On November 13, 2021, Syracuse was embarrassed by Louisville 41-3. Almost exactly a year later, we witnessed a very similar performance. The Orange were outcoached, outmatched, and outplayed in a 38-3 bloodbath at the hands of Florida State. Everywhere you looked, nothing went right for SU in this one.
As the game progressed, it felt more and more like a funeral march. The first batch of fans left at halftime, and from there it just got emptier and emptier to the point where it was mainly FSU fans in the stands. The band was the only thing that could compete with the noise Seminole fans made in the fourth quarter.
The weird thing is that this came with Garrett Shrader at QB. His status was still very much in question leading up to the game because Dino Babers, as he does, didn’t say a lot in his press conferences. But it was clear in his on-field performance that he is not 100%. For goodness sake, 6-17 passing for just 65 yards with an interception and -2 yards on 10 carries? The Dome crowd was loud when he was announced as the starter on the loudspeaker, but that was the extent of it.
Up and down the stat sheet, the Seminoles owned the Orange. FSU halfback Trey Benson ran amok for 163 yards on just 18 carries. Jordan Travis completed over 90% of his passes. Florida State had possession for 36:11, Syracuse a mere 23:49. In totality, the Seminoles outgained the Orange 420 to 160. It was the epitome of ugly.
Want more? Some of the coaching decisions made zero sense. For example, what good does attempting an onside kick at the start of the second half do? These aren’t the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl 44 (no, that decision didn’t make sense, even though it worked).
The fact that this abomination of a performance came on Senior Night makes it even more mind-boggling. You could feel goosebumps with how amped up the crowd was. Fan favorites like Matthew Bergeron, Garrett Williams, Chris Elmore, and Mikel Jones were honored before the game. And then that happened. The SU sideline was dead for most of the game. No energy whatsoever. Why would there be? The final game in the Dome for a really solid senior class was nothing short of an embarrassment.
Make it four straight Ls for SU after a 6-0 start. With two games left, who knows what to expect? Wake Forest has one of the most dynamic offenses in the country, and Boston College looks much more formidable after knocking off a ranked NC State team on the road today. One thing is certain though. If Syracuse plays the way it played tonight in its final two games, it’ll go from 6-0 to 6-6.
