The hay is finally in the barn, Jerome Smith announced via Twitter after Saturday’s game.

Once again, Syracuse did not have a 100-yard rusher, but once again it didn’t matter. The sum of the Orange’s four-headed rushing attack — five if you include Terrel Hunt — once again compiled a 200-yard day in SU’s 52-17 rout of Tulane in the Carrier Dome on Saturday.

“It’s a team sport and I’m proud of all those kids that ran the ball and were effective,” head coach Scott Shafer said.

Smith ran the ball 10 times for 38 yards and a touchdown — plus another through the air. George Morris II had nine carries for 35 and Devante McFarlane had five for 22. Hunt ran for his second touchdown of the season and took seven carries for 39 yards. Even backup quarterback Drew Allen ran the ball three times for 14 yards.

Leading the way, though, was Prince-Tyson Gulley. His 57-yard output was his best of the season and the best for the Orange on Saturday.

“My linemen came to play today and they were opening holes and I was just running,” Gulley said. “The linemen made it easier with the tempo.”

The roles were actually reversed for Gulley and Smith. Typically Gulley is deadly in the receiving game. He can bust long runs on the outside, but his greatest value is as a third-down running back catching passes.

Instead, Smith opened Saturday’s game with a 20-yard checkdown from Hunt and finished the first drive with a spectacular one-handed catch that he turned into the end zone for a 15-yard score.

Gulley, meanwhile, scored his lone touchdown on a 1-yard run up the gut.

Smith got back to that style, though, to end the first half. After an expertly crafted drive by SU, Smith took the ball in from a yard out, trucking a defender on his way to give Syracuse a commanding 42-17 lead.

“I’m pleased the kids support one another,” Shafer said. “Jerome and Tyson are unselfish. They understand we have a lot of tools, a lot of things that we’re working with, and we have a very unselfish team that doesn’t care who gets the credit. That’s why I love them so much.”

 

Published on September 21, 2013 at 7:24 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2