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Heading into sixth-year senior kicker Andre Szmyt’s fifth field goal attempt of the night against Virginia, he did not have his routine holder standing next to him. Justin Barron, the starting holder, had been kicked out of the game when he got penalized for targeting in the third quarter. With Syracuse trailing by one to the Cavaliers with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter, Szmyt had long snapper Mike Midkiff standing by his side. 

But Szmyt treated the situation the same as the rest of the game since he had already kicked off with a player other than Barron. Besides the fact that Szymt made his fourth field goal of the night with Midkiff, he routinely practices with the second and third team players, head coach Dino Babers said. 

Szymt lined up from between the hashes, Midkiff placed the high snap, and the kicker sent the ball straight down the middle to put the Orange back into the lead. With this kick, Szmyt came within one of the program single-game field goal record.

Over the course of his Syracuse (4-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) career, Szmyt had broken multiple records, including the all-time scoring mark he set last year. But after a lukewarm 2021 season, Szymt, the 2018 Lou Groza Award winner, made all but one field goal attempts this year, going 4-of-5 in the Orange’s first three games. And against Virginia (2-2, 0-1 ACC), Szymt went a perfect 5-for-5, scoring the majority of Syracuse’s points and the game-winner, which was the second of his career.

After Szmyt’s performance against UConn in a 48-14 SU win, Babers said that Szymt has “committed to the old way,” going back to the way he trained in 2018 that helped him become the nation’s best kicker. Babers even predicted that Szmyt was going to have an “amazing year.” 

Szymt started his night with an extra point after the Syracuse offense went gone down the field and scored on its first drive. Garrett Shrader connected with Oronde Gadsden II twice for a combined 29 yards to get the Orange in scoring position before rushing for a 17-yard touchdown.

Toward the end of the first quarter, Shrader connected with Gadsden again on a pass for 29 yards that put SU at Virginia’s 27-yard line. After a penalty and Sean Tucker bringing the Orange closer with a 15-yard rush, the offense stalled out with two short runs and an incompletion, setting up Szymt for a 26-yard attempt. The kicker set up near the right hash and made his first field goal of the night.

“For me today, I went on a lot of times,” Szmyt said. “Other times it’s a close game and I only see the field once or twice. So, I got to be ready like it’s the last one of the night.”

The second quarter gave Szymt another chance pretty quickly as Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong fumbled and linebacker Leon Lowery was there to scoop the ball up. On Szymt’s second attempt of the night, he lined up from 32 yards away after Shrader got sacked by UVA’s Chico Bennett Jr. Szmyt stood at the middle of the field and kicked his second attempt with a little bit of draw through the uprights.

On Szymt’s third field goal opportunity of the night, he again benefitted from the Orange getting into position for chip shots. While Shrader and Babers were both happy for Szmyt, they both desired to turn those field goals into touchdowns in the future. Shrader completed two passes over 15 yards, with one going to Gadsden and the other to Trebor Pena. But the Orange were stopped again due to a mixture of run stops, sacks and incompletions. Regardless, Szymt made the 28-yarder to extend SU’s lead to 16 at halftime.

Szymt’s kicking became crucial toward the end of the third quarter after Syracuse gave up 13 points in less than a minute. This was the point in the game where Barron was removed from the game after targeting and bringing down Keytaon Thompson. But for Szymt, there was familiarity between him and Midkiff.

“That’s the good thing that Coach (Bob Ligashesky) really does. He gets us ready for any situation that might happen in the game,” Szymt said. So (with) Mike coming in, we (already) did it last year. So kind of spoke briefly and I’m like, ‘Hey, like we’ve been there before.’” 

Following a near-interception by Virginia’s Fentrell Cypress, Szmyt attempted his longest field of the evening. For the first time in the game against the Cavaliers, Szymt was standing at the left hash. Despite the high snap, Midkiff placed it down and Szymt faded the ball into the upright to make the score 19-13, holding off Virginia long enough until his services were required for the final points of the game. 

“He changed. He said ‘I need to go back,’” Babers said. “…And lo and behold, we’ve got old Andre back.”

Published on September 24, 2022 at 1:12 am

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