Syracuse (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) will face another high-powered offense on Saturday when South Florida (2-0) comes to the Carrier Dome at 3:30 p.m. SU is coming off a 62-28 loss to then No. 13-Louisville and South Florida is coming off a 48-17 win over Northern Illinois in which the Bulls played without one of its best players in running back Marlon Mack.

Here’s what SU head coach Dino Babers had to say on the ACC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.

Final statuses on injured DBs Antwan Cordy and Juwan Dowels coming later in week

Syracuse starting safety Antwan Cordy and cornerback Juwan Dowels were both injured against Louisville and did not return to the game. Cordy was ushered off the field immediately, holding his left arm/wrist area, and on Tuesday he had a sling on that arm. Dowels fell to the ground on a non-contact play, clutching his leg. He was carried off the field. Babers gave no updates on their conditions on Monday or Wednesday.

“Those guys are banged up. They’re both limping around,” Babers said Wednesday. “We haven’t got a final status on them. It’s going to be coming probably later on in the week.”

The injuries hit a defensive back unit that was already thin. Daivon Ellison and Rodney Williams played safety in Cordy’s spot against Louisville. (They had entered the game earlier at those spots, too.) Cordell Hudson replaced Dowels with Carl Jones also seeing snaps.

Babers has been having nightmares about Lamar Jackson

Babers was asked about South Florida’s dual-threat quarterback Quinton Flowers in relation to Lamar Jackson, Louisville’s quarterback that threw for 411 yards, ran for 199 yards and accounted for five touchdowns against the Orange. He explained that Flowers can use his legs to create offense and throw the ball deep with accuracy to force the defense to play back.

“I don’t like what I’ve seen from (Flowers) because he looks similar to the other guy,” Babers said in reference to Jackson. “… (It’s) a little eerie. It reminds me of somebody that I’ve been having nightmares about.”

Flowers has thrown for 528 yards and six touchdowns this season, while running for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

Syracuse needs to run the ball

Through two games, Syracuse is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry and 119 rushing yards per game — one of which was against an FCS opponent. Babers said the offensive line has done an “OK” job pass blocking, but that his team needs to find a way to run the football to take the pressure off the passing game.

Louisville’s defense had three All-ACC players in its front seven, including a top-caliber nose tackle and middle linebacker.

“There were certain looks during the game where we could have ran the ball better than what we did,” Babers said. “We didn’t execute. … We got to find a way to run the football and take the pressure off of our throwing game.”

Published on September 14, 2016 at 12:30 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus