I’m having a tough time getting a read on this Syracuse squad ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Hokies.

Its first four games were against Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, and it won all off those somewhere between “handily” and “curb-stomping.” Then Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State mugged the Orange, with each new loss worse than the last. The new-look Hokies might be the most even matchup of the season for the Orange.

Offense

In broad strokes, the offense resembles Wake Forest’s. It’s up-tempo, spread-option shotgun ball with piles of zone-based RPOs and packaged screens. There’s no slow mesh in there, but you’ll see the quarterback and running blocking for each other, too. There’s also a little air raid-looking stuff with the stick/slant game, but it’s not as prominent as it was at the start of Dino Babers’ tenure. I think a Wake Forest gameplan where Virginia Tech packs the box and trusts its defensive backs to hold up might be the way to go.

Garrett Shrader (QB, #6) has the keys to the offense. His fortunes have mirrored his team’s, as his productivity plummeted with the start of ACC play. He’s still a run threat and he can still make some nice throws, but he looks frazzled out there. He’s hesitant to the point of holding the ball too long and not reading option keys correctly, and he’s throwing high balls I didn’t see from him last season. It’s not just an ACC thing, either; Army got on him a bit, too.

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