Takeaways from Syracuse's loss to BC include play-action problems, a creative offense

Syracuse football was more competitive against Boston College than in the previous seven losses, tied 6-6 at the break, but the Eagles pulled away to win 34-12. It is the third win in a row for BC in the rivalry series and mercifully ends Syracuse's season at 3-9 (1-7 in the ACC). Here are my takeaways from the game.

My key takeaways from Syracuse football's week-14 loss against Boston College.

Syracuse got killed by play action

There's an old saying in football - the run sets up the pass. That was true for Boston College. While the Eagles weren't very good on the ground, especially in the first half, they drew heavy boxes. In the second half, BC quarterback Grayson James took advantage, finding open receivers downfield. On passes 15+ yards downfield, James was 7-9 for 188 yards, and that doesn't include multiple downfield pass interferences on play action.

The Orange defense has had problems all year, especially generating a pass rush, but play action wasn't one of them. However, against BC, play-action was the catalyst for the win. Once Boston College started getting the play-action game in the second half, the game really opened up, starting with four touchdowns in five drives.

Syracuse was swinging on offense, but didn't have the personnel to be successful

In a throwback to 2023, Syracuse spent much of the first half with tight end and former quarterback Dan Villari at wildcat QB. It was initially effective, with him and HB Will Nixon gashing the Boston College defense. However, the Eagles adjusted, and with the deficit rising in the second half, Syracuse went back to Joseph Filardi at quarterback. Additionally, the Orange ran multiple trick plays. Davion Kerr gained nine yards on a swinging gate play, while WR Johntay Cook II just overthrew Darien Williams on a receiver pass.

The creativity from OC Jeff Nixon is a welcome sight, and his misdirection helped, but it wasn't enough for this Syracuse offense that was missing a lot of talent. The Orange especially struggled in third and long situations, which were almost always screen passes with a quarterback who doesn't have much trust from the coaching staff.

Syracuse can only improve from here

In 2020, Syracuse went 1-10 in a season that was completely screwed up from Covid-19. The Orange had their fair share of blowouts that year too, and it quickly turned into a season to forget. However, the pieces from that team helped Syracuse improve to 5-7 in 2021 and a 6-0 start in 2022 before Garrett Shrader's injury derailed that team. Players like Sean Tucker, Ja'Had Carter, and Garrett Williams got big-time reps and turned into stars from a lost season.

There's a lot of young talent on this Syracuse team and some more that is being recruited for the class of 2026. Talent that the Orange didn't have in 2020. It's hard to imagine Syracuse, with Steve Angeli returning too, can be as bad again next year. I have held my faith in Fran Brown, I trust him to make the moves he needs to make with assistant coaches and in the transfer portal, and Syracuse will bounce back from this disappointing campaign.