Sean Tucker scores five times, makes history in Week 3 win over Albany
Sean Tucker makes SU football history
It was running back Sean Tucker‘s game on Saturday as Syracuse defeated the Albany Great Danes 62-24 at the Dome.
The second-year freshman had a career-high 253 yards from scrimmage to go along with five touchdowns. The four rushing touchdowns by Tucker tied him for fourth all-time at SU with a handful of Syracuse legends.
Jim Brown set the record for the most touchdowns by a non-quarterback with six back in 1956. Tucker also became the first player in Syracuse football history to rush and receive for over 100 yards in a game.
“I was seeing a lot of my o-line blocking, they were blocking hard all game,” Tucker said. “They opened up holes for me to get to the second level and run by everybody.”
The Orange scored 62 points for just the third time since 2000, but the defense also played well. SU allowed just three points to the Great Danes offense until two late touchdowns.
Albany knocked in a field goal on their second drive and failed to reach the endzone until 3:50 left in the game. The defense was led once again by sophomore linebacker Mikel Jones with seven tackles and one tackle for loss. Senior defensive lineman Cody Roscoe also had two and a half sacks and three total tackles.
With all of Tucker’s success on the ground, Dino Babers didn’t need a lot from the quarterbacks today. While the competition between redshirt junior Tommy DeVito and sophomore Garrett Shrader continues, both players were given their chances to compete.
“You can learn a lot, that’s why you need to go back and check the tape,” Tucker said. “There are certain things that they need to be doing on certain plays.”
DeVito only threw nine passes and completed six of them for 147 yards. He also threw a touchdown and a pick-six. DeVito took a brutal hit in the middle of the second quarter but returned on the following drive. Shrader was efficient as well. He went 11-15 for 190 yards in the air and had a pair of rushing touchdowns. He also threw an interception in the third quarter.
Despite the win, Dino Babers said his team will have to clean some things up going forward. The Orange committed 15 penalties for 164 yards.
“We talked about it at halftime, we talked about it after the game and we’ll take about it tomorrow,” Babers said. “We’ll discuss that with the family.”