NEW YORK — As soon as Kansas State agreed to play Syracuse in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl, Scott Shafer began devising his game plan. SU’s defense has seen a variation of nearly every major offensive scheme this season, but never in the same game. At least not until Thursday against the Wildcats.

‘That’s a damn good offense,’ Shafer said.

For the first time all season, Shafer expects to see some form of the spread offense, the Wildcat, the option and a heavy dose of All-Big 12 running back Daniel Tomas during a 60-minute span. Add it all up and the offense that averages 33.6 points and 379 yards of total offense could be the most dynamic Shafer’s group has faced all season.

But despite that, Shafer hasn’t flinched with his approach and preparation as the Orange (7-5, 4-3 Big East) prepares to take on Kansas State (7-5, 3-5 Big 12) at Yankee Stadium at 3:20 p.m. Thursday (ESPN). Instead of going back to the drawing board with so much on the line, Shafer simply tightened up the gaps in his fifth-ranked defense, which has had its share of ups and downs through its first 12 games this season.

The squad will have to do it without two starters — strong safety Max Suter and defensive tackle Andrew Lewis, both seniors.

‘When you look at it, it’s not as black and white as some game plan’s where we can just walk in and say, ‘alright, we have these three plays to shut down,” Shafer said. ‘But we’ll still rely heavily on the fundamentals we’ve had success with this season.’

The last time the Orange faced a back as prolific as Thomas (1,495, 16 touchdowns), on Nov. 20 inside the Carrier Dome, Connecticut’s Jordan Todman went off for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. A week later, in the regular-season finale, Boston College freshman Andre Williams punished the SU defense with a school-record 42 carries for 185 yards and a touchdown.

In both cases, SU’s inability to stop the run proved to be costly. While the Syracuse offense failed to generate a sufficient attack, the defense was left on the field for long stretches. Both UConn and BC recognized that and pounded the ball time and time again in an effort to milk the clock and wear down SU late.

‘He’s a good back,’ senior linebacker Doug Hogue said of Thomas. ‘He’s fast, he’s explosive, he’s patient, and he has a good O-line. Those guys across the board, they’re physical guys and we just have to tackle him and wrap him up.’

Thomas and the rest of Kansas State’s offense will present the Orange with a much different test Thursday. The Wildcats have a trio of speedy receivers that sometimes are forgotten because so much attention is placed on stopping Thomas. In addition, KSU plays with two quarterbacks — Carson Coffman and Collin Klein — who provide a combination of running and passing to keep opposing defense’s honest.

But one thing Shafer knows is that Kansas State will give Thomas the ball ’25 to 30 times against the Orange,’ and the SU defense knows who is KSU’s go-to offensive threat.

‘That’s been the main focus for the whole week,’ senior linebacker Derrell Smith said. ‘To stop him.’

The hope is to neutralize the run and force Kansas State into one-dimensional passing attack, where SU has the sixth-best defense in the country. Part of doing that is by mixing in some blitz packages, Shafer said.

For the players, it comes down to executing assignments. No secret. Smith said that when SU has executes its game plan properly, that’s when it has been able to have success. Shafer said the in-game adjustments should be as key as anything SU does pre-game.

‘We just have to play ours gaps,’ Smith said. ‘We have a game plan that we’re very comfortable with. We just take care of what we can control, and that will be the key to winning.’

Shafer says he has his guys ready. A defense that has played brilliantly at times this season, and has had more than a month to rest up, can help Syracuse take one more step toward returning the Orange football program to respectability.

And on Thursday, in front of friends and family in the world’s biggest media market, it’s finally time to put the plan into action.

‘We’ve put together a good game plan,’ Shafer said. ‘Now we just have to go out and execute it.’

aljohn@syr.edu

— Sports Editor Brett LoGiurato contributed reporting to this article.

Published on December 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm