Dino Babers was almost certain Eric Dungey turned in the best performance for a starting quarterback in their first game under Babers. He then retraced his steps and challenged the media to compare the numbers. Assuming Babers meant his stops as a head coach, here’s how Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Johnson and Dungey stack up.

“I would imagine if you put his opening performance against the other quarterbacks that I’ve had opening performances, I’d imagine it might be the best. Maybe,” Babers said after Syracuse’s 33-7 win over Colgate Friday night. “Someone do the stat numbers on it and let me know. I’ll read it tomorrow. I’ll read all your guys stuff anyway, so somebody let me know.”

On Aug. 30, 2012, Garoppolo, now the New England Patriots starter (Tom Brady is serving a four-game suspension), posted these numbers in Babers’ Eastern Illinois coaching debut:

Completion percentage: 65.3 (32-of-49)
Passing yards: 369
Touchdown passes: five
Times sacked: five
Rushing yards: Negative-three on nine carries
Game result: 49-28 win over Southern Illinois

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Syracuse football rolls to 33-7 win over Colgate in Dino Babers’ SU debut
• Eric Dungey has career game after meeting his brother, who returned from the Army, for 1st time in 2 years
• Storify: Syracuse community reacts to Dino Babers’ 1st game as head coach

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On Aug. 29, 2014, Matt Johnson tallied these numbers in Babers’ debut at the helm of Bowling Green.

Completion percentage: 69.4 (25-of-36)
Passing yards: 314
Touchdown passes: one
Times sacked: three
Rushing yards: Negative-21 on six carries
Game result: 59-31 loss to Western Kentucky

Note: The season opener was the only game Johnson played before James Knapke took over as the Falcons starting quarterback for the rest of the season. (Johnson suffered a season-ending hip injury in the season opener.)

On Friday night, Dungey had a career-best game with his military brother Matt watching him play live for the first time in college.

Completion percentage: 85 (34-of-40)
Passing yards: 355
Touchdown passes: two
Times sacked: two
Rushing yards: 25 on 10 carries
Game result: 33-7 win over Colgate

CONCLUSION

Johnson is out of the running for best performance since he threw for the fewest yards and touchdowns and was the only one of the three to lose in Babers’ debut. It comes down to Dungey and Brady’s replacement, and both led their teams to wins of more than 20 points in the season-openers.

Dungey completed 20 percent more of his passes and both attempted at least 40. Garoppolo had 14 more passing yards, but those come on nine more throws. While Garoppolo threw for five touchdowns compared to Dungey’s two, the Syracuse sophomore was sacked three fewer times and ran for 38 more yards.

Dungey wins this one by a hair.

Published on September 3, 2016 at 10:54 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman