Dino Babers knew it would happen. After Syracuse went for, and converted, three fourth downs in the season opener against Colgate, the Syracuse head coach was prepared for the questions he’d face.

He had the benefit of the doubt because going for it on fourth had worked out. But he knew that if his team failed to convert on them down the road, he’d get criticized for it.

“All you guys get to open up that drawer that I talked about week one,” Babers said. “What I believe was gonna happen was that we needed those fourth downs to win the game.”

Under Dino Babers offensive system, Syracuse (1-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) is going to push the envelope and go for it on fourth downs more than the national average. And the Orange did convert on two fourth downs in the first quarter, with both drives ending in points.

Those chances ended up failing the Orange the rest of the way though, as SU went just 0-for-3 on fourth down after the successful conversions in the first quarter. Meanwhile, South Florida (3-0) converted its only fourth down for a backbreaking touchdown in an eventual 45-20 win on Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

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More Coverage

• With shrinking margin of error against USF, Syracuse football makes too many mistakes in 45-20 loss
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The first time Syracuse failed to convert on fourth down, it still had the lead. It was 17-7 after USF had scored and the Orange had the ball on its own 47-yard line. Dungey threw a pass to Steve Ishmael that sailed high, and gave the Bulls the ball back. Five plays later, the score was 17-14.

“It’s a part of our game, the more and more you watch us you have to understand that’s certain things that we do,” Babers said. “It’s disappointing that we didn’t convert more of those plays, I think that would have had a huge effect on the game.”

SU’s biggest miss on fourth down came in the second half. After going down 28-17 at the half, the Orange forced a three-and-out on the Bulls first possession to get the ball back. The drive that started Syracuse’s 19-yard line came all the way out to the USF 37-yard line.

The Orange lined up to take the snap, but in a move that has happened a few times in important situations through three games, the normally fast-paced offense decided to call a timeout to think the play over. Donate Strickland ended up running for no gain. He was shaken up on the play and the Orange lost the ball.

Despite its failure to convert, SU’s biggest mishap came on a fourth down it couldn’t stop.

After kicking a field goal, the Orange was down by just eight points, a one-possession game with 3:58 left in the third quarter. To that point, the Bulls offense had gone three-and-out on both of its possessions.

USF managed to pick up a first down on the drive but then was faced with a 4th-and-1 from its 48-yard line. Just like Syracuse had done, USF decided to hand off to its running back, Marlon Mack, on the play. The run to the left edge resulted in a 52-yard touchdown, a 35-20 lead for the Bulls and a knockout blow for the Orange.

“Somebody didn’t get up field, somebody didn’t contain that,” defensive end Kendall Coleman said. “It’s frustrating.”

Published on September 17, 2016 at 10:25 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer