PITTSBURGH – Eric Dungey lay on his back as Pittsburgh rushed towards the end zone. He didn’t look Pitt’s way, or towards his bench. Just to the gray sky above. After squandering a late lead, Dungey and the Orange had to score on their lone overtime possession to force double OT. Seeking an early touchdown opportunity, Dungey rolled out on their first play and lofted an underthrown lob to Johnson in the end zone.

The pass was intercepted. Syracuse’s near-win vanished for the second-straight week.

As Kendall Coleman answered questions in Syracuse’s postgame press conference, Dungey stood next to the podium, holding himself up against the wall. His eyes were red and puffy, and his head drooped low. While Coleman spoke with reporters, Dungey never looked up as he awaited his turn to answer: Where his team failed to seize opportunities. Why he thought his team squandered a late-game lead. Why he threw the pass that lost his team the game.

“It hurts,” Dungey said. “We weren’t doing our job. We weren’t executing.”

Throughout the Dino Babers era, Syracuse (4-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) has failed to capitalize when presented a chance to make potential game-deciding plays. Whether it be Cole Murphy’s missed field goal to fall to Florida State in 2017 or failing to stop Clemson on fourth and seven just last week, SU has struggled to convert when in game, and season-defining moments. Saturday against Pittsburgh (3-3, 2-1) was no different. Syracuse controlled the action for much of this game, but ultimately failed to put the game away in its 44-37 loss.

“We’re really hurting. We’re really disappointed,” Babers said. “But we didn’t give it away. They made a couple more plays than us.”

It didn’t begin that way though. SU jumped out to a dominant start, leading 14-0 less than nine minutes into the game. Dungey led the offense down the field on the first possession, before finding Aaron Hackett in the end zone for his first touchdown of the season. Subsequently, on Pitt’s first drive, Alton Robinson forced a fumble. The Orange drove 42 yards in just 1:29 on the ensuing drive, capped with a Jarveon Howard touchdown.

During the week, Babers preached that the Orange can’t let Clemson beat them twice in one season. That there could be no lingering effects from last week’s collapse. Through the first nine minutes, his team responded that way.

But when Syracuse had a chance to potentially put the game away early, its defense faltered. Down by two scores, Qadree Ollison cut the lead in half with a 69-yard touchdown run. Syracuse has now given up a touchdown of at least 60 yards three times this season. For the second-consecutive week, Syracuse gave up over 250 rushing yards.

Less than two minutes later the game was tied as Dungey fumbled the football on a carry up the middle, which Pitt’s Dane Jackson returned for a 35-yard score. After quickly building up a two-score lead, Pittsburgh unraveled the Orange in less than two minutes.

When Syracuse needed to respond, it only folded. After a Dungey interception and just three points at the end of the second quarter, the Orange went into halftime trailing 20-17, their first halftime deficit of the season.

---

---

And within the first 42 seconds of the second half, the Panthers struck again, this time in the form of a 68-yard reception to Rafael Araujo-Lopes before a downpour halted play for the next hour.

After the loss to Clemson, Babers was clear that the focus was not on the loss but how to respond.

“We had a setback, it’s our first one of the year,” Babers said in Monday’s press conference in reference to the loss against Clemson. “What are we going to do now?”

That message translated Saturday. The offense completed turned around after an hour-long weather delay, rattling off 17 unanswered points, and taking a 34-27 lead. The Orange took back the lead on a Dungey scramble for 21 yards. Rather than try to force a pass or throw it out of bounds to avoid the sack, Dungey scampered towards the sidelines, tiptoeing the white lines, before diving onto the pylon. He popped up and flicked the football before pumping his fist in the air.

As the offense clawed its way back, the defense struggled to help. Following an Orange score, Pitt answered. The Panthers did not throw a single pass, and instead ran the ball seven straight times. Syracuse did not force a single third down on the drive.

After the fifth play Babers called a timeout. He huddled his defense around him, forcing them to all take a knee on the field.

“I didn’t want them to play the snap tired and I wanted them to really think on what we had to do,” Babers said. “If we could keep them out, obviously we’re not going to go to overtime.”

Yet, they couldn’t. Darrin Hall breezed through the SU front-seven and into the end zone. Once again, the Orange failed to capitalize in big moments. After a Syracuse field goal, Pitt answered with one of its own, but on that drive. Syracuse failed to stop a 4th down and three run that could have possibly sealed the game, just as it failed to stop Clemson on 4th and seven.

“We didn’t put together a full game. And we won’t be satisfied until we do,” Coleman said. “We’ve shown that we can battle. Now we’ve got to finish.”

In overtime, the Orange failed to do so. The Panthers ran five straight rushing plays for a score to open the extra period. Syracuse failed to make stops. When it was Dungey’s turn to answer, he couldn’t. He thought Nykeim Johnson had a one-on-one matchup in the end zone, but as Dungey’s pass hung in the air, Therran Coleman raced underneath for the easy interception.

Dungey fell to the ground in defeat. For the second straight week Syracuse had squandered a fourth quarter lead to lose a game where one or two plays made in the final period would have likely sealed it. Both coming in the form of opposing fourth-down conversions.

“What you do after a loss tells you what kind of a football team you are,” Babers said following the loss to Clemson.

Heading into the bye week, Syracuse now faces three of its next four opponents at home, whom all but one have a losing record. In the past two seasons, Syracuse has put together masterful performances against ranked teams only to lose out. SU put together a near-incredible performance last week and promised to respond.

Instead, Syracuse is 4-2 when Babers said it had “a heck of a chance to be 6-0.”

Published on October 6, 2018 at 5:14 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu