Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Syracuse’s shot at earning bowl eligibility against No. 25 NC State disappeared in six minutes.

Two pass plays of over 45 yards, combined with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a pick six, clinched the Orange’s sixth loss of the season. Over the final six minutes of the second quarter, SU’s defense faded, its special teams unit faltered, and its passing game failed. The Orange entered halftime down 28-7 after a scoreless first quarter.

“It comes down to three things: offense, defense and (the) kicking game,” head coach Dino Babers said. “And you need all three of them to have an opportunity against a football team like NC State.”

For the second straight week, Syracuse (5-6, 2-5 Atlantic Coast) blew its chance at picking up a crucial sixth win with a lackluster first-half performance. Last week, Louisville scored 35 quick points in the first half, sealing the game’s fate by halftime. Saturday, NC State (8-3, 5-2) scored 28 points within six minutes and six seconds to close out the second quarter, again effectively ending SU’s chances after 30 minutes of play.

“Somebody gets hot in a quarter, and that can swing the game,” Babers said. “When you give up 14 points and your defense isn’t on the field, that’s an emotional swing.”

First, the deep passes from quarterback Devin Leary started hitting receivers. Linebacker Mikel Jones said the big plays were the difference between the scoreless first quarter and the 28-point second quarter.

Leary had missed on his first two long shots, but with the game still scoreless in the second quarter, Leary rolled to his right, looking for Thayer Thomas downfield. Thayer streaked past Jason Simmons in coverage, and Leary dropped in a perfect throw for a 49-yard catch that put the Wolfpack at SU’s 15-yard line. The next play, Ricky Person Jr. ran left for a touchdown, giving NC State a 7-0 lead.

Later, the Wolfpack had the ball on their own 23-yard line with under a minute remaining in the half, and Leary took another deep shot. Defensive lineman Kingsley Jonathan almost got to Leary for a sack, but the quarterback stepped up in the pocket and unleashed a 55-yard pass to Devin Carter. The ball was slightly underthrown, but Carter leaped above Duce Chestnut to haul it in. Plays later, Leary found Christopher Toudle in the back of the end zone, making it a 28-7 game.

In between the deep passes came the interception and kickoff return. Garrett Shrader was looking for Sharod Johnson on a slant route over the middle but didn’t see linebacker Drake Thomas directly in front of the receiver. Drake picked off the pass and ran it back 38 yards for the score, maneuvering past Shrader and Devaughn Cooper on his way to the end zone. Shrader said postgame he should’ve thrown the ball away or “ate it.” Instead, it resulted in a touchdown.

And finally, came the special teams play. On the ensuing kickoff after a Sean Tucker touchdown run, Zonovan Knight fielded the ball at his own 3-yard line before finding a lane up the middle. Knight was knocked by a Syracuse defender at the 40-yard line but spun away and ran across midfield. No SU players caught him from behind, and it finished as a 97-yard touchdown run that put the Wolfpack up 21-7 with just over three minutes left in the half, killing any momentum the Orange had.

Tucker’s run before Knight’s touchdown was one of the few bright spots for Syracuse all game. Shrader handed it off to Tucker at his own 45-yard line, and the running back cut back to his left. Shrader picked up a huge block on safety Tanner Ingle, and Tucker ran down the sideline, past NC State’s secondary and slipped a tackle on the way to his 55-yard touchdown run that cut Syracuse’s deficit to seven.

Earlier, Tucker had broken the SU single-season rushing yards record previously set by Joe Morris in 1979. His 17-yard run featured him breaking into the second level of the Wolfpack’s defense and breaking a tackle, but there were few other chunk plays like that on Saturday.

NC State’s rushing defense entered the game as the top unit in the ACC, and it shut down any hopes SU had of keeping up with the four touchdowns the Wolfpack recorded in the second quarter.

“They make it tough to throw, and they make you earn every point and yard that you get,” Shrader said before the game. “They’re just well rounded. They make it tough on offenses and make it tough for offenses to score.”

Shrader said he expected the Wolfpack to stack the box and stop the run, and his prediction proved true. The Orange’s first drive only picked up 1 yard and resulted in a punt — encapsulating how many of their drives over the rest of the game would finish. Syracuse punted six more times and only picked up 236 yards of total offense, compared to NC State’s 399. The Wolfpack brought pressure throughout the game, and SU receivers were unable to gain separation in man coverage.

Syracuse couldn’t manufacture offense beyond Tucker’s 105 rushing yards. Shrader continued his passing struggles, throwing for just 63 yards and completing only eight of his 20 passing attempts. Some of his throws were too low for receivers — like one intended for Cooper early in the third quarter that could’ve gone for a big gain — and others, like the one intended for Anthony Queeley in the first quarter, fell incomplete after miscommunications.

Shrader finished with his third straight subpar passing performance, following games against Louisville and Boston College in which he threw for 46 and 65 yards, respectively. Saturday marked the first time an SU quarterback has thrown for less than 100 yards in three straight games since Terrel Hunt in 2013.

The quarterback’s struggles — along with those from Syracuse’s defense and special teams — cemented Saturday’s loss in Raleigh. And it’s those struggles that will need to be fixed next week, when the Orange host another Top 25 team, Pittsburgh, next week in what will be their last chance at picking up bowl eligibility for the first time in three years.

“You have to execute at a high level, and we didn’t do that today,” Babers said.

Published on November 20, 2021 at 7:18 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_