There have been times in the past when Syracuse used a 3-4 as its base defense. Against West Virginia and Louisville — two fast teams that spread the field out — it was an obvious solution for then-defensive coordinator Scott Shafer and the Orange.

“Our Okie package is what you media people called it in the past, but it’s out of the 3-4 look,” the Syracuse head coach said during his weekly teleconference Tuesday. “When we beat West Virginia the last couple years and Louisville last year and so many of the games, we actually ran that as our base, so it’s really not a new leaf being turned over. It’s what we’ve done. We’ve always been multiple.”

Shafer said that the Orange still bases out of the 4-3, but 3-4 looks give him a chance to get more athletes on the field. SU was able to start linebacker Marqez Hodge in Saturday’s 13-0 win after he led Syracuse in tackles against Georgia Tech the week before.

The Orange first implemented its 3-4 against the Yellow Jackets to counteract GT’s speedy triple option. It made sense to use it again Saturday to match up with the Demon Deacons’ spread attack.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, spread offenses are more common — Maryland uses one, too — which has meant the 3-4 has been a more common scheme for SU to run.

“It just depends on who you’re looking at and who you’re playing,” Shafer said. “There’s just more teams running that type of scheme, so their personnel is obviously going to fit that style.”

 

Published on November 5, 2013 at 1:47 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2