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With a fourth-and-goal, Liberty needed a timeout as the game approached the eight minute mark of the fourth quarter. 

The Flames’ quarterback Malik Willis led his teammates back onto the field after the timeout as the ball lay on the 2-yard line with the game tied at 21 apiece. With the crowd in the Carrier Dome screaming toward the field, Willis had to go up to the line and change the call. 

The Flames went to a play that had worked for them throughout the matchup — run the ball with their future first-round NFL draft pick at quarterback. But Syracuse’s defense maintained its set, bunching up all its players at the goal line with the only intention of not letting Liberty get past the line of scrimmage.

The Orange successfully met their goal as Kingsley Jonathan broke through Liberty’s offensive line. Jonathan, along with his other teammates, wrapped up Willis a yard behind the line as he tried to cut back inside, successfully stopping the go-ahead score. 

In Syracuse’s final nonconference game, it got revenge against a Liberty squad that it fell to a year ago, winning 24-21. The Orange’s (3-1) defense held the Flames (3-1), who averaged 38 points a game so far this year, to only three scores. SU even forced Willis to fumble on the final drive of the game, in front of 21 NFL teams that were there to see the quarterback’s abilities. Linebacker Mikel Jones led the defensive unit, finishing with eight tackles and one sack.

“Our guys are tough, and we continuously found a way to get him down for the most part,” head coach Dino Babers said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen these many NFL scouts at a game before.”

Willis, who entered this season as a Heisman Trophy sleeper pick, according to Pro Football Focus, totaled 240 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s win over Syracuse. The Orange blitzed early against Willis, sending safeties at the line of scrimmage, but he was still able to get off to a quick start on Friday night.

On Liberty’s first drive, Willis used his legs on third down. Syracuse blitzed from the right side, but Willis ran down the left side of the field. He spun away from one defender, simultaneously stiff-arming another defender before getting the first down. Two plays later, Willis escaped another blitz from the Orange, running inside the 30-yard line. But the Orange were able to force a fourth down and Liberty kicker Alex Barbir missed from 36 yards, keeping the game scoreless. 

In the second quarter, Willis started to pass more, finding CJ Daniels for 5 yards to set up a third-and-3. Syracuse cornerback Garrett Williams said that Syracuse’s secondary was aware of Liberty’s tendencies in the back game, specifically its ability to have receivers run double moves. 

“Just staying in coverage, knowing that he was going to be running around,” Williams said. “We were trying to stay in coverage the whole time and respect the double moves knowing that they were running a lot of them.”

On the ensuing play, Williams and the rest of SU’s secondary were able to lock up receivers, forcing Willis to run. But as Willis approached the line of scrimmage, he didn’t see Jones, who was spying on him throughout the entire play. Jones said he was watching a lot of film to understand Willis’ tendencies. Seeing him try to run, Jones beat him to his spot. He wrapped up Willis’ legs to force a fourth down.

“He’s the key to everything,” Babers said about Jones in the defense. “He’s definitely our quarterback on defense. He’s the guy.”

Throughout the first half, Babers’ 3-3-5 defense continued to get rid of Willis’ running lanes, moving to more of a 4-2 in order to pack the line of scrimmage. The Orange frequently faked blitzes, confusing the Flames’ offense even more. In the first half, the Flames only scored once, but in the second half, Liberty moved away from the run, realizing SU’s strength in stopping it.

After stringing together some run plays, Willis dropped back to pass on Syracuse’s 23-yard line. A player had jumped offsides, but the play continued as Williams dropped back in coverage. Williams fell into position late because of the confusion at the snap, and receiver Daniels was able to get an extra step. 

Daniels hugged the sideline, with one foot even touching the white paint, but he emerged open in the end zone. Willis connected with Daniels for Liberty’s second score. On the ensuing drive, the Flames returned to the passing game, targeting true freshman cornerback Darian “Duce” Chestnut on the other side of SU’s defense. 

At the 33-yard-line, Willis heaved a ball to Demario Douglas, who had an extra step on SU’s secondary, tying the game. The Flames had run double moves on both scores, which Williams said was something that Syracuse would have to improve on defending against in the next game, despite stopping it in the first half. 

“The biggest thing is just understanding when you’re playing in a high competition game, you need to understand that people are going to make plays,” Williams said. “There’s not a lot more to it, we need to get better.

Despite the two long balls over Syracuse’s secondary, the Orange continued to stay aggressive at the initial two levels of their defense. Williams said that Liberty had treated them in a “disrespectful” way last season after the Flames had taken photos at the Dome and even sang “New York, New York” following the win. 

“We kept that noted the whole week,” Williams said. “Knowing that they didn’t respect us.”

After Syracuse’s goal-line stand, its defense had more chances to get revenge on the Flames. Syracuse’s offense was forced to punt, and Willis quickly got to work, picking up a first down with his legs.

Setting up for another first down with less than four minutes left in the game, Willis dropped back expecting one of his receivers to beat one of Syracuse’s defensive backs. But all players were covered as SU had recovered from its struggles on the last few drives.

Willis scrambled out to his left, continuing to look downfield to try and find an open man. But when he found one and cocked his arm back, he was hit. Syracuse defensive lineman Cody Roscoe popped Willis from behind, and linebacker Marlowe Wax followed suit. The ball hit the turf and Jones fell on it, setting up Andre Szmyt for the game-winning score a few minutes later. 

“I thought they were amazing, especially with the fourth-down stop,” Babers said about the defense. “(Willis) is just a matte truck, and he’s hard to bring down.”

Published on September 25, 2021 at 2:15 am

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu