Syracuse Football: Top 5 bittersweet oranges from loss to NC State

3. Major problems on offense for Orange

We’ve already talked about the running game or the lack there of for the Cuse. But here’s another troubling stat to digest: SU on their first 18 offensive plays, 10 of them went for zero or negative yards.

Long story short that means SU all day was battling second and third and long plays. SU despite the moniker (Orange is the New Fast) isn’t good enough to overcome those kind of deficiencies. When you consider how poorly SU has done at running the football, you can understand the issues for the Orange.

While some penalties you can blame on the zebras, some you just can’t. In a critical point of the game, the Orange are down 26 to 14 in the redzone and they get a touchdown. But it’s called back for an illegal formation. So what happened?

Devin Butler who was supposed to be on the line of scrimmage, wasn’t. Instead of a touchdown and a one possession game, the Orange are forced to kick a field goal. Who knows how that would’ve rippled effected the game, but the Orange lost by a possession when everything was said and done.