CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — It’s finally over.

Syracuse’s downward spiral of a season — one that was effectively over when SU fell out of bowl contention, and one that felt over well before then — officially met its end with the final whistle of the Orange’s (3-9, 1-7 Atlantic Coast) 28-7 loss to Boston College (7-5, 4-4) on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium. Having dropped nine of its last 10 games, Syracuse finishes the injury-plagued season with just three wins for the first time since 2008.

“It was one of those years, very difficult season for us,” SU head coach Scott Shafer. “We had a lot of uncontrollable moments, a lot of things that weren’t easy for our kids and our coaches, to be honest with you.”

Some of the season-long themes carried through Saturday’s loss, like SU’s special teams woes and its defense turning in another stout performance to keep its offense within distance despite its continued inability to sustain drives.

When the Eagles’ Myles Willis returned Saturday’s opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, it resembled the returns by Duke and Pittsburgh to the end zone that were called back in SU’s last two games.

But this one counted, and BC took all of 12 seconds to generate more points on a special teams return than SU did all season.

Quarterback AJ Long provided the equalizer near the end of the quarter with a 4-yard run for a score. But that would be his lone highlight in the game — even with a restored starting offensive line.

He finished 7-for-18 passing for 59 yards and didn’t add much, if anything, to his case for taking Terrel Hunt’s job next season. Austin Wilson’s last pass attempt of the game, a fourth-quarter interception, didn’t either. As the most-tested youth SU has, their struggles cast doubt on the Orange’s future.

“Looking from the outside in, everybody would see this as, ‘Ah, this was a poor season,’” Long said. “It was a poor season football-wise. But by far … this is my favorite season of football I’ve ever played.”

The SU defense forced a fumble to end BC’s next possession, but after instigating a chippy mini-brawl with the Eagles, SU had to put Riley Dixon to use for one of his nine punts.

Eagles quarterback Tyler Murphy hit wide receiver Sherman Alston on a wheel route for a 26-yard touchdown, exposing a Syracuse secondary that will be much more unproven next year, when cornerback Brandon Reddish and as many as three safeties are gone.

A pair of rushing touchdowns, including a 42-yard score by Baldwinsville native Tyler Rouse, ran up the final margin of victory for Boston College.

As SU’s players slowly walked off the Alumni Stadium field, they were surrounded by fans invading the field in celebration of a team that has one more game on its schedule.

“It’s tough because you have to think and understand why and, at the same time, what we didn’t do wrong,” senior left tackle Sean Hickey said of the season. “… There were some things that we couldn’t control, but there was a lot that we could’ve.”

Syracuse’s seniors didn’t leave without positive notes — Prince-Tyson Gulley dashed through a hole in an SU offensive line one last time for a 30-yard gain, and outside linebackers Cam Lynch and Dyshawn Davis were tackling machines for one final game.

But now, the future of SU is in the hands of its youth. For weeks, Shafer has spoken positively of the experience his underclassmen have received due to the myriad of injuries that befell the Orange.

At face value the on-field results, for the time being, don’t forecast much success for Syracuse going forward.

“You never work to go 3-9,” SU left guard Rob Trudo said. “But I mean, there’s nothing you can do about it. You just get played the wrong cards sometimes.”

Only time will tell for certain if the Orange’s youth is handed a better deck.

Published on November 29, 2014 at 4:11 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb