Take a look at Syracuse’s statistical breakdown thus far this season and tell me you see what I see. I’ll give you a few moments…

The Orange struggle to stop the run — and this isn’t news as you’ll remember WVU’s Big East-record 457 yards rushing in last year’s game — but at least they’re not one-dimensional.

They can’t run the ball, either.

The combination makes Saturday’s game against the Mountaineers particularly interesting. WVU is No. 24 nationally in rush defense (97.4 yards per game) and No. 3 in rushing offense (323.2 yards per game). No matter what quarterback plays for WVU, be it Patrick White or Jarrett Brown or both, a run-pass dual threat typically gives the Orange fits, making this, according to the Syracuse Post-Dispatch, a bit of a mismatch.

A team that cannot run the ball will struggle to put drives together. It will punt on fourth-and-one from midfield down seven rather than gamble. It will pass on third-and-one rather than run, because it has no faith in even making a yard on the ground.

A team that cannot stop the run will struggle to end an opponent’s drives. Missed tackles in open space will turn no gains into big gains. Linebackers getting run over in the hole by backs and being dragged an extra 2 or 3 yards downfield signal to future foes that there is an obvious weakness begging to be exploited.