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

The Syracuse football team lost another tight road contest to fall under .500 on the season. Here are the top 5 bittersweet oranges from the game.

I don’t know what my life expectancy is at 24 years old, but I do know the Syracuse football team isn’t helping extend that number. The Orange as they have in every game this season, had their chances to win this contest. But in SU fashion have lost more of those than they’ve won.

It wasn’t only the second road loss in as many games. It wasn’t that the Orange started 0-1 in the conference. It was another game that they could’ve, would’ve, and possibly should’ve had. Some Orange fans argue that SU could be 5-0 at this point.

I’m not sure about that, but I do think 4-1 would’ve been very possible. Ultimately it comes down to a handful of plays and we say this after every game. SU just couldn’t make the momentum plays that would’ve changed the game. And even when they did in that huge third quarter, it simply was too little, too late.

The Orange now have to try and make up for the Middle Tennessee loss in Week 2 to have even a sniff of a chance at a bowl game this season. Too often in sports we say “this is a must win game”, but for the Cuse on Saturday this is MUST WIN against Pitt at home. You lose that game and you can stick a fork in SU’s bowl aspirations. Before we get there, lets look back at this NC State loss.

5. Where’s the running game tho?

It appears even more obvious now that the 300 yard rushing performance from a few weeks ago

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was nothing more than a blip on the radar. That makes it back-to-back weeks for the Orange that they’ve failed to go over 100 yards on the ground.

After a one week vacation, Eric Dungey returns as the leading rusher for the Syracuse Orange. He finished with 44 yards on 16 carries with an atrocious 2.8 yards per clip. The next leading rusher on the list? Chris Elmore.

Lets just address the elephant in the room. The Orange are a one-dimensional offense. They can’t get anything going on the ground which forces Dungey to drop back 47 times. Is that the recipe for success? Perhaps with the way SU has been running the football, we may be forced to realize that’s the only way Cuse can win games.

I know NC State was extremely good against the run and so is LSU, but you’ve got to be able to do something, anything! The Elmore package, despite the marginal stats, did work in spurts. But SU kept going to it in odd situations: second and long, third and medium, it just didn’t make sense.

4. Steve Ishmael has a second career

As a magician. I mean if this football thing doesn’t work out, a career in magic wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Steve Ishmael had one reception in the first half, after leading the nation in receptions heading into this game.

While he finished with his fifth straight 100+ yard receiving game, it wasn’t the same. He finished specifically with six receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown. But this is what happened in the past during Ishmael’s career. He would disappear on offense and the team would struggle.

It’s no coincidence the Orange got off to a slow start and Ishmael wasn’t a factor in the offense. Now I’m not completely blaming Ishmael for the loss because it wasn’t all his fault, but he was worth a mention on this slide.

Huge shoutout to his running mate Erv Philips who dominated this game. He now owns the single game reception record at Syracuse after going off for: 17 receptions for 188 yards. Consistently throughout the game converted key third down conversions and always provided Dungey a security blanket.

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.

2. Critical errors defensively

Making the key play in the game is how you get skins on the wall. While NC State wouldn’t have been the biggest skin on the wall, it still would’ve been nice to have. It would’ve put the Orange over .500, started conference play with a win, and helped build the resume for a bowl berth.

Instead the Orange coughed away opportunity after opportunity. Including for seemingly the third game in a row an interception was dropped. At the end of the game, fair or unfair, the Orange defense needed to make one stop and again couldn’t do it.

It wasn’t all bad for the Orange:

• Held NC State to 23 total yards in the third quarter
• The Wolfpack only converted 3-of-12 third down conversions
• Held one of the most prolific offenses in check

Additional note, arguably SU’s best player Zaire Franklin left the game early but ended up returning to the contest. While it is the Orange’s deepest position, they can’t afford to lose their best player for any significant time this season.

1. Eric Dungey’s legacy

We talked about it on the postgame show, but it’s worth further discussion. How will Eric Dungey be remembered?

• A product of Dino Babers?
• A fan favorite?
• A legend?

It’s an interesting diatribe for a player that has yet to complete a full season in Orange due to his injury history. Is he stupid? Is he fearless? Or perhaps is he both?

This is a guy who always puts his all on the line with seemingly no regrets. Although a quick note on this game, in back-to-back weeks he put his team behind the eight ball because of poor reads. Against LSU he stared down his receiver and got intercepted. This week he threw a bad 50-50 ball to a receiver who doesn’t win those matchups.

Perhaps that Babers comparison of Dungey to Favre isn’t so far off after all.

While Eric Dungey had his 8th career 300 yard passing game which is the new record for a career with the Orange. He broke a tie with former Orange passer Ryan Nassib who recently signed on with the Jacksonville Jaguars as their backup under Doug Marrone’s direction. Up next for the Orange is another ACC tilt with Pitt in the Carrier Dome.