Why Kyle McCord's Passing Ability Gives the Syracuse Orange the Edge over Georgia Tech

McCord vs. King Kyle McCord vers Haynes King who do you [Music] got you are locked on Syracuse your daily podcast on the Syracuse Orange part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome into locked on Syracuse I'm jackon holer and thank you for making us your first listen of every single day here in the lockdown podcast Network where it's your team every day and we're free and available wherever you get your podcast and on today's show we are joined by Mike mallister who is the publisher of Syracuse on 247 Sports we're gonna talk about Kyle McCord versus Haynes King and who he would prefer who I would prefer but come on we're Syracuse guys you know what we're gonna say to that or maybe we don't I don't know what Mike is gonna say who he would rather then we're gonna talk about a Ronda Gaton versus Eric Singleton of Georgia Tech their top pass catcher versus our top pass catcher who do you got and then the biggest key to success plus prediction time at the end so stay tuned for that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can get five or can bet $ five doar and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit f.com to get started all right Mike thank you so much for hopping on the podcast today let's start off with Haynes King and and Kyle McCord how do you think Kyle McCord vers Haynes King is going to go on Saturday well I think which one you prefer depends on what type of quarterback you'd like do you like a traditional pocket passer sort of the sit in the pocket picky apart and in that type of a quarterback if that's what you like then Kyle McCord your guy if you like the gutty gritty not necessarily always pretty sort of Eric dunie style of playing quarterback uh just finds ways to win then I think you like Haynes King he's more mobile than what dun than what mcord is but mcord is a better thrower of the Football turns it over less better accuracy better arm strength all of that uh if if I'm picking if this is like a fantasy draft situation and I got to pick one of the two quarterbacks I'm going with Kyle mccort he is a proven winner he is 12 and one or 13- one I think at this point as a starting quarterback over the last two years he had had tremendous success at Ohio State as is well documented and yet in his first game at Syracuse he set career highs in completions passing yards and passing touchdowns in a single game I think the offense fits him well I think he likes the weapons that he has and they're clearly tailoring their play calling to his his skill set so if I'm picking one of the two I'm picking Kyle McCord but I think very highly of both quarterbacks to be honest with you well it's funny the wording that you used because you mentioned like like a fantasy draft if we're talking fantasy football I might go with Haynes King because I think hannes king would score more fantasy points to be fair with his rushing ability and yeah he he very well could and it's the the rushing I think that is where he separates himself there because you get more points for rushing touchdowns and rushing yards than you do for passing yards and passing touchdowns the caveat to that is if Syracuse has a good game defensively and they can limit what he does through the air and keep him pedestrian on the ground there's the I think his floor is lower than what McCord's is but perhaps his ceiling is higher because he could have a game where he dominates both through the air and on the ground whereas even if Kyle McCord is operating at Peak efficiency and has a tremendous game I don't think you're going to expect 60 70 80 rushing yards and a couple of rushing touchdowns from him so yeah from a fantasy football standpoint maybe mcord is a little bit safer but Haynes King has a potential to be you know the the bigger Boom for you I just want to also be clear that we were that was strictly like fantasy football talk but in reality football I would also take Kyle mcor because he's also a little less turnover prone yes KY mord is someone who doesn't throw a lot of interceptions he almost threw one on the first pick or first drive of the game against Ohio and then he did have the arm punt interception but aside from that he doesn't really put the ball In Harm's Way versus a guy like Haynes Ching yes he does have that boom upside but he also has the bust upside or downside so to speak Haynes Ching last year threw 16 interceptions for Georgia Tech now I will give him credit last time I checked I think Haynes King is completing over 70% of his passes to start this season so he's off to a good start in that regard but for now I would lean towards Kyle McCord I know this is a Syracuse podcast we're going to sound biased but I still would take Kyle McCord over Hayes king I said that in the preseason as well Mike I want to ask you this question because it sounds like one that would be super obvious a quarterback influencing a game but with the amount of rushing on both sides and the rushing defenses for both sides maybe not being so good how much do you think the quarterbacks are actually going to influence this game I still think they're going to have a huge influence in and here's why with Georgia Tech's rushing attack Haynes King is very involved with that now believe he only has 80 rushing yards through the first two games but they do call designed runs for him and he can do a lot of read option that can put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses so he's still going to be very involved even if they run the ball three quarters of the time for Syracuse even if they do run the ball quite a bit we see a lot of laquinn Al and a lot of e Willis they're not going to run the ball exclusively I still think Kyle McCord is going to get 20 plus passing attempts in this game and and they're going going to try to do a lot of things off of that rushing attack play action situations like that they could do some um some Zone read they could do some run pass options some RPO so I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities for Kyle McCord as well but specifically even if the the rushing attack even if L Quin Allen is the primary focus of the offensive attack there's still going to be plays for Kyle McCord to make and even if he doesn't have as many attempts as he did last week it's still imperative that puts the ball where he needs to so that Syracuse can take advantage of those plays very fair I mean obviously quarterbacks are going to have a big influence on a game I mean usually but it's just because of the rushing attacks on both sides I think the biggest point you made there is the fact that Hayes King is such a big factor for Georgia Tech's rushing attack to begin with it's like a two-headed monster with Haynes King the quarterback and Jamal Haynes the running back and I know a lot of people that are listening to this podcast might be Buffalo Bills fans the way I would describe Haynes King is like a much toned down version of Josh H like he plays kind of like him think about Josh H big dude he's he's got the biggest cannon in the world he's gonna throw the ball over you high upside but you know there is a little bit of a downside with Josh Allen too I think we can all acknowledge that right Bill's fans don't come at me I mean you know you've watched it over the last few years with him but that's the way I describe Hayes King which it which means he would still heavily influence a game and I I think for Syracuse obviously it's got to be the ball the ball is got to be in comic Court's hands yeah like I think last week he he proved it like it only I know it's one game but he proved it to me like well and here's the good thing too from a Syracuse perspective is that I think they went into that game expecting they'd be able to run the ball very well and in the first half they didn't run the ball very it seemed like every time they tried to run the ball they'd get two yards three yards and they put themselves in lot of third and medium situations and they couldn't get a lot of Rhythm no they couldn't but they were able to rely on Kyle McCord to sort of get them into Rhythm and then once that got going the running game came along in the second half so even in a situation where Georgia Tech comes in and says listen we've been vulnerable against the run this year so far we were vulnerable against the Run most of last year that's where teams really ate up against George teack we're gonna come into this game trying to take out L Quin Allen and youen Willis and and will Nixon and making that our primary focus even if that's the primary uh focus of the Georgia Tech defense um there there's still you still have an opportunity from a Syracuse perspective to get into Rhythm offensively put up a lot of points because you can rely on Kyle McCord to carry your offense he showed that last week when when the running game wasn't going very well and they couldn't do all of those play actions and things off of the ground game they just dropped KY m G back and said pick the defense apart and he was able to and you know the one the other thing about Georgia Tech this year is they have not been very good at pressuring the quarterback they have one yes I I did notice that and they don't have any interceptions so I think that gives Syracuse an opportunity that even if the ground game does struggle especially early that they can still move the ball because they have a player like Kyle McCord who can direct the offense I think to your point we've talked a lot about this Syracuse run defense over the past few days on the podcast and it's been a big topic obviously because the run defense was not good it was not I don't know if we're talking to much about about this Georgia Tech defense like are they really that good like we saw Florida State against Boston College like they're not a good team they're not so they did that against Florida State now I'm looking at it like was that really as impressive a defensive effort as perhaps it looked originally and it you know you look back on it and say how do they give up 21 points to that team I don't know you know I mean that's part of it is the defense doesn't perhaps look as good as it did originally now I'm not going to sit here and say that that win over Florida State wasn't still impressive that was a huge win for Georgia Tech it was yeah they had to win that game yeah and and I and I came away from that game I watched him against Georgia State and I said I think Georgia Tech is a legitimately good football team I don't think anyone is is here thinking that Georgia Tech is a Jugger not and unbeatable either so and then in the top 25 they are yeah so I mean it's a huge game I think it's a huge game for both teams because it feels like a swing game where each team can sort of gain momentum Georgia Tech starts 2-0 in conference and they have two of their more difficult conference games sort of out of the way and and they won both of those you know neutral against Florida State and on the road at Syracuse if Syracuse wins you feel like you know you just beat a ranked team you start the conference play one and0 and um you're two and0 and your first big game in the dome under Fran Brown I think you feel like you're off to a great start there so it's a huge swing game for both teams uh and I think both teams are are good football teams based on on what I saw the last couple of weeks that's a h a great tease for tomorrow's podcast that I'm going to do which is who needs the game more that's a great great tease that you just put it who who needs it more my answer might surprise you but I'm gonna give that on tomorrow's podcast passion drive and patience the formula for winning champion chips is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks 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better receivers in the ACC he's off to a little bit of a slow start Eric Singleton has six catches for barely above 60 yards and I believe a touchdown so it's not going to be about shutting down Eric Singleton Mike what I'm gonna ask you is how can Syracuse keep Singleton staying neutralized well I think the biggest thing is when you look at Georgia Tech receivers him and and the the guy Malik Rutherford is actually their leading receiver right now with 11 catches almost 200 yards and a touchdown so far those two guys are 5'9 and 5'11 now they got Avery Boyd who's kind of their third wide receiver who's about 63 they've got Chase Lane who's about six foot but NE you know neither of those guys are our primary focuses of the offensive attack Rutherford and Singleton are the top two guys neither of them are very big in stature so I think that gives Syracuse with the length that it has at at corner to really be physical with those guys and and to disrupt their timing with their length with their physicality that's the biggest thing is of course you want to have a pass rush and we saw one of the more encouraging things from the defense last week was that they had four sacks against Ohio FID two of them yes he's um I think I tweeted out after his second one good football that's my expert analysis on that and he is he's he's awesome this is a game where he could have a huge impact obviously getting pressure on heenes King is is huge and that disrupts the timing from that standpoint but even if you don't the defensive backs have an opportunity to get their hands on the Georgia Tech wide receivers be physical with them get them off of of their route don't make their first step be as easy as they want it to be and disrupt timing from that perspective so that's kind of where I look at it is I think Syracuse has a size Advantage there when you're looking at Georgia Tech skill position players offensively versus Syracuse's skill position players defensively that's something that could play into Syracuse's Advantage otherwise it's being smart you know the first I'd say about three quarters of the game against Ohio I thought the coverage by the Syracuse defense was pretty good they they were on top of Ohio's receivers I know Georgia teex receivers are significantly more talented but we go with what we've seen so far I thought they showed good coverage skills good instincts um tackled almost immediately after to the catch and then as the fourth quarter went along they kind of got a little bit softer and I think part of that was you know sort of playing prevent and trying to prevent the big play I I almost discount that I just kind of throw that away like it's soft Zone I mean we saw DJ for Florida State end up with 270 yards passing like how's that even possible and no one thought he garbage time yeah nobody thought he had a I I called for him to be benched Midway through the game so um the point is I think there's an opportunity here for Sarah to to blanket those wide receivers now Georgia Tech is going to be more sophisticated in terms of of the routes that it runs they're going to be more deliberate in terms of trying to get their receivers the ball Ohio really wanted to rely on the running game and be really physical up front Georgia Tech of course wants to run the ball but I it's it's going to be a little bit of a different approach because they want to get the ball into the hands of those two players Rutherford and Singleton to try to allow them to make plays in space so from Syracuse perspective use the length to your advantage get your hands on them at the line of scrimmage be smart and disciplined and then once they get the ball get him down you know they're going to complete some passes they're going to get some first downs don't let the 12 yard play turn into a 35 yard play you know don't let the the three yard pass on Third and 10 turn into a 15 yard gain and first down and keeping a drive alive those are the things that I think Syracuse has to focus on in this game and we saw Syracuse pick up a third and 13 with Trevor Peña where he caught the ball about seven yards behind the line to gain and was able to run for a first down I know Ohio's defense in that it was great blocking on Syracuse's end but you have to be able to shed those blocks like at the end of the day you just have to when you have that much time to be able to shed a block before the line of gain you just have to do it so that's a big key for Syracuse I do want to give credit though to the Georgia Tech secondary because obviously rande gadston is going to be a a big factor in the game plan he's always going to be a big factor in the game plan he's the best weapon that use has no question Georgia Tech has not allowed a single pass catcher this season yet it's been eight quarters to go over 70 yards in a game think about that for a second not a not a single one yeah that's that's impressive especially when you consider the fact that Georgia state was trailing by multiple scores for most of that game so they were basically throwing the ball almost the entire second half now that said Florida State most of their success that they had against Georgia Tech um they were really trying to pound the ball they were trying to run the ball at Georgia Tech because Georgia Tech struggled with that last year and they struggled against Georgia State I think I think they gave up 150 yards rushing to Georgia State and Georgia State lost by like three touchdowns yes uh and Georgia state did run the ball well early and there was a point early in the second half where it seemed like there was a chance for Georgia State to get back in the game but never really materialized that said you know that plays a part of it as well you know how teams attacked them but that's still a factual statement no one has has had over 70 receiving yards against that secondary even though they don't have any interceptions even though they only have one sack in two games that says that you know they they've got some guys back there that that can cover a little bit so you know even though Syracuse has a lot of weapons they've got hannes Jackson Meeks made an unbelievable catch last week against Ohio they've got a Ronde Gatson as we noted didn't even see them throw the ball to Dan valari laquin Allen made a one-handed catch Trevor Peña shout out to that kid for coming back and having the game of his life in his first game back from injury I'm a buyer in Trevor Peña by the way me too me too I'm a Believer he was he was fantastic so they've got a lot of weapons offensively that they can throw the ball to so it's going to be a little bit different uh from a Georgia Tech perspective because this is going to be a significant upgrade in terms of a passing attack than what they played against Florida State who has a quarterback that seems to just like to check the ball down doesn't really try to push the ball downfield and struggles with decision- making and all those things we've seen the first two weeks and a Georgia State team that's talent-wise just not at the same level as a Florida State or a Syracuse so I think this is going to be the most difficult test for that Georgia Tech secondary but certainly so far through two games it's hard to really find fault in anything that they've done yeah they they look good in that area that's why I wanted to point out that stat that they have not allowed a receiver to go over 70 yards but you mentioned the lack of pressure that they typically have or that you know one sack in two games I know that sacks are not everything but if you only have one sack in two games you're probably not getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback because if you get more pressures you're gonna get sacks it's just how it works so the key really is to it's not obviously the offensive line and everything but it's to get open the receivers just have to get open because you have to figure that the offensive line is going to be bble to hold up against this Georgia Tech front now it's about the the receivers being able to create separation and guys like aande gadston obviously being the main the main catalyst of it if you had to say is there any X Factor that you think is g to play a big role for Syracuse or Georgia Tech on the skill position wise I'm wondering if this is a game where we see Zed Haynes break out a little bit you know he I was almost expect early in the they take a shot to him to try to get the crowd into it and sort of make a statement early in the game and get the Fran Brown ER off to a huge start something like that that never really materialized they didn't really throw the ball downfield to him and I'm wondering if that was by Design because Zed Haynes has blazing speed he he is as fast as it gets in the ACC at the wide receiver position and I think there's an opportunity to try to stretch the field with him a little bit so when you've got a guy like Trevor who just had a fantastic game as we mentioned you've got a guy like arand Gatson who's going to put a ton of pressure on opposing defenses they're going to be focusing so much on those guys I if you can now get Zed haes one-on-one a couple of times and take some deep shots we know Kyle McCord is extremely accurate down the field I think there's an opportunity for some big plays there so that's something that I look at but the other part of it is you mentioned the Syracuse offensive line there were a few opport few occasions against Ohio Ohio did get some pressure on Kyle McCord and I think Georgia Tech's athletes at the defensive line even though they haven't put a ton of pressure on either Georgia State or Florida State their athletes are better than what Syracuse augin soio yeah so how well Syracuse can hold up specifically those tackles the two transfer tackles Demetrius Weatherspoon and Sabian Washington how do they hold up against a a front line that is they understand what Syracuse is weapons are so they're going to try to be getting to mord as quickly as possible so that he doesn't have time to read the field and find any of those weapons so I'm really interested I think those are the two XB backers can they get Zed Haynes one-on-one down the field and then how those tackles hold up against Georgia Tech well another key it goes back to it's like Ying it's like ying and yang with an offense you want you want to stop a blitz run the ball that's right there you go run the ball if you can run the ball down to pass rush as well as anything running the ball honestly in football it it changes everything if your team can run the ball like unless you have Patrick Mahomes you have to be able to run the ball have to have to like even the Chiefs need to run the ball with Isaiah Peko at times like you have to run the football so hey run the ball they run the ball good things are going to happen it's going to open up that pass game all of a sudden everyone's kind of creep in you throw it over the top to a guy like Zed Haynes you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book well we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV based plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time Syracuse football faces Georgia Tech this Saturday at noon and the oranger two and a half Point underdogs will Fran Brown and Company pull off the upset you can bet it right now on FanDuel just visit vu.com locked on to download America's number one Sportsbook we're joined by Mike mallister who is the publisher of Syracuse on 247 Sports we talked about Biggest Key to Success comic cord and Haynes King all the weapons in this game mainly Arande Gaton Eric Singleton and all those fellas over there biggest key to success Mike what is the biggest key to success for Syracuse in this game I think it's pretty simple Syracuse has to stop the run that's you know we we talk about all these other things they're all important there's no one thing that this is the only thing you have to worry about and then that will determine the game because there's you know everything sort of it play you know is predicated on everything else but the one area I want to see Improvement they say that the biggest Improvement is week one to week two is Syracuse's ability to stop the run I think everyone was surprised with how easily it seemed that Ohio ran the ball against Syracuse listen Mike I'm gonna cut you off here they had Eric Dickerson in the back field right it seemed that way and you know I thought Ohio blew multiple opportunities to try to really put game pressure on Syracuse by getting inside the 10 yard line and then seeming to stop running the ball they did that two or three times down there and that played I think to Syracuse's favor but that aside you know there were I think multiple opportunities with some of those longer runs that that uh Ohio had where Syracuse had a guy in place to make a play took a bad angle uh there was one play in particular where Justin Baron had um I think it was tus had him you know sort of one-on-one in the outside and even though he had help to his inside when tus made a cut to fake inside Baron bought it he then cut inside as well then tus went outside and went around him whereas if he relied on his inside contain and stayed planted where he was and kept shading outside instead of a 25 30 yard gain that's you know maybe a three four yard gain so there's there are multiple opportunities for Syracuse to to improve in that area uh they missed a lot of tackles Fran Brown talked about the lack of physicality from from the front and and I think they'll correct that the other side of it is they did have 10 tackles for loss in that game so very weird game it really was it it seemed like they were either getting 25 30 yards or they were losing three I mean it it was it was very odd in a lot of ways but so I think you saw some glimpses there was a third and one situation where Ohio lined up and ran the ball right at Syracuse they had been all game and Syracuse stopped them for for a two- yard loss and forced the punt you know and then next possession Ohio would run the ball three times and score so it it was very odd but I think there is at least some hope that that they can be significantly better I'm not saying come out and hold Georgia Tech to two yards a carry and 40 yards rushing but don't let him get 250 to 300 like Boston College did against Florida State either you know maybe keep them around 100 to 120 and then that plays to to your benefit that's the biggest thing for me from a Syracuse perspective is you cannot let the Georgia Tech ground game dictate the entire flow of the game because if they do I think they're going to win fair enough I I would actually set the bar at 150 I think if you get like okay that and that's a that's a big number but you can hold them to 150 or lower with Syracuse's offense like in the past I don't think Syracuse's offense would have been able to overcome that but I believe in our offense I believe in K mord I believe in the weapons that they have and I think the offensive line can hold up so as long you can let him run but don't let him run wild so don't cross the 150 yard Mark I'm going to be a little bit more specific with my biggest key red zone defense how about that because one of The Unsung we I haven't really I haven't really talked about this a lot but it was the very beginning of the game first two drives for Ohio I believe they got into the Red Zone and one of the reasons why maybe we didn't Panic as much about the game is because Syracuse stiffened in the red zone and forced them to field goals and I know it sounds really basic but against a team like Georgia Tech that's going to run the ball and they're going to chew the clock because that's what happens when you're running the ball the clock is going to keep running you have to be able to hold them to field goals to give your offense a chance to be able to outscore your opponent Syracuse had one drive in the first quarter against oh one that was it and it was a three and out but guess what they were only down six nothing they could have been down 14 nothing but they were only down six and that's because of the red zone defense so my biggest key is they're gonna get yards it's gonna happen Georgia Tech's a good football team we have to respect that so can they hold them to field goals instead of touchdowns to give our offense a chance to be able to catch up on them Mike Before I Let You Go and ask you a score prediction it's a fill-in theblank game Syracuse wins if Syracuse wins if they hold Georgia Tech to under four yards a carry if if they do that you know three three and a half something like that and here's here's the the part that that helps that stat is when you sack the opposing quarterback it comes off of their rushing yards so if you sack Haynes King two or three times he loses 15 20 yards on those three sacks then you know that's 20 yards less rushing than they than you know perhaps they have if you just take the the um running backs numbers so um that's I that's the the one thing you know it again it goes right back to the run defense so I think if if Syracuse holds Georgia Tech's rushing attack to under four yards carry I think they come out with a W okay and Mike on the flip side Georgia Tech wins if to pick something different because I could just say they average over four yards you know yes you have to pick something different that's the point pick something different if Georgia Tech wins the turnover battle okay you know turnovers weren't a huge factor in in the game against Ohio it was one one aside yeah one aside and and you know maybe Syracuse should have had to with a deuce Chestnut interception um and Kyle McCords was was kind of a essentially a punt so I'm not sure I really fault him for that one which also came after a bogus holding call that that would have put Syracuse ver go to two that aside will save my ref suck discussion for another time um you know I think turnovers in a game like this where it's it's such a huge game as we mentioned Georgia Tech's coming in ranked they're two and0 they're feeling extremely confident um Syracuse is still getting their feet wet a little bit but they feel pretty good about getting a win in week one we got all these other things going on you know when you're a road team going into a hostile environment even if you're the favorite one of the ways that that you do win in a tough road environment is by winning the turnover battle and taking care of the football yourself I think Georgia Tech if if they're able to run the ball but don't turn it over either in Syracuse territory when they look like they're going into score or giving Syracuse's offense a short field that plays significantly to their advantage on the flip side if they can turn Syracuse's offense over that gets their defense off the field and gives the puts the ball back in the hands of that offense that has been pretty good through two weeks all right Mike Score prediction time I'm going to take Syracuse strictly because they're at home if this game was being played at Georgia Tech I would pick them and I'm I'm looking at a one possession game I think this is going to go right down to the wire this could be a situation where Syracuse has a lead and is trying to protect it and has to stop Georgia Tech in the last you know couple of minutes or vice versa they have to go down and score in order to to pull off a victory I'm gonna take Syracuse 31 Georgia Tech 27 all right I'm Gonna Save my prediction for later in the week so you're gonna have to stay tuned to lock on Syracuse to figure out what I'm going to say but I think people might have an idea if you want a hint go take a look at what I said in the preseason of the wins and losses on Syracuse's schedule I haven't changed it all right so that's Mike mallister everyone thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening if you like this video click that like button and if you really liked it subscribe to the channel turn on those notifications so you know right away when I am dropping the next podcast which by the way I teased earlier in the episode who needs the game more that is coming to tomorrow take care everyone