Terrel Hunt loves what he’s seeing on tape.

It shows West Virginia dropping 40 points and nearly 700 yards of offense on Maryland — Syracuse’s opponent at 12:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome on Saturday — in a 40-37 Mountaineers’ victory.

“I was really excited to see how many yards they put up,” Hunt said of West Virginia on Tuesday evening. “I was trying to find out their tendencies and really what they do in certain formations and the coverages that they play. What they do when they blitz, little things like that.

“They’re going to come tough. They’re a good defense.”

WVU quarterback Clint Trickett amassed 511 yards and four scores through the air and completed 37 of his 49 passing attempts. Two Mountaineer wide receivers eclipsed 130 receiving yards.

Three WVU wideouts had longs of more than 40 yards, hinting at the Terrapins’ susceptibility to big plays.

“They gave up a couple plays here and there and West Virginia earned some points on them as well,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said during the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches’ teleconference Wednesday. “But before that, you watch Maryland — they’re a very good defensive football team.”

Hunt and his offense are coming off a 40-point showing of their own, a blowout win over Central Michigan on Saturday in the quarterback’s first full game of the season after being ejected in the season opener. Having all the pieces available on offense for the entirety of the game, Hunt said, allowed the unit to get back on track.

But when Hunt was asked if Syracuse can match the Mountaineers’ output against Maryland, the quarterback smiled and held off on making any bold statements.

“I’m not going to say anything,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not going to say anything.”

Published on September 17, 2014 at 1:30 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb