Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In Syracuse’s previous eight matchups with the Cardinals, seven have been losses by 20 points or more. Saturday, a 41-3 loss, was no different. 

Entering Cardinal Stadium one win shy of bowl eligibility, Louisville was Syracuse’s best chance to get to six wins with two games remaining, both against AP Top 25 teams. The Orange had a bye week to prepare, one that players and head coach Dino Babers emphasized was much needed rest. SU didn’t practice much, Babers said, since nine back-to-back games was taking a toll on the team’s health.

Babers said the bye week wouldn’t disrupt the rhythm of the Orange’s season. Ideally, it shouldn’t take SU too long to get re-acclimated after a week of no-contact, he said.

“I don’t want to jinx myself … (but) you stay with it long enough that you get back into the groove,” Babers said on Monday before the Louisville game. “It doesn’t take long, but it does take some time.”

Saturday, it took Syracuse the entire first half, a timeframe where it gave up 35 points and scored just three. SU’s players said they felt prepared after the bye too. Instead, the Orange’s defense allowed touchdowns on the first four drives, and the offense went three-and-out on four consecutive possessions. Punter Ian Hawkins replaced starter James Williams, who Babers said was sick this week, but didn’t record a boot longer than 40 yards — which was followed by a 26-yard return — allowing the Cardinals good field position to strike.

“It was a wake up call,” defensive lineman Cody Roscoe said. “We had the bye week so we had everything in our favor, and we just didn’t execute.”

From the start of fall training camp, Syracuse has been adamant that this year’s group is better than last year’s 1-10 team. The Orange have proved that in 2021, and then some. They’ve exceeded preseason predictions of finishing last in their Atlantic Coast Conference division.

But Saturday against the Cardinals, SU’s play was reminiscent of its 2020 season. The Orange played one of its worst halves of football in recent years, trailing by 33 after 30 minutes. Despite an extra week of prep, Syracuse (5-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) missed an opportunity to reach its second bowl with Dino Babers in a 38-point thrashing at the hands of Louisville (5-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast). Now, the path to six wins — at least on paper — has grown significantly harder. 

“We were prepared and ready for them, and it just hurts to see us go down like that,” Roscoe said. “We went down soft. We went down in the wrong manner.”

On Louisville’s first play, running back Jalen Mitchell broke loose after cutting to his left for a gain of 39. He cut through the Syracuse defense for a gain of 28 on the very next play, and quarterback Malik Cunningham capped the drive off with a read-option touchdown run.

Cunningham used the play action repeatedly to throw off an SU defense that was keen on preventing Cunningham from running, Roscoe said. 

Instead, the quarterback burned SU with his arm, tossing four touchdowns. He faked a handoff before firing a dart to his receiver at the back of the end zone. The Orange left Duce Chestnut in man-coverage, the defensive back was beat, and Louisville scored on the 33-yard pass.

Cunningham set up first-and-goal with a deep shot that beat Garrett Williams in the second quarter. He tossed to Ahmari Huggins-Bruce on a bootleg to stretch the Cardinals lead to 21-3. 

“Having time to throw those deep, post crossing routes which takes a long time to throw,” Babers said when asked why Louisville was so successful on big passing plays. The Orange didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback, Roscoe added.

Syracuse’s wounds were largely self-inflicted, players said postgame. The Orange went three-and-out again when a third-and-2 snap from Airon Servais flew over the head of Shrader and resulted in a loss of 17. The ensuing punt, which was nearly blocked, flew 29 yards and set up the Cardinals for a quick score.

The Orange’s top tackler who Babers described as the “quarterback of our defense” — linebacker Mikel Jones — was ejected for targeting. SU didn’t adjust to that loss as well as it should’ve, Babers said. Then the Louisville quarterback threw another play-action bomb, this one beating Eric Coley in man coverage for a 41-yard score. 

Babers said Louisville’s ability to run the ball (163 yards rushing) forced SU to load the box and stop the run. That, and trying to contain the legs of Cunningham, opened up deep passing opportunities for the Cardinals. 

“If you don’t get up there close enough to the line of scrimmage with that tailback, with Malik, with space, you’re going to be in trouble,” Babers said. “So you have to eliminate that space, and if you don’t eliminate that space you’re giving something up.”

Huggins-Bruce capped off the first half by cutting through traffic on a short pass. He slipped by SU tacklers and got just inside the pylon for a 17-yard score. The defense wasn’t wrapping up on tackles the way it should either, said linebacker Marlowe Wax. Louisville entered halftime up 35-3, and SU looked lifeless. 

The second half was more of the same. Garrett Shrader scrambled and found a wide-open Luke Benson for what would’ve been a sizable gain, but the tight end dropped it. Shrader fumbled the snap in the red zone, and Louisville recovered. The Cardinals gifted SU a short field due to a shanked punt. Its offense went backwards with a block-in-the-back penalty and then turned the ball over on downs. 

SU was also called for an illegal formation penalty on a fourth-quarter punt, reminiscent of its early season special teams fiasco against Rutgers that featured three such penalties. The punt went 16 yards, too.

Syracuse has spent the season building its identity as a run-first team. It entered Saturday’s game averaging the third-most rushing yards in the NCAA. But the Cardinals stacked the box with an extra man to contain the run, Shrader said, and Sean Tucker didn’t top 100 yards. He’s 11 yards short of SU’s all-time single season rushing record, though he has two games left to take over in the history books.

“We ran our game plan how we thought it would go, but they seemed like they had our number today,” said Shrader, who threw for 46 yards.

In 2020, Syracuse lost 30-0 to the Cardinals. It lost by 22 points in 2019, 46 in 2017, 34 in 2016, 24 in 2015 and 22 in 2014. 

The lone exception — as of recent — was a victory in 2018, the last time Syracuse made a bowl game. But Saturday, with a bowl game on the line, Syracuse couldn’t duplicate that success.

“We knew what we were getting into. We thought it was going to be more of a dogfight … but obviously it didn’t happen,” Shrader said.

Published on November 13, 2021 at 3:04 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16