Syracuse Football: Orange are going bowling in 2018

The Syracuse football squad finally will be bowling after a five year drought thanks to their sixth win of the 2018 season vs NC State.

Do you think Eric Dungey heard the quarterback controversy chatter this week? It resulted in a red smoking hot first quarter where Dungey delivered for this Orange squad in prime time.

Syracuse dropped a 24 point burger which included passes of 82 yards (Nykeim Johnson) and 20 yards (Jamal Custis). What a start for a Syracuse team that was on the brink of bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013, featured in their first prime time Saturday game since 2010, this was a big moment and the Orange stepped up.

That was of course until the second quarter started and NC State’s senior leader Ryan Finley stepped up to the plate. Finley threw two touchdowns of his own and started to put the pressure on Syracuse.

People wondered heading into this game if Dungey got the start, how long would his leash be? Well the question was answered in the second quarter when Tommy DeVito was thrown into the game.

But it only lasted a drive as Dungey was put back into the game at the end of the half and orchestrated a last second field goal to put the Orange up a touchdown heading into halftime: 27-20.

Second half

The quarterback carousel doesn’t continue as Dino Babers gives Dungey the rock and that was a good decision as the Orange march 14 plays down the field to punch in the touchdown to go up two scores.

This game started playing out how many predicted, after Syracuse marched 75 yards down the field, the Wolfpack returned the favor doing the same exact thing except a bit more efficiently (only needing seven plays).

At this point it felt like the NCAA video game was reinstated for this game because the touchdowns continued to be traded back and forth. Another 75 yard drive was finalized with Dungey’s fourth total touchdown of the contest with a 31 yard strike to Taj Harris increasing the lead 41-27.

Eric Dungey reconfirms that he’ll go down as one of the most prolific quarterbacks in program history.

Despite the heroics of Dungey, that same tenacity was not upheld be either defense on Saturday night. The touchdown bonanza continued as the Wolfpack had the fourth straight 75 yard touchdown drive in a row to pull within a score of the Orange.

Interestingly enough Syracuse moved down the field, faked going for it on fourth down tried to run the field goal unit out there and MISSED THE KICK. Thank goodness Babers fooled all of us by getting the timeout just in the nick of time, Syracuse then actually converted the field goal extending the lead to 10 with just under 10 minutes to go.

This game continued to seem like whoever had the ball last would win and Ryan Finley continued to impress with NFL throws and you can see why so many NFL draft analysts have him rated so highly looking ahead to the 2019 NFL Draft.

Wow…

Finley continued to light up the Syracuse secondary with his third touchdown of the game and went over 450 yards passing with his 12 yard back shoulder pass to Kelvin Harmon. Which made it a three point ball game with under eight minutes remaining in the contest.

But just as it looked like the Orange would be able to run the clock nearly out on a third down conversion by Dungey, the play was called back on a questionable holding call and suddenly Syracuse had to give the Wolfpack another chance.

I think it’s ironic that Syracuse would seize bowl eligibility when their defense was on the field. When you look at the previous two losses for the Orange, their defense let them down in key moments in overtime vs Pitt and at the end of the game vs Clemson.

Some pressure in the backfield forced up a bad pass that linebacker Andrew Armstrong intercepted to seal the victory.

Of course it wasn’t officially over, the Syracuse offense would have to drain the rest of the juice out of the orange as it pertained to the remaining time on the clock. Instead, Dontae Strickland punched it into the endzone and the Orange went up 10 with just over a minute to go.

Random fun fact, there was a raucous crowd in the loud house and it was confirmed by the Orange that attendance broke the 40,000 mark.

This win is more than just the sixth win of the season, it was an opportunity for Syracuse to prove to a national audience that they’re for real against a top-25 opponent and that’s exactly what they did.

Also in the process Eric Dungey made a statement as to why he’s the straw that stirs the drink for the Orange. Finally and most importantly Syracuse will be playing a 13th game this season for the first time since 2013, enjoy Orange fans you deserve it.