In what was a disgusting game for Syracuse, there’s only one word to describe the Orange’s performance: disappointing. SU got railroaded by 19th-ranked Pittsburgh 41-13 in the steel city. With the loss, Syracuse falls to 5-2 on the year and 2-2 in ACC play. Let’s look into the entire matchup:
Kyle McCord: F
There’s really no other way to describe McCord’s performance than a failure. The Ohio State transfer tossed a career high five interceptions, with three of those being returned for pick sixes. That means McCord gave away 18 free points in the game. There’s just simply no way to win when that happens. The senior finished the day 35-64 with 321 yards. That comes out to a 55% completion rate. To put the SU quarterback’s performance into perspective, Pitt players had five catches for 127 yards and 3 touchdowns off of McCord. Panther QB Eli Holstein threw for just 108 yards and two TD’s. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the fact that McCord should not be throwing the ball 64 times. Those attempts marked a career high for the New Jersey native. McCord said after the contest about establishing run, “It’s a double edged sword. You want to establish the run game, but when you’re playing catch up and those drives take six or seven minutes…We just put ourselves in a hole.” The theme of this season has been McCord leading the squad to victory. It might be time to change up the offensive game plan after tonight’s ugly performance.
Rushing game: D
When you pass the ball 65 times, there’s bound to be next to no running game. That was the case tonight against Pitt. The Orange ended up with six rushing yards. You heard that right. Six rushing yards. Six rushing yards in a game at the collegiate level is unacceptable. Syracuse had 75+ yards in its last three games on the ground. Yet, for some reason in this game it was pass, pass, pass all the time. It was way to predictable from Elijah Robinson. Running back Lequint Allen finished with 15 carries for 32 yards. However, McCord was tagged with negative 32 yards cancelling out any positive yards on the ground for the Orange. On top of that, Yasin Willis was seen having to leave the game with the help of the trainers towards the end of the game. Not only is that a worrying sign for Syracuse going forward, it will once again put McCord in a position where he is passing 50-60 times a game. The only reason I don’t give SU an F on the ground is because both of its touchdowns did come by way of the rushing game.
Defense: B
Now you might be wondering, how does the defense get a B when Syracuse let up 41 points? It was not simply not their fault. McCord gave up 18 points while also pinning the defense in extremely tough positions. While Marlowe Wax did have a roughing the passer on what could’ve been a ‘Cuse interception, this loss is in no ways the defense fault. SU held Pitt to just 218 yards in the contest. Under 150 on through the air and less than 75 on the ground. Against a top 20 team, you can’t ask for much more.
This was an embarrassing loss for Syracuse on a national stage. The Orange must re-group and bounce back stronger. Tonight’s contest is the first true ugly loss of the Fran Brown era.
