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When Syracuse’s offense circled around its offensive captains pregame, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson lined up next to Damien Alford in the center, not Garrett Shrader. The starting quarterback was ruled out with an undisclosed injury he suffered during the Virginia Tech loss, according to a team’s spokesperson.

The team did not reveal the nature of the injury, nor did they make his absence known prior to the game. In Del Rio-Wilson’s only other collegiate start, he fared poorly against Pittsburgh, going 8-for-23 (34.8%) for 120 yards and six sacks in the 19-9 loss last season.

This time around, the sophomore succeeded when relying on his legs, but not his arm. On Del Rio-Wilson’s first pass attempt beyond the line of scrimmage, he was intercepted by 5-foot-7 nickelback C.J. Clinkscales, who jumped a slant route and returned it to midfield, setting up a scoring drive for the Eagles.

In the past, head coach Dino Babers has chosen to withhold injury information so opponents can’t prepare for specific personnel. He did so again on Friday, this time with the starting quarterback, in a matchup with major bowl game implications for Syracuse. This strategy left Boston College guessing in terms of offensive scheme, but once they figured it out, the Orange offense went stagnant.

Syracuse (4-5, 0-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost 17-10 to Boston College (6-3, 3-1 ACC) in its first home game in over a month, as Del Rio-Wilson finished with 37 passing yards and four interceptions. He did not throw a second pass beyond the line of scrimmage until the second quarter. He didn’t complete one beyond the line the entire game, other than a screen pass that traveled a single yard in the air. In total, he was 1-for-11 for six yards and four picks on downfield passes.

“We had a really good game plan going in it, showing different things and trying to confuse this backup quarterback,” said BC free safety Cole Batson. “Especially get him into thinking we’re in a different coverage and then roll into the other, roll the other way, and then get ’em throwing to the spot that they don’t like.”

It didn’t take long for him to throw a second pick, killing an SU drive that started on the Eagles’ side of the field in the second quarter. LeQuint Allen Jr. called a fair catch at the BC 40, but suddenly, it was 3rd-and-10 after two empty plays. On a deep ball intended for Donovan Brown, Eagles cornerback Elijah Jones tracked it first, turning to catch the wobbling, underthrown ball with ease.

The touchback set BC up at its own 20, avoiding any points on an SU drive that started just outside of field goal range. It set up an 18-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that totaled nearly eight minutes and put SU down entering the half, as the last-second field goal attempt from 57 yards sailed wide right. After leading for the majority of the first half, SU went into the tunnel down 10-7.

These issues persisted throughout the game, as Del Rio-Wilson continuously failed to connect with receivers down the field. The 11:04 mark in the second signaled Syracuse’s second forward pass of the game. It was almost as underwhelming as the first. On a deep out to Umari Hatcher, Del Rio-Wilson stepped into a throw that bounced two yards in front of Hatcher, even after he came back to try and catch the short throw.

While the sophomore struggled in the pass game during his second SU start, his presence on the ground kept Syracuse competitive. Despite not completing a downfield pass, he put SU on the board with his legs.

On the first play of SU’s third drive, Del Rio-Wilson handed the ball to Allen Jr., but rather than sitting back and watching him work, the quarterback burst forward, setting a key block on the right edge of the line. Allen Jr. saw it, bounced outside to his right and shrugged off tacklers as he burst into the secondary for a 32-yard gain.

It was longer than any run or pass play from Del Rio-Wilson in the first half, and showed off how his skill set differs from Shrader’s. Babers utilized a run-first approach, as opposed to Shrader’s pass-first mindset. BC wasn’t prepared for that difference at first.

It was 3rd-and-4 when, on a play-action pass, Del Rio-Wilson felt the pocket collapse and slithered through a hole in the oncoming rush. The Eagles had brought the house, leaving nobody home at the second or third level of the defense. The sophomore went untouched for a 27-yard touchdown run to put the Orange up 7-3 near the end of the first quarter.

The second half brought more of the same. Del Rio-Wilson broke off one big run, an 18-yard carry after a jet sweep fake, but still didn’t complete a pass beyond the line of scrimmage.

“That’s part of the game,” Babers said of the short passes. “We threw other passes past the line of scrimmage that he didn’t complete.”

Despite heavy requests from the Syracuse media, Del Rio-Wilson was not made available postgame. Babers said the sophomore did a “good job” filling in despite the interceptions. He also wouldn’t commit to Shrader returning from injury this season, adding that Del Rio-Wilson would be the starter the rest of the way if Shrader doesn’t return.

The second drive came and went without a forward completion as well, and the Orange offense continued to play behind the sticks. Whether it was penalties, sacks or backwards runs, Syracuse failed to move the ball consistently on all but one drive through the third quarter.

Then, Allen Jr. busted through for his second big run of the day, setting Syracuse up to tie the game at 10 in the fourth quarter. Still, Del Rio-Wilson didn’t complete a pass with positive air yards, and attempted very few throughout the second half.

Finally, it seemed Del Rio-Wilson had done it. Toward the latter half of the fourth, Del Rio-Wilson seemingly hit Hatcher over the middle on a crosser, but Jones ripped it from Hatcher’s hands for his second interception of the day. SU came away from a near-red zone drive with nothing.

When asked how SU can sustain more drives going forward, Babers said “that’s not the key. The key is scoring points. You give them all that time and they outscored us by seven points. And you see all the turnovers that we had and all the opportunities that we had, that we had an opportunity to get to seven points or get to eight points or to have more than those points.”

Yet, the Orange gave as many opportunities as they got, if not more.

After SU’s third interception of the game, BC marched down the field and scored what would be the game-winning touchdown with just over two minutes remaining. Immediately, Del Rio-Wilson threw the game-sealing interception on a ball that was deflected up in the air for Jones. His fourth pick of the game was all-too-predictable for an SU offense that couldn’t get anything going.

Syracuse entered this game on an 0-4 stretch that has been one of the worst of Babers’ tenure. The Orange were outscored 150-34 in four-straight conference losses, and never finished within one possession of their opponent.

On Monday, Babers said that a homecoming was “just what the doctor ordered.” It turns out, SU might want to get a second opinion. It needed more than a patchy home crowd to snap its conference skid with a backup quarterback and a lack of depth.

Published on November 3, 2023 at 11:23 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu