Eric Dungey unable to jumpstart offense after returning from helmet-to-helmet hit
Bryan Cereijo | Staff Photographer
Eric Dungey heads to the locker room in the third quarter of Syracuse's loss to Pittsburgh. He lay motionless on the turf after another hit to the head but later returned to the game.
Eric Dungey scrambled out of what looked like a sure-fire sack and turned it into a 3-yard gain on the first play of the second half. But Syracuse’s starting quarterback lay flat on his stomach after the play, his arms at his side, his palms facing upward, not moving.
For a moment, he was motionless following helmet-to-helmet contact. Then he popped back up to his feet as trainers came out to make sure he would be evaluated before taking another snap.
“He didn’t throw it — he was supposed to throw it to the right,” SU offensive coordinator Tim Lester said. “And he didn’t hand it. So he just started taking off running. It wasn’t a good decision.”
Dungey missed the end of the three-and-out drive as he was taken to the locker room to be evaluated. Zack Mahoney, who started the LSU game on Sept. 26, came in. Dungey was back out on the field for the following drive following yet another helmet-to-helmet scare.
He finished with 210 passing yards on 21-of-30 attempts. He threw two touchdowns, had two interceptions and was not sacked in Syracuse’s (3-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) 23-20 loss to No. 25 Pittsburgh (6-1, 4-0) on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome.
“I took a pretty big hit, but I was good and just ready to get back out there,” Dungey said. “Just had to take a second to make sure everything was working.”
Later in the quarter Dungey threw interceptions on two consecutive plays. The first one over the middle that Pitt linebacker Matt Galambos picked off was one that Lester said Dungey had a shot to complete if he had thrown a slightly better pass.
Dungey only completed six passes in the second half for a total of just 71 yards.
Still, SU head coach Scott Shafer said Dungey looked good coming back out following his time in the locker room.
Against Central Michigan on Sept. 19, Dungey was hit on a targeting penalty and missed a game and a half. When SU played Virginia on Oct. 17, he took two more hits to the head.
“Obviously, we are hypersensitive to our guys getting hit and not getting up,” Shafer said. “He popped right up and wanted to go right back in, but our medical staff did a nice job.”
Published on October 24, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3
