What a game. On Friday, Syracuse football conquered its first road test by defeating UNLV, 44-41 in overtime. The Rebels were previously 4-0, with road wins over Houston and Kansas, and ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll.
It was a thrilling game against a very good team, although one that could have been less stressful.
My key takeaways from Syracuse football's week 6 win versus UNLV.
Syracuse showed what I thought its offense would look like in 2024
In a total 180 from years past, Syracuse football has become a passing team, with quarterback Kyle McCord leading the charge on offense and the national leaderboards. As impressive as he’s been throwing the ball, I wanted to see more from LeQuint Allen Jr. and the run game. I know the offensive line, which has faced deserved criticism, made that difficult, but Friday’s game showed what could be done.
Allen ran 19 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns, making some incredible individual efforts to break tackles and win the game. He added 9 receptions, 58 yards, and two receiving touchdowns. He also did this despite being shaken up and playing through pain. Freshman RB Yasin Willis had his breakout game, carrying the rock 8 times for 62 yards, and recording his first career touchdown.
On the passing side, McCord threw a ridiculous 63 times, completing 40 passes for 355 yards with three touchdowns, although with a boneheaded interception in the red zone. Syracuse shouldn't have to throw this much again all year, but it led to the best game of the season for Oronde Gadsden II with 10 catches and 142 yards after he was notably quiet the previous two weeks. Jackson Meeks and Trebor Pena had nice outings, as both caught 8 passes for 67 yards and Meeks added a touchdown.
Umari Hatcher notably did not record a catch, and neither did Justus Ross-Simmons, who's played a limited role after recovering from an injury. Still, having a complementary run game is all I’m asking for Syracuse to go along with the consistency from McCord, and we got it.
Special teams coordinator James Vollano needs to go
After the Georgia Tech and Holy Cross games, I wrote about how much of a problem the special teams have been for Syracuse. Unfortunately, the issues have persisted, and all parts of the special teams' operation have been flawed in some way. Against UNLV, a punt was blocked for a touchdown, and another time, Jack Stonehouse wasn't able to even get the punt off because of the pressure.
Syracuse special teams this year:
— Justin Girshon (@JustinGirshon) October 5, 2024
Against Georgia Tech - Failed to corral an onside kick, had a punt blocked, had a field blocked and kicked the ball out of bounds on a kickoff.
Against Holy Cross - Three missed field goals
Against UNLV - Sack taken on a punt, blocked punt
Past the punt blocks and precious follies, Vollano sent Willis back to return kickoffs. Willis, a true freshman, 226-pound power back, made a questionable decision to return a kick in the first half, and he mistracked another kickoff.
On a more positive note, Jadyn Oh took over the placekicking and did his job, making a 21-yard field goal and five extra points, but he wasn't asked to do very much. Overall, it’s embarrassing how bad our special teams are as a whole, and this comes back to Vollano. I can't imagine how firing him now would help, but at year's end, Vollano needs to be gone.
Syracuse came prepared and was resilient
It was almost shocking to see the start of the game, where Syracuse got a three-and-out, a touchdown, another quick stop, and another touchdown. The game was not over at 14-0, and UNLV does deserve some credit for hanging in there, but head coach Fran Brown’s team deserves even more for the way it kept fighting.
The best way I could describe this game is as a boxing match: Syracuse threw punches and the Orange had to take a lot of them, too. The game was back and forth, until Syracuse took control in the last three minutes and overtime.
There, McCord led a game-tying 75-yard drive, which included two third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion. In overtime, Syracuse went on defense first, and the Orange got its first three-and-out since the first drive of the game, forcing a UNLV field goal. Finally, Syracuse football, aided by a stupid penalty from UNLV, effectively moved the ball to score the game-winner in overtime.