The whole defensive game plan revolved around stopping the most electric runner in the country.

Entering Saturday’s game, Andre Williams had averaged an astonishing 299 yards in his last three contests before Boston College arrived in the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse. He had totaled a remarkable 2,073 yards on the season and had firmly entrenched himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

After the loss, he left the Dome with just 29 more yards and a banged-up shoulder.

“We knew all those things and we wish the best for him,” SU defensive tackle Jay Bromley said, “but when you come into the Carrier Dome you aren’t going to win a Heisman on us.”

Williams’ Heisman campaign unraveled in front of the 37,406 fans on Saturday against the Orange’s stout defensive front. He scored on a 26-yard run, but otherwise SU held him to just 3 yards on his eight other carries before the running back left the game with an injury in the third quarter.

The key was simple: Make the powerful downhill runner go sideline to sideline.

“When we looked at his productivity he was like Floyd Little — he liked to go north and south,” head coach Scott Shafer said. “And if you came into him, he’s going to hurt you. That’s why he wears 44. We wanted to make him go sideways and then rally and have our secondary tackle.”

But that’s a tougher task to execute than formulate against the Eagles’ physical offensive line. The Orange loaded up the box with four down linemen and four linebackers — Marqez Hodge got the start as SU’s fourth linebacker — and made an effort to get to Williams in the backfield.

“Penetration kills offenses,” Bromley said.

Five of Williams’ nine carries were for a loss. The running back who had effortlessly shredded Atlantic Coast Conference defenses was rendered inept against Syracuse.

To defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough, BC’s game plan was obvious. Boston College had a running back in the Heisman conversation, so the Eagles would try to win the Heisman for him.

The Orange sold out for the run, and got beaten through the air a couple of times because of it, but SU held the opposition without a 100-yard rusher as it has in every other game this season.

And when Williams’ day was cut short during the third quarter, it felt irrelevant. Boston College’s running game woke up without its star. The bigger loss this Saturday was Marquis Spruill.

But the linebacker returned on Syracuse’s next possession and helped the Orange when it needed a final stop late in the game.

Said Spruill: “I didn’t want them to take my last game in the Dome from me.”

Published on December 1, 2013 at 12:16 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2