Syracuse Football: Top 5 Plays of Week 4 Versus LSU (video highlights)

2. Dowels Interception + Dungey to Ishmael to Get Within 2

I didn’t want an honorable mention this week, so I have two plays I felt deserved to be ranked number two this week. The first one, a Juwan Dowels interception gave SU life to start the fourth quarter and prevented a harmful field goal or touchdown. The second, a touchdown pass to Steve Ishmael got the Orange within two points with around five minutes to play. Both plays were crucial to the game which is why I have them tied for second.

On the Dowels interception, rookie LSU quarterback Myles Brennan had the LSU offense on the 28 yard line; in other words, 28 yards from a touchdown. The Tigers were driving and looked almost unstoppable.

Myles Brennan took the snap in the shotgun and went back to pass. He had two open LSU receivers on the left side, though one was covered by Syracuse’s Juwan Dowels. Dowels had just given up enough room to the LSU receiver for Brennan to complete a pass. Brennan released throwing at that matchup. He threw it inaccurately though and the pass sailed more to the left then he would have wanted. Since Dowels was behind the receiver he was right in place to catch the interception.

Unfortunately Dowels had his knees on the ground when he made the pick which meant he couldn’t get up and run, but the interception was still huge as it gave Syracuse new life, a chance to score, and kept LSU from scoring as well.

The other play, the Ishmael Touchdown was a result of that interception. Syracuse had gotten multiple fourth and third down conversions throughout the drive. However, they still had to cap it off.

Once again in the shotgun, Dungey went back to pass and quickly released it to Ishmael who had quickly created space from his defender on his route in the end zone. Ishmael caught the pass in the end zone with 5:40 to play to get the Orange within two points of LSU. It gave the Orange a chance to win which was big considering the Orange had been down quite a bit early in the second half.

Though the Orange did not end up winning, these two plays gained LSU’s respect and put the ACC on notice. It showed Syracuse can score when they needs to and the defense can step up and make big plays in big environments.