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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The two yards separating Damien Alford from Isaiah Farris, and the several more separating him from the end zone, represented a lot more than a one-point Syracuse lead. Avoiding a sixth straight loss, last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division, a myriad of questions about what happened to the Orange in the second half of their season. That’s what those yards represented.

Garrett Shrader, for one of the first times all night, had plenty of time to launch a 58-yard pass to a streaking Alford, who took it from there. The Orange, who had trailed for nearly the whole game, had an 18-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter. They only added to it, with Steve Linton scooping up a Boston College fumble and Sean Tucker scoring twice.

“Once (Alford) scored, I knew we had the game,” linebacker Anwar Sparrow said.

For 53 minutes Saturday, everything that went wrong for Syracuse over the past six weeks manifested itself. But over the last seven minutes, beginning with Alford’s touchdown, SU found its footing, the same one that catapulted it back into the national conversation. Shrader finished with a strong statline (21-for-27 passing, 285 yards), Tucker notched six yards per carry and Oronde Gadsden II recorded over 100 yards for the first time since Oct. 15. Four unanswered touchdowns propelled the Orange (7-5, 4-4 ACC) to a 32-23 road win over Boston College (3-9, 2-6 ACC), sending them into a bowl game with something that’s been missing for over a month — a win.

“We’re just happy,” Devaughn Cooper said. “(A) five-game losing streak, that’s no fun at all. So we needed this, it’s gonna motivate us to do well in the bowl game.”

Down 17-6 early in the fourth quarter after a Patrick Garwo III touchdown, Syracuse embarked on an eight-play touchdown drive, capped off by Cooper’s eight-yard score. The defense forced a punt, with Marlowe Wax notching a sack and Leon Lowery forcing Emmett Morehead into a rushed incompletion on 3rd-and-long. Less than a minute later, Alford was blowing a kiss in the end zone, the Orange in front for the first time all game.

SU’s defense responded after Alford’s score, elevating their play several levels, Sparrow said. On 3rd-and-6, Morehead scrambled left, unaware that Caleb Okechukwu was about to pounce on him — and the football. Linton recovered it, and Syracuse had the ball in plus territory. Tucker later sliced his way through two defenders for a five-yard touchdown run.

The fourth-quarter spurt was necessitated because of a dreadful offensive first half. Shrader characterized the Orange’s first two drives — which ended with a fumble and a blocked punt, leading to a 10-0 Boston College lead — as “horrendous.” A combination of poor offensive line play, a 30% success rate on third down and untimely penalties led to few points despite lengthy first-half drives.

One of Syracuse’s 14 penalties cost them points late in the first half. Sparrow strip sacked Morehead, giving Syracuse the ball at BC’s 35-yard line, after a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved it back from the 20. The Orange got the ball to the six, and had an apparent touchdown when Shrader hit Gadsden in the back of the end zone. But a holding penalty on Kalan Ellis negated it, and Boston College nearly intercepted Shrader’s third-down throw. With the ball at the 22, SU was still in range for a field goal, but Enrique Cruz Jr. threw multiple punches after the play, got called for a 15-yard personal foul that forced an ejection and pushed Syracuse out of Szmyt’s range. The fourth-down heave into the end zone landed out of bounds.

The penalties continued into the second half. Early in the fourth quarter, Boston College was driving, but still a bit from the end zone when Justin Barron was flagged for unnecessary roughness. The 15 yards gave the Eagles a 1st-and-10 at the 12, and two Garwo runs up the middle produced a 17-6 BC lead.

Boston College’s rushing attack, by far the nation’s worst, took advantage of a depleted SU defense Saturday. Starting linebackers Mikel Jones and Derek McDonald were both out with injuries, something Babers found out Tuesday. Garwo finished with 25 carries and 83 yards, allowing the Eagles to move the ball and open up their passing game more.

And Cruz’s punches proved to be just a piece of Saturday night’s chippiness. The two teams converged on midfield at halftime for a brief scuffle, foreshadowing what would happen postgame.

Cooper waved a white Syracuse flag — which someone gave him, he said — on the sideline, drawing the ire of some Eagles players. Players met, Donovan Ezeiruaku punched an SU player, and Carlos Del Rio-Wilson responded with his own right-handed jab. D’Marcus Adams ended up with the flag, trying to plant it on the field. Babers wasn’t a fan, taking it once he realized what was going on. Cooper said there was no intention of ever starting a fight.

That ending, though, didn’t seem to affect a postgame celebration Shrader described as “electric.” The cherry on top had been Tucker’s second touchdown run, which put the Orange up 15 with 35 seconds left. He took the handoff from Shrader and broke left, getting a block from Alford which was good enough for him — and his track star speed — to score untouched.

Tucker’s head shake, a consistent sight in 2021 that’s been missing for most of the last six games, returned after he broke through the endzone. So did a finger wag. No, you aren’t going to catch me.

Published on November 26, 2022 at 11:21 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_