Bottom line: This game exceeded expectations. Fans expectations, media expectations, and my expectations. This was a fantastic game played by the Syracuse Orange and a game that could catapult the Orange ahead the rest of the season.
Yes, Zack Mahoney struggled, and I continue to wonder why the Orange didn’t make a change at some point over the course of the game- after the game, Shafer said there were discussions, but the coaching staff was never really close to pulling the trigger. But Mahoney played well enough to turn a few heads, and make more than a few media members in the press box wonder if Syracuse would have won had Eric Dungey played for the Orange.
The defense was terrific for much of the game. They let Leonard Fournette get his, which today was 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brandon Harris made some big passes, but only completed half of his passes and threw for fewer than 160 yards. Coach Shafer and coach Bullough devised a game plan and basically said, lets make Brandon Harris beat us, and the LSU QB made plays when he had to. Keep in mind, the 157 yards he threw for today more than double his yardage total for the season.
Before the season, only one of us at the Fizz thought the Orange would reach bowl eligibility, but after winning weeks 1-3 and showing what they did today, that fortune might be changing.
Think about this, next week is the bye, when the Orange can get healthy. Coach Shafer said after the game that it is possible both Erv Phillips and Eric Dungey are ready for the USF game. South Florida is having troubles of their own, losing to Maryland in disappointing fashion, and head coach Willie Taggart is on the hot seat. The next week, you go to UVA, who just got slapped around by Boise State last night, and looked pretty bad in the loss.
It isn’t out of the question for the Orange to come back home 5-1 to face Pitt in the Dome. It may have seemed unreasonable at the start of the year, but now it seems like a real possibility, especially if Eric Dungey comes back and can play starting in two weeks against USF.
That is what today’s game gave us. Coach Shafer didn’t want to hear about moral victories. Even when it was framed that Syracuse fans are likely happy about what happened today in the Dome. Shafer would have none of it, instead turning the focus to how few plays it would have taken for the Orange to win.
Today’s game brought about as much optimism as a loss possibly could bring. That partnered with a 3-1 start, could lead to a fun rest of the season.
5 responses to “The Orange Played a Hell of a Game”
A 10 point game against a number 8 ranked team isn’t a bad thing at all . But the dumb penalties , lack of proper clock usage , and some poor throws early on are what ultimately lead to a loss that could have been a win .
That being said , that was a great game for the team , and the program’s future . And that is a great thing , considering it was a still a loss , but not an ugly loss .
It also gave Mahoney crucial playing time against a ranked opponent , which is also a good thing , for future back-up role .
I think our defense did as good of a job as any team can , at the moment , with Fournette . The man is a beast of a running back , and it takes about 6 or 7 guys to bring him down ( usually ) although I did see a SU defender solo tackle him one time , which was cool . And the best play of the game ( in my opinion ) was the faked field goal . I didn’t even see that one coming !
Great job guys !!! A loss isn’t always a loss , but a huge gain for the future of SU football , in the recruiting sense !
oer the last two years I’ve made the statement that “THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE BLOWING ACROSS THE CAMPUS OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.”
What a game,what a game. what I got out of this game is,I feel Syracuse can play with anyone that’s left on the schedule. I believe that we can beat Clemson and Florida State when the time comes. Zach Mahoney has moved to the #2 QB behind Eric Dungey and as I see it might even receive a scholarship at the end of the year. We stopped the bleeding in the red zone by scoring 2 td’s.
The defense looked like they improved,with a week off they should be ready for USF,Virginia and Pittsburgh. Syracuse should become bowl eligible after the Pitt win.
I didn’t see much use of the tight ends until late in the game. I feel they need to be used more instead of waiting to use them with 5-8 minutes left in the game.
For all of those nay-Sayers that were predicting LSU to blow us out with a 62-0 score. WHAT SAY YOU NOW FOOLS?
With a 4th string walk-on QB starting the game,leading them against the #8 team in the land and came damn close to pulling the upset, I just want to tell the team that (With a 3-1 1-0 ACC record)I’m proud of you guy’s ” VERY PROUD.”
GO CUSE;
Yes the Orange played a very good game yesterday. I hope it gives the coaching staff and players the confidence needed to accomplish better things.
Can we play at that level on the road and/or week after week. I think we can because of how young the team is and many of these players will only get better.
With a week off..Dungey and Phillips returning one would think a win at USF is probable. UVA is jeckyl and hyde. They have good personnel but the HC can’t put it together.
CUSE scored 24 points yesterday..against a good SEC team. We couldn’t have said that at anytime since Nassib’s last year. Lester may have something going here. Did we come out of the game healthy…nothing other than bumps/bruises?
The answer to your question on injuries Orangeinva, is that we didn’t have any? I know that I’m going to sound like a broken record here,but Syracuse loaded with N/R,2* and 3* players led by a 4th string walk-on QB played one hell of a game against a team loaded with 4*& 5* athletes fits yesterday.
I’ll say it again “THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE BLOWING ACROSS THE CAMPUS AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY” the next four years ought to be really interesting.
I thought I would compare Syracuse to the rest of the teams left on the 2015 schedule.
team total offense ranking pts average per game.
Syracuse 1403 yds. #90 131 32.8
Virginia 1398 yds. #92 92 23.0 win
Clemson 1326 yds. #102 110 36.7 toss up
Florida St 1294 yds. #106 107 35.7 toss up
Pittsburgh 1048 yds. #122 93 31.0 win
Louisville 1634 yds. #56 117 29.3 win
USF 1130 yds. ??? 82 27.3 win
NC State 1914 yds. #23 185 46.3 win
BC 1363 yds. #98 117 29.3 win
Using the above information I would say Syracuse has a good chance of going to a bowl game finishing with an overall of 9-3 maybe 10-2.
I’ve predicted them to go 8-4 this season.
with the first 4 games completed, Syracuse is ahead of last season’s record.
2014 2015
total pts. 102 131
record 2-2 3-1 1-0 ACC
I thought I would throw some fun facts out there for people to come to their own conclusion and hope for some conversation from the members.