We told you about Syracuse’s 32-23 win over Boston College. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t address the fiasco that took place between the players, coaches, and even the fans in attendance. So let’s break down everything that happened last night in terms of people getting chippy because there was plenty of it.
It started with Enrique Cruz. The offensive guard took a swing at a BC defender late in the second quarter, leading to a prompt ejection.
Yeah, you can’t do that. Especially when it knocks your team out of field goal range in a tight-knit contest. That was merely the beginning of it all.
Both teams were jawing at each other right as the first-half timer hit zeroes. If it weren’t for the coaches and officials trying to break it up, it could’ve gone further south in a hurry. If you found yourself at a loss for words after what happened with Judah Mintz and Doug Edert in the basketball game earlier in the day, well you are certainly not alone. But were you ready for this?
From our vantage point, it looked like Devaughn Cooper was going to plant the flag at midfield (though he denied that on Twitter postgame) before a swarm of BC players prevented that. It then appeared to be handed off to D’Marcus Adams, who ran around the field with it. We saw Dino Babers doing everything in his power to break up the scuffle and he made it clear he wasn’t pleased with his players postgame. Cooper denied any malintent in the press conference as well. Both Garrett Shrader and Oronde Gadsden made it clear they didn’t want to get involved.
So that’s what you saw. But what about what you didn’t see?
Well, Babers mentioned in his press conference that one Eagles fan in particular wasn’t being very friendly towards him. Nonetheless, the student presence for BC was quite large considering the team was 3-8 and it was the game immediately after Thanksgiving. We were in the press box so we don’t know specifically what words were said between Orange and Eagles fans, but such behavior is inexcusable.
That begs the question, is this now a rivalry game? Even though it was scheduled during rivalry week, Boston College is not thought of as a rival the same way Georgetown is in basketball. That may soon change. BC is one of the three foes SU will face every year under the ACC’s new scheduling format. So while this may not have been considered a rivalry game coming into it, you have to rethink it based on what seemingly happened both on and off the field.
Let’s end this by saying that this is just our point of view from what we saw in Chestnut Hill last night. We don’t know what was said to Cruz that prompted his reaction, we don’t know the insider info about the flag planting, and we don’t know what specifically happened between BC and SU fans. But even though both the players and Coach Babers didn’t have much to say about it postgame, this as good as overshadows the win.
