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Tommy DeVito laid head first on the turf, clutching his left leg. He was sacked from behind by defensive lineman Chris Rumph II, and two more defenders piled on top of the Syracuse starting quarterback. 

DeVito had dodged pressure from a dominant Duke defensive line all game, being sacked five times but constantly finding open receivers, who often dropped passes.

But after the fifth time, he couldn’t stand up.

“Based off of some of the stuff I have heard, it’s not good,” head coach Dino Babers said of DeVito’s injury. “We’re pulling for him and we’re wishing him the best, but like I said, it’s not good.”

DeVito and Syracuse (1-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t capitalize on four Blue Devil turnovers, scoring only two offensive touchdowns, both 50-plus yard passes from DeVito, in a 38-24 loss to Duke (1-4, 1-4 ACC). Dropped passes, missed protections and mistakes on offense stopped the Orange from reaching a .500 record.

DeVito was one of the lone bright spots for SU against a Duke defense that allowed 38 points to unranked Virginia. Constantly under pressure, he evaded sacks and relied on deep passes. The first drive resulted in a 79-yard Taj Harris touchdown. But for plenty of others, the ball was dropped.

“You can go out and throw the ball every snap and win, but you have to be extremely efficient,” Babers said. “You can’t have that many dropped balls if you’re going to be attacking downfield. “

DeVito’s last outing against Georgia Tech was highlighted by two long touchdowns and another deep ball that was intercepted. Both were similar to Harris’ touchdown against the Blue Devils, fly routes where DeVito found the receiver in stride.

Against Georgia Tech, it was the play-action game established by a dominant rushing attack. Sean Tucker found holes in the Georgia Tech front seven, running for 112 yards and earning ACC running back of the week. But Tucker didn’t break off chunk yardage on Saturday, as the Orange totaled just 28 yards on 23 carries.

Facing deficits for the majority of the game, DeVito’s arm was relied on more so Saturday than the week prior, as he threw his second-most pass attempts of the season. And with the way Duke defended, that meant longer throws.

The Blue Devils played press coverage on the sidelines, forcing Harris, Anthony Queeley and others to beat the cornerbacks in man-to-man coverage. Playing so close to the receiver and trying to outmuscle them early forces an offense to stray away from short passes, Babers said.

“Things opened up (in the long passing game) today in ways that are beneficial for us,” tight end Luke Benson said. “It comes to execution, and we didn’t do that today.”

On the third play of Syracuse’s first possession, Harris beat his man, who was in press coverage for a 79-yard touchdown. But that was the last time the Orange converted a deep ball. Oftentimes, DeVito fired the ball over the receiver’s shoulders, only for the ball to slip past their fingertips.

With six minutes left in the third quarter, DeVito escaped a sack and launched a pass to Courtney Jackson. Jackson stuck out his right arm but the ball deflected off of his glove and Nolan Cooney jogged onto the field for one of his eight punts.

Another time, two split receivers on the right side ran crossing routes, and Trebor Pena sprinted across the left side. DeVito found him in the slot, but the true freshman let the ball fall through his hands. DeVito put his hands on his head as the next play was called into his headset.

“We had short throws and we had deep throws, we just didn’t hit on those short throws which was really important in keeping the chains moving and keeping the play count up for the offense and down for the defense,” Babers said.

One of the only short throws the Orange completed was Benson’s touchdown. An identical play to Pena’s, Babers said, Benson dashed past every defender for a 53-yard score.

But too often, DeVito was left hurried, unable to wait for the shorter routes to develop, and he had to try and find his receivers deep. This resulted in five sacks, the last of which ended DeVito’s day.

The redshirt junior quarterback was later seen on the sidelines with a boot on his left leg and crutches under his shoulder. He wasn’t putting any weight on his hurt ankle, and after the conclusion of the game, he pushed his way back to the locker room.

DeVito’s Saturday could’ve been much different with no dropped passes, a solid running game and a healthy defense. But instead, an impressive outing turned into a painful defeat.

“I go back to the drops on third down and situations where you have a chance to move the chains and get a fresh set of downs and to not only keep the offense moving but keep the defense of the field,” Babers said. “That’s extremely disappointing.”

Published on October 10, 2020 at 6:52 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman