Thank all that is good and pure. Following the trainwreck of a basketball game against Bryant, we were looking for Syracuse Football to give us something to be excited about. And that it did. Despite trailing Boston College 17-6 early in the fourth quarter, the Orange put their rally caps on and squeaked past the Eagles 32-23 in their regular-season finale. Ugly? Yes, but a win is a win, especially for a team that has been struggling mightily in the second half of the season.
We’d be lying if we said it was a smooth ship though. BC led SU 10-0 in the first quarter, in large part because Garrett Shrader took four sacks in that first quarter alone. That certainly isn’t a recipe for success. Then, a series of puzzling events before the teams went to the locker room had everyone scratching their heads.
After that, let’s call it questionable, decision, Enrique Cruz joined Judah Mintz in SU athletes to get ejected from a game for fighting today. A skirmish with far more players on both sides broke out just before the half too, but nothing came out of it. Wow is the only word we could use.
After a sluggish third quarter, the fourth quarter was a breath of fresh air. After the Eagles went up by double digits, Devaughn Cooper, Damien Alford, and Sean Tucker (twice) all found the back of the end zone.
Tucker’s first score felt like the dagger, as BC turned the ball over on downs on its next possession. Tucker’s 29-yard scamper home all but wrapped up an SU win. In total, Syracuse scored 26 points in the fourth quarter, its most in the final 15 since the 76-61 shootout against Pitt in 2016.
There’s plenty to like from the box score here. Both Cooper and Alford topped 80 receiving yards. Oronde Gadsden topped the century mark for the first time since the NC State game. Tucker had 125 rushing yards (can’t wait for his tweet tomorrow). Perhaps the best stat of all is that Boston College was held under 100 rushing yards. Who saw that coming with how bad the run defense has been?
The win avoids two things no one associated with SU wanted to see happen. The Orange finish the season 4-4 in ACC play. Wake Forest went 3-5 and Boston College went 2-6. Had Syracuse lost, it would’ve finished the regular season dead last in the ACC Atlantic. Additionally, SU avoids becoming the third Power Five team to start a season 6-0 and end it 6-6 (2016 Baylor and 2011 Illinois are the two). That’s not a club you want to be in.
As for what’s next, Syracuse awaits its fate on where it’ll play its Bowl. We have no idea where that game will be played and who the opponent will be, but enjoy it Fizz Nation. Few saw it coming.
