SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Sean Tucker scored five touchdowns, the Syracuse defense recorded eight sacks and yielded just 135 total yards and the Orange defeated Albany 62-24 Saturday.
Playing without leading wide receiver Taj Harris, who was out with an undisclosed injury, Syracuse (2-1) amassed 623 yards of offense.
Tucker scored on runs of 56, 26, 12 and eight yards, and caught a 72-yard screen pass from Garrett Shrader in the first game between the upstate New York teams. Four of his scores came in the first half when Syracuse built a 45-10 lead. The Orange defense held the Great Danes (0-3) to two first downs and 67 yards in the first 30 minutes.
Tucker had 255 total yards — 134 on the ground and 121 receiving. Tommy DeVito and Shrader shared time at quarterback for Syracuse. DeVito was 6 of 9 for 147 yards and one touchdown. Shrader was 11 of 15 for 190 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for 42 yards and two scores. Damien Alford scored on a 73-yard pass from DeVito for the first touchdown of his Syracuse career.
The Orange got out to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter on two Tucker rushing touchdowns, but the Great Danes closed within four on a 37-yard field goal by Dylan Burns and a 25-yard interception return by Christian Lewis with 2:48 to go in the quarter. DeVito’s pass bounced off the hands of Trebor Pena and into the hands of Lewis, who ran it in for the score.
Syracuse scored the next 48 points to put the game out of reach.
Albany quarterback Jeff Undercuffler was 7 of 13 for 69 yards, and was sacked five times. Joey Carino completed 7 of 9 for 59 yards. He threw for one touchdown and ran for another.
THE TAKEAWAY Albany: The Great Danes made it interesting for awhile but showed it was an inferior opponent.
Syracuse: In a no-win situation, the Orange did what it had to do — win convincingly. Things get considerably tougher next week, however, against Liberty and quarterback Malik Willis.
UP NEXT
Albany has a bye week before playing at Delaware.
Syracuse finishes a three-game homestand against Liberty on Friday night.
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