Editor’s note: The following is a Q&A between Mia Wachtel, football beat reporter at The Daily Californian, and Aiden Stepansky, assistant sports editor of The Daily Orange. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Mia Wachtel: Against Pitt, Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord threw five interceptions, three of which were pick sixes. Do you think the team can rely on McCord, and what’s different about this matchup against Cal?
Aiden Stepansky: When that first pick six happened, it was kind of a different McCord than we’ve seen … McCord under pressure has really been kind of tough. It’s been improved from what we saw last year at Ohio State, but it’s still kind of been his weak link. But even under pressure this week, honestly, he had his season high and his career high in throwing yards. So, I mean, it was kind of interesting to see that against the pressure, he lost the ball that turned into a safety, but you kind of flipped the game on its head, but it’s been McCord ride or die, one of the best quarterbacks Syracuse has had and possibly could be the best quarterback Fran Brown has had in his entire tenure at Syracuse … But I don’t know if Syracuse has really built the team well enough around him to consistently be able to lean on him.”
MW: A conference-defining difference between the two programs lies in Syracuse’s win against NC State, where the Bears lost by just 1 point. Where do you think the Orange has an edge against Cal?
AS: What I know about Cal so far, (it’s) kind of a balanced team, and Syracuse is not. Its offense has not been a balanced team whatsoever; it’s been leaning on McCord. Basically, it’s been McCord or die this whole season, except for the Virginia Tech second half. That’s when Syracuse really used the run, used LeQuint Allen, really more than they ever had this whole season. They obviously had a lot of success with that, but then, like we saw last week in Boston College, just right back to pass-heavy and not using the run too much … But just what I remember from going to NC State, it was kind of a game where Syracuse honestly was in control most of the time, but they just couldn’t get across to have that final push to put NC State fully out of reach. So it looked like a close game at the end on the scoreboard; I think they only won by 7.
MW: Who, in your opinion, is the player that Cal should keep an eye on? Or players, if you foresee multiple threats.
AS: On offense, I’ll probably go with Oronde Gadsden II … Other defenses have chosen to leave him one-on-one, and he’s made them pay. So it’s really up to Cal’s defense how they want to pick their poison in that area, and if they do try to double him, that leaves guys like (Jackson) Meeks and (Trebor) Pena open. So that’s a threat that the defense has to choose — and it really does evolve around Oronde. We’ve seen that all year, where the defense has to choose, and that dictates where the receptions go the whole game. On defense, I’d probably go with either Fadil Diggs or Marlowe Wax. Diggs has been used somewhat like a Swiss Army knife, a great edge rusher from Texas A&M coming over with Elijah Robinson. He came into the season (with) very high expectations, (he’s) probably the biggest transfer other than McCord into the program this season … I think the more they get out of him, definitely the better performance the defensive line has.
MW: What do you think is the Orange’s greatest strength and greatest weakness heading into the matchup against Cal?
AS: I think Syracuse’s biggest weakness is either the rushing defense or the special teams. Special teams has been really rough this season. They’re on their third kicker already; Jackson Kennedy’s actually kind of won the competition at this point and provided some stability. But the special teams unit overall — in the ACC, Syracuse is (second to) last in field goal percentage … But it’s hard to say that (rushing defense) isn’t the biggest weakness after what Boston College just did to it last week. (Boston College had 313) rushing yards on the ground. I know Jaydn Ott (is a) very good threat, maybe not fully healthy, but Cal definitely has an attack that can get after Syracuse’s rushing defense. For strength, I really think it’s still McCord and his weapons. I mean, McCord’s proven to be one of the top passers in the ACC all season. I think without that (Pitt) game, he’s probably in the top seven to eight range for the Heisman.
MW: You talked about the difference in the quarterback room last season as opposed to this one. How has that difference affected the season?
AS: I think the biggest difference, not just in the quarterback room, just overall, is the recruiting that we all heard about when Brown was hired. Everything that was said about Brown, (that) he’s a master recruiter, able to get true freshmen who are very good, who are able to play right away, good transfers as well. And we really didn’t know how that would make an impact, but I think we saw how that made an impact when the team started to get injured a little bit — it gave Syracuse flexibility to move guys around. They have guys who are able to step up that they really didn’t have last year.
MW: What do you predict the final score to be?
AS: 31-27, Syracuse.
