Syracuse contained Jamison Crowder, but the Duke wide receiver and returner still beat the Orange.

While SU (3-7, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) fell to Duke on Saturday in front of 39,331 in the Carrier Dome, Crowder was mostly just a threat. The Orange avoided one-on-one situations with the Blue Devils’ leading receiver and kept him out of the end zone on offense. Cornerback Brandon Reddish led the effort of limiting the centerpiece of Duke’ quick-strike attack, matching up with Crowder and holding him to 58 yards on nine receptions — mostly screens.

It left SU in the game, but ultimately defeated by his 52-yard punt return for a touchdown with 12:45 left in the game.

“He’s Duke’s offense really,” freshman middle linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “They give it to him on third down, whenever they need any type of play, they run it through him.”

On third-and-4 with the first quarter winding down, Duke quarterback Anthony Boone rolled to his right and hit Crowder on a 1-yard pass. Reddish immediately lit into Crowder, ending the quarter and forcing a punt.

Syracuse restricted its blitz to contain Crowder, since so many of Duke’s passes were quick releases to him near the line of scrimmage, SU head coach Scott Shafer said. Crowder had just 6.4 yards per catch in the game.

And while junior cornerback Julian Whigham also occasionally matched up with Crowder, he was primarily handled by Reddish.

“He played really good on the edge,” Shafer said of Reddish. “He did a nice job with their quick passes, defeating their No. 1 receiver on the stalk block situations. And then made a nice interception back there, right there at the 1-yd line. I wish it would’ve been in the end zone to be honest with you.”

Whigham, safety Ritchy Desir and defensive end Micah Robinson stood over Reddish as he lay on the turf having torn the ball away from Crowder on a deep route in man-to-man coverage on SU’s 2-yard line. The game was tied at 10.

But four plays later, Crowder had the ball again, fielding a Riley Dixon punt at the Duke 48 and cutting along the right hash marks. There was no Reddish to stop him and Crowder high-stepped into the end zone to put the Blue Devils ahead for good.

“You go and use that extra half a second to block and you didn’t get to clog up the running lanes for an explosive guy like No. 3,” Franklin said. “So you give that guy a little bit of space, he gets vertical and swings up and that’s how it goes.”

 

 

Published on November 8, 2014 at 8:36 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_