Central Michigan prevailed over Purdue, 38-17, on Saturday, but Boilermakers’ quarterback Danny Etling ran for a touchdown and 53 yards — which tied for the team-high in the game.

With Syracuse’s (1-0) Terrel Hunt preparing to face the Chippewas’ defense on Saturday, CMU (2-0) head coach Dan Enos knows his defense has to improve its perimeter tackling and better contain dual-threat quarterbacks.

Hunt accumulated 25 yards on the ground on three carries in the Orange’s season-opening win over Villanova before being ejected late in the second quarter.

“Quarterback’s very athletic, that presents challenges,” Enos said of Hunt during the Mid-American Conference coaches’ teleconference on Monday. “We gave up some rushing yards last week to Purdue’s quarterback and I know Syracuse is going to look at that and that’s an area we’ll have to improve in.”

Still, Enos was pleased with how his defense applied pressure on Purdue’s signal callers and forced turnovers. Central Michigan picked off two passes, returning one 57 yards for the first touchdown of the game.

Enos said Syracuse is a well-coached team, especially at offensive line, and poses a threat in plenty of areas on the field.

“They do a good job of getting the ball on the perimeter offensively. And defensively, a lot of blitzes, zone pressures, a lot of different looks and they’re very aggressive on defense,” Enos said. “They’re very talented, very good defensive line and linebacking corps.

“Again, we have a very difficult schedule and it’ll be another big challenge for us this week.”

Published on September 8, 2014 at 11:42 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb