EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Syracuse’s Eric Dungey placed a pass right over the middle to a cutting Ervin Philips. Philips caught it, slipped past two Notre Dame defenders and fell into the end zone for a touchdown. With 30 seconds to go before the half, the Orange cut the deficit to six.

UND head coach Brian Kelly barked into his headset and SU players celebrated on the sideline. Dungey did a special handshake and bow with Dontae Stickland and wrapped his arm around co-offensive coordinator Sean Lewis. Then, he went out and found junior linebacker Zaire Franklin.

“I went up to Zaire and I told him, ‘Get me the ball back,’” Dungey said.

Franklin did just that, picking off the next DeShone Kizer pass and returning it to the UND 34-yard line. SU had 16 seconds to either take the lead or cut the deficit in half.

The Orange got 11 yards and with three seconds left set up for a 40-yard field goal. But Cole Murphy missed wide left and the golden opportunity fizzled out for the Orange.

“I feel like we got in a pretty good position,” Dungey said. “We just gotta execute.”

The story of Syracuse’s (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) season has been about starting off quickly but eventually fading. The Orange had a chance to change that narrative on Saturday. It pieced together a strong second quarter and its 27 points in the first half was a season high.

But the Orange failed to convert on the last drive of the first half and the first drive of the second. Two positions where it could have taken the lead or tied the game bared fruitless results for SU in what was an eventual 50-33 loss to the Fighting Irish (2-3) Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.

While SU’s offense failed to capitalize on the interception, the defense failed to string together two solid consecutive drives. On the fourth play of UND’s first second-half drive, quarterback DeShone Kizer found Kevin Stepherson wide open down the sideline for a 54-yard touchdown.

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“One was a huge momentum on our side to send us up, and the other one to knock us down,” defensive linemen Kendall Coleman said. “We gotta get back to doing what we’re (supposed to be) doing.”

Facing a 13-point deficit, the Orange once again stalled. The possession immediately following the touchdown lasted four plays and got only one first down.

Notre Dame opened up its largest lead of the game after that. Dexter Williams took a zone-read outside handoff to the right side and dragged SU’s entire defense with him. Still behind the line of scrimmage he then stopped on a dime, cut back to the opposite field and ran untouched for a 59-yard touchdown.

“Somebody should have been in contain,” a dejected Coleman said, trying to explain what happened. “I don’t know. Probably a miscommunication. Something like that.”

Jessica Sheldon | Photo Editor

The Irish had opened up a 20-point lead and a stadium that was roughly 75-percent green and gold was elated. For the Orange, it was a familiar narrative that it couldn’t escape.

The rest of the third quarter yielded no scoring for either team. Thanks to two great punt returns by Brisly Estime, the Orange had back-to-back drives that started on the Notre Dame side of the 50-yard line.

The first was a three-and-out for the Orange. The second was a turnover on downs after SU failed to convert on a fourth-and-4 from the Fighting Irish 5-yard line.

Dungey’s third rushing touchdown of the day in the fourth quarter made it a 50-33 game, which was eventually the final score. But against a more talented team, the Orange had one stretch to try and buck a season-plaguing trend. It’s still searching for the way to do that.

“I’m not really too sure what happened,” wide receiver Steve Ishmael said. “I don’t know, I just feel like we didn’t execute. That’s the only thing I can say.”

Published on October 1, 2016 at 7:00 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer