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Terrel Hunt ignited Syracuse with five first-half touchdown drives to carry the Orange to a 54-0 rout of Wagner Saturday at the Carrier Dome.
The sophomore quarterback ripped the overmatched Seahawks (1-2), an FCS opponent, completing 15 of 18 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns.
Including Syracuse's loss against Northwestern last week, Hunt has quarterbacked seven drives this season and has engineered six touchdowns and a field goal.
Jarrod West caught five balls for 147 yards and a score, and Jerome Smith ran for two touchdowns.
Syracuse (1-2), which led 37-0 at halftime, gave Scott Shafer his first win as the Orange's head coach.
Shafer said during the week that both quarterback Drew Allen, who started Syracuse's first two games this season, and backup Hunt would get some action during the contest. After Allen took the first three series of the game and came up with only three points to show for it, Hunt got the nod with 7:07 left in the opening quarter.
Hunt immediately led a 12-play, 68-yard charge down the field, capped by a 2-yard run by Smith around the left side. After a missed extra point, Syracuse led 9-0.
On his next chance, Hunt needed just three plays to push the Orange 64 yards into the end zone. Taking over on the SU 36, Hunt hit West for 42 yards down to the Wagner 22. A holding penalty moved back Syracuse, but that just added to the challenge. Hunt then found running back Prince-Tyson Gully on a sideline route for a 30-yard score and a 16-0 Syracuse cushion with 14:01 remaining in the second quarter.
Following another three-and-out by the Wagner offense, SU took over on its 41. Hunt maneuvered those 59 yards in eight plays, ending with an 8-yard rush by Smith around the left side to make it 23-0.
After another cameo appearance by the Seahawks offense, Hunt and his teammates trotted out for another romp starting on the Wagner 49. Running back Devante McFarlane got in on the fun by supplying the topper on that six-play drive, churning 3 yards around left end for his first career touchdown and a 30-0 Syracuse lead with 5:34 left in the half.
Hunt finished the first 30 minutes with a flourish, moving the Orange 73 yards in six plays against the beleaguered Wagner defense. Looking at a second-and-10 at the SU 27, Hunt found West on an 18-yard slant and then drilled a ball to Jeremiah Kobena for 11.
Two plays later, Hunt dropped a beauty of a ball into the hands of Christopher Clark for a 41-yard scoring strike with 2:20 left before intermission.
The announced attendance for SU's 2013 home debut was 33,299, although the actual crowd looked to be several thousand fewer.
