Of course it had to happen this way.
If Syracuse was finally going to snap its ACC losing streak, it wasn’t going to be with a comfortable, uneventful victory. That would have been entirely too easy.
No, it had to be chaotic. Absurd. Emotionally exhausting. Another game that felt like it was specifically designed to torture Syracuse fans.
Except this time, the Orange actually won.
And boy, did they need it.
I’ve spent much of this season talking about ACC games being coin flips. Syracuse kept landing on the wrong side. California. Virginia. Another close game, another agonizing loss.
But against North Carolina, Syracuse finally flipped the script.
The Orange are 3-4, they have an ACC victory, and there’s at least a little life left in a season that was beginning to feel hopeless.
My biggest takeaway? Steve Angeli needed this desperately.
He was supposed to be QB1 all along. Injuries have turned Syracuse’s quarterback situation into a revolving door, but Angeli finally delivered the kind of clutch performance this team needed.
It certainly didn’t start that way.
Early, Angeli looked shaky. He nearly threw a disastrous pick-six. The offense struggled to find a rhythm.
But when Syracuse needed him most, he delivered.
The 76-yard touchdown to Amari Hatcher changed everything.
Down 20-10 with the offense looking lifeless, Angeli gave Hatcher an opportunity to make a play. Hatcher went up between defenders and made an extraordinary catch.
Suddenly, Syracuse had hope.
Hatcher is developing into a legitimate No. 1 receiver, capable of making plays underneath, in the red zone and downfield.
And Angeli wasn’t finished.
His back-shoulder throw to Calvin Russell was one of my favorite plays of the entire season. Beautiful placement. Outstanding execution. The kind of throw that reminds you why Angeli entered the season as the starter.
Russell’s emergence, Hatcher’s development and the physical running of Ahmad Miller and Jo’an Johnson give Syracuse some legitimate offensive weapons.
It also makes me wonder what this season might have looked like with a healthy Amari Odom.
But that’s a conversation for another day.
Let’s appreciate what actually happened.
For once, the Syracuse defense made some important stops when the game was hanging in the balance.
For once, the offense responded to adversity.
And for once, Syracuse found a way to win the coin flip.
Of course, it couldn’t happen without another special teams catastrophe.
How does Syracuse have five missed extra points before Halloween?
It’s mind-melting.
After all the work required to score a touchdown, Syracuse once again failed to convert the simplest kick in football. Instead of taking the lead late, the Orange were stuck in a tie game.
That simply cannot continue.
But I also appreciated the way Fran Brown and his players supported Shay Barker afterward. They didn’t abandon their teammate. They rallied around him.
And Brown made the biggest decision of the night in overtime.
After Syracuse answered North Carolina’s touchdown, he decided to go for two and end the game.
I loved it.
Forget extending the misery. Forget playing another possession and hoping something good happens.
Go win the football game.
Was the conversion successful? The replay wasn’t particularly convincing to me. Did the ball actually break the plane when the runner hit the pylon?
I’m not entirely sure.
But I’ll take it.
And I give Brown credit for having the guts to make that call.
He’s absorbed plenty of criticism this season. Some deserved. Some wildly excessive, considering the quarterback injuries he’s navigated.
This was a moment when his team showed toughness, resilience and belief.
Syracuse still has enormous problems. The kicking situation is unacceptable. The quarterback injuries have been devastating. And reaching a bowl game remains a difficult proposition.
But for one night, the Orange stopped finding ways to lose.
They made the big throws. They caught the contested passes. They battled through mistakes. They showed some guts.
And they finally won one of these crazy ACC games.
Cardiac ‘Cuse is alive.
At least for another week.
And after everything Syracuse fans have endured, that feels pretty damn good.
