Syracuse Football: Gritty Orange fall at Miami, who played well?
By Andrew Carey
Here’s your weekly Syracuse football report card. The Orange may have lost to the Hurricanes, but they showed a ton of heart and have done that all season.
The Syracuse football team had yet another tough task this weekend when they went on the road to take on the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes. Coming off a roller-coaster of emotions this past week after their upset win against Clemson, there were questions about whether or not the Orange would be ready to play.
In the first half, it looked like Eric Dungey was still riding high off his performance against the Tigers. The Syracuse signal caller threw four interceptions in the first half. This really set the tone of the game as all day the Orange couldn’t get out of their own way. The Syracuse defense played extremely well minus the one long pass play in the third quarter that resulted in a touchdown. Once again the defensive line struggled to get much of a pass rush on Miami quarterback Malik Rosier.
Syracuse’s run game was solid all day gaining 264 yards, as Dontae Strickland eclipsed the 100 yard total along with Eric Dungey. Moe Neal chipped in with 46 yards and a touchdown.
Syracuse’s execution in the red zone was pitiful all day as the Orange found some success moving the ball in the second half but only found the end zone once. Cole Murphy was tremendous on the day, making four field goals. However, having to settle for these field goals really did prove to be the difference and multiple times when the Orange had goal to go, they made mistakes.
Parris Bennett once again led the Orange in tackles with ten. He now has 75 tackles through the Orange’s first eight games and I really hope the kid gets credit for the type of season he is putting together.
With 11:50 left in the 4th quarter Syracuse had the ball at the Miami ten yard line. The following two plays were bad snaps by the center, which led to Eric Dungey getting sacked twice, settling for a field goal.
Lets see who helped the Cuse nearly pull off another upset: