RALEIGH, N.C. —  Syracuse was driving. Down 12 points and advancing steadily across the field, quarterback Eric Dungey hit Steve Ishmael in the endzone. The senior wide receiver muscled his way up and caught the ball with his arms fully extended above his head. There was life.

Then a little yellow cloth on the other side of the field wiped the play away in the Orange’s (2-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) eventual 33-25 loss to North Carolina State (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday afternoon. Wide receiver Devin C. Butler’s position at the start of the play appeared to put Syracuse in an illegal formation. No score. Try again.

The next play put a fourth-down touchdown within reach, with Dungey carrying the ball near the five-yard line. But fourth-and-short never happened because of another flag.

Redshirt freshman center Airon Servais shoved NC State defensive lineman Bradley Chubb after Chubb ripped the ball from Dungey, who was down, after the whistle blew. Chubb fell violently. He rolled over. He rolled over again. The two teams formed a blob of arguing players that needed coaches to break up the tussle.

Chubb’s reaction to the shove pushed SU back 15 yards. The Orange settled for a Sterling Hofrichter field goal, because the punter started kicking off and handling field-goal duty after Cole Murphy sent the opening kickoff out of bounds and missed a field goal of his own.

Penalties — of which SU had 12 for 93 yards — halted Syracuse’s best chance to make a comeback and sunk the team at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Though, if Servais hadn’t shoved Chubb, was SU head coach Dino Babers going for it on fourth down?

“Sì,” Babers answered, in Spanish.

Servais was not made available for comment after the game.

Senior right tackle Jamar McGloster, who said Chubb’s move might have been a flop, added there was no pre-existing tension with Chubb. Linemen, he said, just want to “protect (our) brother.”

Overall, Babers thought the officiating was balanced. He’ll have to take a look at the film to determine if SU will send an appeal to the league, though, he said.

“If Airon Servais was that strong, we would have run for over 200 yards,” Babers said, referencing the way Chubb flew back when Servais shoved him.

SU rushed for 59 yards total.

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SU struggled to slow a steamrolling N.C. State offense in the first half. The Wolfpack was on the field for nearly 20 minutes. It earned 21 first downs. It ran for 189 yards and scored three touchdowns.

On the first score, NC State’s barrage of short passes finally opened up the chance for something bigger. SU corner Scoop Bradshaw pressed his man, Stephen Louis, at the line. Louis beat him. Wolfpack quarterback Ryan Finley lofted a 20-yard pass into the endzone and Louis ran underneath it just before safety Evan Foster could get over with help. Foster turned around and threw him arms in frustration.

Two more first half touchdowns, both coming on the ground, added to a frustrating first half for SU. From the 10-yard line, N.C. State running back Reggie Gallaspy II followed his blockers to the left. Then he cut right and stuffed the only man with a chance to stop him, SU defensive back Jordan Martin, with a stiff arm on his way to the end zone. A later score saw another NC State rusher, this time senior Jaylen Samuels, run through both Austin Valdez and Zaire Franklin.

“We know we can play better,” said senior linebacker Parris Bennett, who finished the game with a team-leading 13 tackles. “We know we were shooting ourselves in the foot. They were making great plays, but at the same time, we were giving them a lot of things.”

Yet Syracuse hung around with two, short Dungey rushing touchdowns and a defense reborn in the second half. The Wolfpack punted on each of its first three drives after halftime. Ishmael caught a touchdown and Dungey ran in for two more points to make it a one-possession game with less than five minutes left.

Syracuse shrunk the gap, but didn’t close it completely. A red zone chance sent backwards by penalty yardage stung the most. That is what SU did to itself.

“You can’t spot them leads like that and expect to run them back down in their venues with their crowds behind them,” Babers said.

Earlier this week, Babers called his team’s earlier trip to Louisiana State a “statement of progress.” The Orange went to a stadium notorious for its hostility toward the opponent and hung around with a team from the Southeastern Conference. It wasn’t the offensive explosion he’s predicted since being hired, but it wasn’t demolition either.

In Raleigh, Syracuse had the opportunity to upgrade that statement. The reminders were everywhere; the word “statement” was painted in block lettering on on the sideline and consistently flashed on the jumbotron. SU could prove it can contend with a team rising through the ranks of the ACC. It could show that it can correct the mistakes and squeak out wins from close losses.

It could, but it didn’t.

Published on September 30, 2017 at 4:16 pm

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