two or three pass rushers a number of times and it worked.  In the second half, they rushed five or six and were getting beaten more often.  After Bailey fumbled, SU had a great defensive stand.  They were forced to use a timeout during Akron’s hurry-up offense.  They were solid in shutting the Zips down throughout the game, but Akron did have moderate success running the shotgun late in the fourth quarter.

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SPECIAL TEAMS

P Rob Long – Great as usual.  Did have a slow start to unting game, unless he was avoiding Akron’s PR.  71 yard punt was an absolute bomb in 3rd quarter, almost put it on the one.  Solid 48 yard punt in third.

K Ross Krautman – Line drive 47 yard field goal good (Said Lichtenstein on broadcast).  Would have been good from 50+.

KR Prince-Tyson Gulley – Good burst in kick return

Overall : Holmes and punt returning is really scary.  Sloppy XP attempt in the third quarter.  Missed XP in the 4th quarter.  Blocked FG will cover most of that up, but it needs to be addressed.

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OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

• Nicely’s inaccuracy making good the Syracuse defense look incredible.  He overthrew some open receivers on some plays that could have been very dangerous
• What was with the phantom personal foul penalty in second quarter where no SU player was named?
• Akron spent barely any time in SU territory in the first half, only Bailey’s fumble let that happen.
• After dominating the first half, Syracuse was only up 10-3 with 1:13 to go, and without Nassib to Van Chew late , it could have been dangerous.
• When Shamarko tackled the WR in the flats in the 3rd quarter, nearly the entire defense was there to celebrate.  The camaraderie of this defense is incredible compared to years past.
• Marrone used two timeouts in the third quarter.
• Color Commentor Je’Rod Cherry began losing his mind in the second half including some of these weird quotes: “He must be an Aerosmith fan because he’s living on the edge” …“I told him, you must be on drugs” (commenting on his former HS coach), “He must be playing Travolta there because he’s definitely staying alive”.  He also did an imitation of Bill Belichick that was high pitched and awful.