It wasn’t pretty, especially in the first half. Syracuse fell to Stanford at the end 26-24 with a game winning field goal from Emmet Kenney 39 yards out. The bright side is we saw about as ugly as the Orange offense could get, and they still managed to hang in the ballgame and even take a lead in the fourth quarter because of the steady SU defense. However, the obvious downside is that there were too many costly mistakes for quarterback Kyle McCord and the majority of the offense.
Defense:
Let’s start where credit is due, and that is the Syracuse defense for keeping the Orange in the game. It seemed like over and over the SU defense stood strong and the offense failed to get anything going, and that process repeated quite often. Syracuse held Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels in check, limiting him to only 178 yards through the air and one touchdown. SU also recorded two interceptions, which helped the offensive momentum. One of the few downsides to the Orange defense had to do with wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. The sophomore made seven receptions for 87 yards and an ecstatic, one-handed touchdown while staying in bounds in the first quarter. Syracuse knew going into this game that they needed extra focus on him, because he notched over 1,000 receiving yards last year. The touchdown didn’t help, but also SU had Stanford pinned on a 4th-and-9 with a chance to close out the game, before the Orange decided to go one-on-one coverage with Ayomanor and it led to a 27-yard catch and first down before Stanford won it with a field goal.
Offense:
The Syracuse offense didn’t look pretty, especially in the first half. McCord still came out of it with 158 passing yards, but SU’s run game was a problem for the entire night. The Orange recorded -13 yards on the ground in the first half, and only had 39 in the second half. SU’s offensive line didn’t help, either, with too many collapses in the opening half. Still, Syracuse only trailed by three at halftime. The offense looked better in the second half, with McCord putting the offense on his shoulders, but he threw two interceptions in crucial drives, including a pick-six.
Final Word:
Syracuse didn’t look its best, but still managed to stay in the game with a chance to win it at the end. SU plays Holy Cross on Saturday for a noon kickoff.
