Syracuse football: the leaders deliver for Orange when they needed it most

Fran Brown’s team culture was on display on Saturday

The Syracuse Orange defeated the #23 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a game where the Orange controlled the first 52 minutes and then held on for dear life in the final eight.

So the bad news is that Syracuse had some terrible special teams plays that almost cost them a winnable game. That gives the coaches something to work on the next two weeks, but this is about focusing on the good news and the best news out of the win on Saturday was the leadership on display inside the JMA Dome.

Kyle McCord was excellent through the air, but he was also visibly demonstrative throughout. McCord was seen yelling on the sidelines and after his 15 yard scramble he spiked the ball with enthusiasm. Most of all when Syracuse needed him to make throws, he was on target. The final two McCord throws to Oronde Gadsden gave Syracuse their final touchdown and a critical 3rd down conversion which sealed the win.

Gadsden had a couple of tough drops, but he made those two enormous plays when the Orange needed them. Both catches were in traffic and showed that the standout tight end was able to put the mistakes behind him to come up in the clutch.

On the other side of the ball, we knew that the Syracuse defense needed to step up to cover the loss of Marlowe Wax and both Fadil Diggs and Justin Barron made critical stops. Barron was much better at keeping the Tech skill players from getting to the outside as the Orange held Tech to 112 yards rushing.

Diggs moved from his defensive end position to a linebacker spot and was often spying on Tech quarterback Haynes King. He showed his versatility and athleticism and led the Orange in tackles. No play was more important than this 4th down stop which set up the eventual game-winning score. What impressed me is that Georgia Tech tried to go quick and Diggs wasn’t fooled.

The final play that needs to be mentioned came from LeQuint Allen who broke out a 24 yard run to seal the win and had the presence of mind to slide down to eliminate any chance of a fumble. Allen’s workload has been managed the first two weeks but as Fran Brown said, when the game is on the line the ball is going into his hands.

When your veteran players can shake off mistakes and focus when it reinforces the culture that Brown and staff are implementing. Leadership isn’t about what you say, it’s about what you do and on Saturday afternoon the actions of the Syracuse Football leaders spoke volumes.