Syracuse Football: Takeaways from the Orange's week 13 Senior Day win over UConn

Syracuse football picked up its eighth win of the season against UConn, 31-24. The Orange never trailed, but the game was more competitive than it should have been, with a mix of penalties overturning points, missed field goals, and a late Huskies touchdown.

Either way, Syracuse did a good job coming away with a victory over a solid seven-win Connecticut team. Here are my takeaways from the game.

My key takeaways from Syracuse football's week 13 win against UConn.

Kyle McCord gave his magnum opus

With the exception of one very notable exception, Kyle McCord has been elite all year for Syracuse. He's thrown for 300 yards in every game but one and entering today trailed only Miami's Cam Ward for the most passing yards in the country with 3,476. McCord is also the nation's leader with 304 completions and 475 attempts with a healthy margin for both.

However, what McCord never did was throw for 400 yards; his high was only 392 yards in the loss to Boston College a few weeks back. Today, he did that, and then some with 470 yards. He also completed 37 of 47 passes (completing 78.7% of his passes, another season high), a pair of touchdown passes to tie Ryan Nassib's single-season mark at 26, and his third rushing touchdown of the season. McCord started the day hot with two deep balls to Darrell Gill Jr. and Oronde Gadsden II and never looked back.

McCord, in addition to tying Ryan Nassib's record for single-season passing touchdowns, broke his record for single-season passing yards and nearly the single-game passing yard mark. Nassib threw for 3,749 yards in 2012, and McCord is now at 3,946 yards.

Additionally, Nassib threw for 482 yards in the 2012 matchup with Northwestern, which McCord was just 12 yards off of, and which I really thought he'd get to. It's also the third-highest passing yard total in 2024 as of this writing, trailing just Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and UNC's Jacolby Criswell. What a treat McCord has been to watch for Syracuse all season long, and especially today.

Davien Kerr was tested, for the most part he delivered

Making just his second career start, UConn made it a point of emphasis to test true freshman cornerback Davien Kerr. It wasn't perfect for Kerr, but he held his own against veteran UConn receivers. Kerr was tight in coverage all day long and catches against him, particularly streaks down the sideline, came from exceptional efforts.

What's most impressive about Kerr is his timeline and how quickly he's developed. Outside of Syracuse, Kerr had only one FBS offer, from UMass. He was planning on taking a prep year alongside his twin brother, Davion Kerr, himself a Syracuse football commit for the class of 2025. Davien didn't get his Syracuse offer until June 7th after winning a camp MVP. He committed on June 24th, just over a month until fall camp started.

Head coach Fran Brown's ability to evaluate talent is incredible and he's found another guy in the Bloomfield, Connecticut, native. He was so impressive today, and I can't wait to see his career pay off.

Explosive run plays hurt the Orange once again, but that's okay

For the second week in a row, Fran Brown's team gave up multiple big plays on the ground, but otherwise shut down UConn on the ground. As a team, the Huskies ran for 124 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. However, 71 yards (and the touchdown) came from a 4th and 1 run for Cam Edwards, who spun off tackles en route to the end zone. In the second half, Mel Brown had a 35-yard run and nearly took it to the house if not for a tremendous tackle from Justin Barron.

If you take those runs away, UConn had only 15 carries for 18 yards. Outside of two plays, UConn could not run the football. Sure, you don't want the big plays to happen but I think you have to accept what the Orange did to stop the run. I'd be happy if we gave up only one or two big runs a game and otherwise stuffed the opponents.

As the game went on, some of it was because of the score, but UConn became one-dimensional. Getting stops and winning becomes so much easier when your opponents have to throw, and that should be a key for Syracuse next week against Miami.