Football

No. 20 Syracuse’s defense stymies No. 16 West Virginia in Camping World Bowl win

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

Kendall Coleman had three sacks in Syracuse's win.

By Andrew GrahamSenior Staff Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. — Martell Pettaway burst into the open field, crumpled Andre Cisco with a stutter step and lurched forward again toward the end zone.

Then Tyrell Richards, Syracuse’s defensive end lined up on the opposite side of the formation, crunched the West Virginia running back from behind. The next snap, WVU left tackle Kelby Wickline missed Richards.

“I shot my hands into his chest, pulled him down,” Richards said. “Push-pull. Came off the edge, I didn’t even know I got the sack, I thought he threw the ball.”

Richards’ sack on Jack Allison, the Mountaineers replacement for Will Grier, backed up WVU and eventually forced them to settle for an Evan Staley field goal.

Staley’s leg scored 12 of No. 16 West Virginia’s (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) points as No. 20 Syracuse’s (10-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast) defense held the vaunted Mountaineer offense to one touchdown. The Orange were without defensive end Alton Robinson and defensive tackle McKinley Williams, who did not travel to Florida for “personal reasons.”



In their stead, Richards, Kendall Coleman, Chris Slayton, Ryan Guthrie and a slew of other players filled the void, kept SU’s pass rush potent and befuddled an offense accustomed to scoring 40-plus points a game. The Orange tallied five sacks, one shy of its season high. It held the Mountaineers to a single touchdown, that came on a short field from a turnover.

“I thought it was a fabulous chess match, and I thought that there was no doubt that coach (Brian) Ward did a nice job,” SU head coach Dino Babers said after the game, “because that’s one of the best offensive coordinators in the country.”

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The Orange’s defensive line, specifically their pass rush, keyed the rest of the defense all season. SU finished the regular season with 38 sacks. Robinson led with 10, which ranked eighth in the NCAA prior to Friday.

“You can’t truly replace Alton Robinson,” Guthrie said.

Coleman did his best Robinson impression though, tallying three sacks and a quarterback hit. He, too, now has 10 sacks on the season.

His first sack came as West Virginia started a drive with 1:48 remaining until halftime. Coleman overpowered right tackle Colton McKivitz and tackled Allison, making his first start, nine yards behind the line of scrimmage.

“I don’t know what was going on,” Richards said of Coleman. “He went Hulk-mode.”

After nursing a 14-12 lead into halftime, Syracuse settled down, and the defense started to win more at the line of scrimmage. West Virginia’s only touchdown came on a four-play, 16-yard drive following an Eric Dungey interception.

It wasn’t a perfect game; the Mountaineers outgained the Orange (423-418). But every time WVU threatened to score and build a lead, Syracuse came up with a big play. Early in the fourth quarter, on the first play of West Virginia’s ensuing drive following Syracuse taking a 24-18 lead, Allison was intercepted by Allen Stritzinger.

The Orange converted that into three points and took complete control of the game from that moment on. Stritzinger hadn’t played much until Friday, like Richards, but made possibly the most important play of the game.

Familiar names like Guthrie and Slayton made their share of plays, but the unknowns made the difference, turning a perceived weakness into breakout performances.

Richards didn’t even find out he’d be playing extended reps in Robinson’s absence until earlier in the week, when the announcement was made public.

“To get on the field and actually play,” Richards said, “it’s an experience that someone can never take from me.”

Babers has talked about the bowl game being both a reward for the 2018 team and a springboard for the 2019 team and that’s what it became. Dungey, Guthrie, Kielan Whitner, Slayton, Jamal Custis and Dontae Strickland got their glory. But new faces starred.

“It sets us up because now we’ve got a lot of experience under our belt,” Richards said. “Everybody can come in next year with the mentality like, ‘I’ve played, I’ve done it. We can do this.’”





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