RALEIGH, N.C. – Scott Shafer answered the first four questions of his postgame press conference mild-mannered. The fifth, regarding if he’d discussed recent unsportsmanlike conduct penalties with Director of Athletics Mark Coyle, didn’t draw the same even-keeled response.

“No, hell no,” Shafer said, visibly irritated.

The head coach then walked away from the podium, muttering words at the reporter who asked the question. His son Wolfgang, who plays quarterback for Ithaca College, glared at the same reporter and said a few more words under his breath.

The frustration of an eight-game losing streak was boiling over after Syracuse (3-8, 1-6 Atlantic Coast) was officially eliminated from bowl contention in a 42-29 loss to North Carolina State (7-4, 3-4) on Saturday. Shafer repeatedly preaches to control the controllables, but neither he nor his team has done that in the past two weeks as a season already crumbling hit the ground with a thud.

Against No. 1 Clemson last week, both Syracuse’s bench and Shafer drew unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on separate plays. On Saturday, SU was called for five of them. One on Rob Trudo, one on Brisly Estime, two on Steve Ishmael and one on Shafer. Both starting wide receivers were ejected. An assistant held back Shafer on the last penalty as the head coach approached a referee.

“Shame on me for losing my cool at the end of the game,” Shafer said, “wish I wouldn’t have done that.”

When Syracuse beat Central Michigan to move to 3-0, Shafer had the same vigor after the game. The Orange had won three straight to start a season for the first time in 24 years and he wanted people to remember. Where his team stands eight losses later, though, is something he may want to forget.

He didn’t think a triple overtime loss to Virginia that dropped the Orange to 3-3 negated an undefeated start. Players didn’t see the same collapse as 2014 repeating itself. Zaire Franklin sat at the interview table in Charlottesville, Virginia and highlighted things Syracuse had set out to do and still could. Win an ACC title. Make a bowl game.

Five games later, the sophomore captain lacked the same optimism.

“Just like, kind of getting in this situation basically every week, this one was worse than the others,” Franklin said. “This is eight in a row, so really just disappointment. It’s hard to go on these type of slides.”

On Saturday, just like Syracuse’s season, brief moments of hope were squelched by a return to reality.

Jordan Fredericks ran for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. N.C. State marched down the field for a touchdown on the next drive.

Backup linebacker Oliver Vigille returned a fumble for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Cordell Hudson recovered the ensuing onside kick. Ishmael caught a touchdown with 2:37 left to bring SU within 15. But with the swing of his shoulder at the defender on his back with the play dead in the end zone, Ishmael was ejected for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Then Shafer was flagged and Syracuse kicked off from its own 10.

“Yeah, that’s frustrating,” offensive coordinator Tim Lester said of not being able to sustain momentum. “But you keep going, just keep going and going.”

When a 21-point loss to South Florida seemingly nullified a close-fought game with LSU the week before, Syracuse kept going. Then another close loss to No. 1 Clemson and the Orange still kept going with faint hopes of making a bowl at 5-7.

Leaving Saturday’s game, SU was still going.

This time, it was back to Syracuse on a plane with one game, and only one remaining.

Published on November 21, 2015 at 4:03 pm

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