The ending on Saturday afternoon proved fitting for a really challenging Syracuse football 2020 stanza.
With freshman quarterback JaCobian Morgan not available in the Syracuse football 2020 home finale on Saturday afternoon against N.C. State, the Orange went with redshirt senior Rex Culpepper.
It’s impossible not to root for Culpepper given what he’s had to go through in his personal life. And versus the Wolfpack, Culpepper put forth a solid effort.
Per ESPN statistics, he threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, and one of his scores was a 60-yard bomb to senior wide receiver Nykeim Johnson.
However, with the ‘Cuse trailing N.C. State by seven points, 36-29, in the waning minutes of this Atlantic Coast Conference clash, Culpepper brought his team down the field and had the Orange inside the Wolfpack’s 10-yard line.
Faced with no timeouts on a third-down play, Culpepper took a sack – something that he couldn’t afford to do – and then he inexplicably spiked the ball on fourth down.
Obviously, he wanted to stop the clock, and perhaps Culpepper didn’t realize it was fourth down amid the frenzy of this contest’s ending, but that spike gave the ball back to N.C. State with one second left. The Wolfpack took a knee, and that was it.
Syracuse football drops to 1-9 in the fall term, with one encounter remaining, a visit to No. 2 Notre Dame next Saturday afternoon. N.C. State improves to 7-3 and has itself positioned nicely for a post-season bowl berth.
Syracuse football had a legit shot to beat N.C. State, but the Orange couldn’t get over the hump.
Orange fans are going to have a field day with Culpepper’s late-game decision-making, but let’s not pin everything on the ‘Cuse quarterback.
Syracuse football had way too many untimely penalties. The running game did next to nothing. Yes, the special-teams’ unit proved strong, however, one might question some of the play-calling by Orange coaches.
The ‘Cuse defense yet again continues to generate takeaways, but then the Syracuse football offense can’t punch the ball into the end zone. All in all, this is one heck of a frustrating season for the Orange program and its fan base.
That being said, regardless of the final outcome on Saturday afternoon from the Carrier Dome, Syracuse football certainly looked better against the Wolfpack than it did more than a week ago, when Louisville crushed the Orange, 30-0, on its own turf.
But prior to that, before the ‘Cuse had a week off, Syracuse football nearly knocked off Boston College in Central New York, losing by just three points. So the Orange has shown an ability to keep things close, but unfortunately not with much consistency throughout the 2020 campaign.
Fittingly but sadly, the final moments on Saturday versus N.C. State pretty much summed up the entire season for the Syracuse football team.