Syracuse Football: Orange suffer crippling loss to Pitt in OT

The Syracuse football squad found a way to lose for the second straight week. The season is on the brink of unraveling heading into the bye week.

At first it seemed like the Syracuse football squad was destined to rout the Pitt Panthers. Syracuse drove down the field punched in a touchdown, then got a turnover and punched it in again. 14-0.

But it’s never that easy.

The Panthers rallied back with some running game and some luck. On the Panthers’ second touchdown they got a scoop and score, but it sure seemed like Eric Dungey’s forward progress had been stopped, but no whistle from the refs.

But that seemed to be a momentum shift because the Orange were caught in the mud offensively and couldn’t get out of it. The Panthers scored 20 unanswered and suddenly seized the momentum of the game.

Then a huge weather delay that lasted just over an hour came at a perfect time for the Orange. This team needed to regroup and catch their breath and focus on the task in front of them.

This team lives and dies by Eric Dungey and his play and that was the case in this game. He started out hot but fizzled, so much so, that fans were calling for Tommy DeVito to be put into the game.

Eventually after the delay we saw vintage Dungey and his 21 yard touchdown run (seventh of the season) gave Syracuse their first lead of the game since early in the first quarter.

Syracuse was able to continue to build on that thanks to their outstanding defensive line. Alton Robinson notched his sixth sack of the season (second of the day) and forced a fumble that the Orange recovered and transformed into three big points to put Syracuse up a touchdown: 34-27 with just a little more than 11 minutes in the game.

Achilles Heel…

Dino Babers said earlier this season that his number one goal on defense is to stop the run. Well over the last two weeks Syracuse has failed miserably in that category. Last week Syracuse gave up over 200 yards and three touchdowns to Heisman hopeful Travis Etienne . This week vs Pitt Syracuse gave up 192 yards and a touchdown (69 yarder) to Qadree Ollison. But it wasn’t just him, his running mate Darrin Hall also took a ride on the run all over Orange express going for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Syracuse lost a game they probably should’ve won and it was because of their inability to stop the run. If the Orange can’t stop the run, I’m not sure how many more games they’ll win this season. Syracuse still hasn’t beaten Pitt, at Pitt, since 2001.

Some of the highlights in this one:

• Aaron Hackett and Jarveon Howard got their first career touchdowns. With Ravian Pierce out for a while due to injury, you’ve got to think Hackett is going to continue to get more playing time. While the same can be said for Jarveon Howard for a different reason. There’s just been a lack of a running game, that’s been the case since 2012 (the last time the Orange had a 1,000 yard rusher).
• Special teams:

A few years ago Riley Dixon was the hot trend, now it’s Andre Szmyt. Ice cold blood in his veins and he has been the difference for Syracuse this season.

On the surface, Syracuse still has six more games in front of them this season and everything is still ahead. But it’s hard to think about that right now with the Orange knowing they could very easily be undefeated right now, but they aren’t.

Syracuse is now 2-1 all time in overtime games vs Pitt, 9-8 overall all time in overtime, and 4-2 through the first half of their season. Syracuse loses this one 44-37 in overtime to Pitt. A truly crippling loss to the mojo of the Orange who will have to sit on this for two weeks due to their bye week next week.