Syracuse football: three takeaways from the Orange’s overtime win over Virginia Tech

Not gonna lie, thought they had us in the first half

At the end of the season, they don’t ask how you won, they ask how many you won. Well the Syracuse Orange didn’t earn style points today, but they showed a lot of heart to come from behind against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Let’s get to the takeaways:

The Syracuse spark

The Orange were reeling down 21-3 and in a desperate need for someone to step up and make a play. Kyle McCord had dealt with dropped passes and his receivers being unable to create space against the Hokies secondary when he squeezed a pass in to Justus Ross-Simmons. The Virginia Tech corner read the throw and appeared to be ready to make the stop when Ross-Simmons made the catch and broke away for the score.

Last week I pointed out that Syracuse had one pass over 40 yards this season and Ross-Simmons took his first catch of the year for 55 to jolt the Orange back to life. Later in the third, Trebor Pena took a screen 41 yards to set up a score and those big plays seemed to force Virginia Tech to adjust their approach.

The Syracuse defense was up and down all game long, but Duce Chestnut forced a turnover to get the offense back on the field in the comeback and the play by Marlowe Wax in overtime sealed the victory. Big plays at big moments that turned what looked like a demoralizing loss into an uplifting win.

Return of the Run

LeQuint Allen ran for 125 yards on 21 carries. 68 of those yards came in the second half and overtime as the Orange finally found a rhythm with the running game. It certainly seemed to help that Syracuse was running out of spread formations which allowed Allen to get to the second level and find space to move rather than slamming headfirst into a stacked box.

Whatever the change was, the blocking seemed more engaged and Allen was running like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. You could tell he wasn’t about to roll over and accept a loss today and he delivered on the final drive in regulation and overtime.

Syracuse making some plays on the outside forced Virginia Tech to adjust their coverages and keep safeties playing the pass. We’ll see if the Orange keep this strategy next week in Boston.

So many shots to the foot

Syracuse continues to find ways to self-inflict damage. Darrell Gill had a first down late in the first half but didn’t secure the ball leading to a fumble. Five McCord passes were dropped. The offensive line missed a double-team on Antwan Powell-Ryland allowing a sack on a 3rd down. Powell-Ryland blocked an extra point with an easy leap over the lineman who stayed down in his stance.

This team seems to love creating their own obstacles and it’s an area that needs to be cleaned up the final four games. Maybe the momentum from escaping today will get the team’s attention to detail back where it needs to be.

The Orange head to Boston College next Saturday and will face an Eagles team who is coming off a bye. We’ll have plenty of previews coming up this week.