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On 1st-and-10 from Virginia Tech’s 45-yard line, Garrett Shrader took a low snap and immediately looked upfield for his receiver, Damien Alford. As he let go of the ball, Shrader was hit hard by Jordan Williams, but his pass was right on target. The 6-foot-6 Alford leapt over defensive back Dorian Strong at the 10-yard line, made the catch and ran into the end zone untouched, giving Syracuse a six-point lead with just 19 seconds left. 

Last week against Clemson, Shrader stood in the pocket as linebacker Barrett Carter hit him up high on a fourth-quarter passing play. Just like against the Hokies, Shrader dropped in a nearly-perfect pass. That one went to Trebor Pena, who took it 62 yards for a touchdown that cut SU’s deficit to three against the Tigers.

But Syracuse’s comeback came up short against Clemson. Like in its losses against Florida State and Wake Forest, the Orange (4-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) fell by three points in the final seconds. Against the Hokies, Shrader ensured SU’s losing streak wouldn’t hit four games. The quarterback ran 22 times for 174 yards and threw for 236 yards, totaling five touchdowns in a crucial, come-from-behind win at Virginia Tech (3-4, 1-2 ACC). 

Shrader took hard hits throughout the game, and stayed down for several moments before getting up to celebrate the touchdown. Postgame, he was seen with a boot on his left foot. But Shrader’s play lifted Syracuse to its first win of the month and ended a three-game losing streak. 

“He really wants to win really, really bad,” head coach Dino Babers said. “That attitude has always been there.”

Saturday’s game was back-and-forth from the start. SU went down by nine — the largest either team led all game — after Malachi Thomas scored on a 47-yard touchdown run with just under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. After keeping it close for the game’s first 55 minutes, it looked like Syracuse was on its way to its fourth straight late loss. 

But on the ensuing kickoff, Pena recorded his longest return of the season to the Hokies’ 45-yard line, giving Shrader and SU’s offense prime field position. Shrader responded with an 11-yard touchdown to Courtney Jackson in the corner of the end zone, cutting the deficit to two. 

Then, Babers used all his timeouts, and Rob Hanna sacked Virginia Tech quarterback Braxton Burmeister on a third down play with less than two minutes left. Syracuse got the ball on the 30-yard line after a punt and quickly faced a 4th and four. Shrader was flushed out of the pocket and scrambled to his left while being chased by three VT defenders. He went out of bounds just after reaching the first down marker, keeping the Orange’s drive alive with 43 seconds remaining. 

Since Shrader became SU’s starting quarterback ahead of the Liberty game, Syracuse’s offense has relied on him and Sean Tucker running the ball to produce offense. Down by seven and facing a fourth and short in the first quarter, Babers opted to run the ball. 

Shrader handed off to Tucker, and Tucker stepped to his right and broke into the secondary untouched for his 10th touchdown of the season. The run pushed the freshman over the 1,000 yard mark on the season, making him the first SU player with 1,000 rushing yards since Jerome Smith in 2012. Tucker finished the game with 112 rushing yards, his sixth straight game with at least 100 yards — setting a new program record. 

“It’s him first in the run game and then I kind of compliment,” Shrader said. “I only had one or two called run plays. The rest were just the defense trying to take away Sean, and me going off him.”

Throughout the game, Shrader showed his abilities as a tough and quick runner. In the fourth quarter, Shrader kept it on a quarterback draw, and he slithered his way through a hole, carrying two Hokies’ defenders inside the five-yard line. On the next play, Shrader kept it on a similar draw play and had a large hole to run through and tie the game at 26. Andre Szmyt’s extra point gave the Orange their first lead since the start of the third quarter.

Virginia Tech entered the game with the second-worst rushing offense in the ACC, but ran for 260 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday. Syracuse also struggled in the kicking game, as Szmyt missed a 19-yard field goal before halftime and had an extra point blocked and returned by the Hokies for a two-point conversion. The mix of poor rush defense and special teams miscues could’ve cost the Orange, but it was Shrader who ultimately came to the rescue.

Shrader competed against Tommy DeVito for the starting quarterback job after arriving at Syracuse in January, but after DeVito announced his decision to transfer earlier in the week, the Orange became Shrader’s team for the foreseeable future. 

And he showed that at Virginia Tech, totaling the most touchdowns by a SU quarterback in two years. Now the Orange are just two wins from earning bowl eligibility after Shrader, for the second straight week, hung tough in the pocket and let a touchdown pass fly. But unlike last game — and the two games before it —  Syracuse came out on top, behind the arm and legs of its quarterback of the future. 

“The last three weeks left a sour taste in our mouths,” Shrader said. “If we win those games, we may not have come back today. … (I’m) proud of this team and we’re trending the right way.”

Published on October 23, 2021 at 4:20 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_