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Carlos Del Rio-Wilson was going over plays in Syracuse’s locker room at halftime when quarterbacks coach Jason Beck told him to be ready. He would take over for an injured Garrett Shrader, who had started SU’s last 17 games dating back to last season, as the Orange’s starting quarterback for the second half.

Oronde Gadsden II, Syracuse’s leading receiver, didn’t know Del Rio-Wilson was coming in until he saw him under center for the first drive of the second half. Del Rio-Wilson took Syracuse’s offense, trailing 21-7, down the field for a field goal and a touchdown on back-to-back drives. He looked comfortable finding receivers and scrambling for first downs.

The Orange’s defense had responded with stops. And for one of the first times Saturday afternoon, SU was in a rhythm. But it didn’t last. Howard Cross III got his hand on a pass intended for Trebor Pena, and linebacker Marist Liufau tracked the ball the whole way until it was in his grasp.

The interception flipped the game’s momentum. Moments later, Audric Estime exploded for a 13-yard score and the Fighting Irish’s two-touchdown lead was restored. Notre Dame quickly forced a punt that was blocked by Clarence Lewis and recovered at the two-yard line. Estime scored again, and many in the JMA Wireless Dome’s sold-out crowd headed for the exits with the Irish leading 38-17. Five minutes earlier, Syracuse had trailed by just seven.

After starting the season 6-0, Syracuse (6-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) has now lost two straight after its 41-24 defeat against Notre Dame (5-3). ND used a pick-six on the game’s first snap to take an early lead, and the interception and blocked punt put Saturday’s game away. The Irish’s strong rushing attack, led by 123 yards from Estime, was too much for the Orange’s defense, which gave up their most points of the season. Syracuse struggled offensively in the first half behind Shrader, and Del Rio-Wilson couldn’t do enough in the second.

“Obviously, when you throw an interception for a touchdown, you get a punt blocked for a touchdown, that’s tough, tough, tough to overcome,” head coach Dino Babers said postgame.

Del Rio-Wilson hadn’t appeared in a game in a month, not recording any meaningful game snaps through two years at Florida and Syracuse. Saturday, he was thrust into a difficult situation after Shrader, who mostly struggled in the first half, didn’t return for the second half due to an unspecified injury. Shrader spent the second half pacing up and down the sidelines. He was visibly limping after Syracuse’s loss to Clemson and looked uncomfortable throughout the first half, caught on TV cameras stumbling after taking a knee to the head.

Babers said he had seen quarterbacks deal with serious head injuries in the past, referring specifically to the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa. He said, though, that Shrader didn’t have a head injury and was instead battling a separate injury. Babers took him out of the game at halftime, but noted there isn’t a quarterback controversy, and Shrader will start again once he’s healthy.

“He did not want to come out of the game,” Babers said of Shrader. “But just watching him in the first half, he just didn’t have all the tools in the toolbox, and I didn’t think it was fair to have him out there with all of those athletes.”

Del Rio-Wilson showed promise in the second half. He threw for a touchdown and led two other scoring drives, the first ending with a 54-yard Andre Szmyt field goal, and the second with Sean Tucker shaking his head as he ran past Notre Dame defenders for an easy touchdown. Del Rio-Wilson made two key throws on the second drive, finding Damien Alford for a 23-yard gain and D’Marcus Adams for 30 yards. But Syracuse never got close to tying the game after Liufau’s interception. Babers graded the quarterback’s performance as a “C.”

“I feel like I did pretty good,” Del Rio-Wilson said. “I could’ve done a lot better.”

Syracuse’s offense, which entered the game ranked fifth in the ACC in scoring, slogged its way to just seven first-half points. Shrader finished with only 35 passing yards and practically nothing on the ground. Sean Tucker got his carries (16), but less than four yards per carry. Receivers dropped several passes, including ones on third down that could’ve extended drives.

On the first play from scrimmage, Shrader looked left for Gadsden, cutting toward the middle, but Brandon Joseph jumped the route and easily returned it for a 25-yard touchdown return. Gadsden was “bracketed” with one player above him and another (Joseph) in front. It was a play Syracuse had worked on during the week, but it led to Gadsden, Shrader and Beck talking for several minutes on the sideline afterwards about what went wrong.

It was the two interceptions — the first setting the tone for the game, the second seemingly smashing Syracuse’s hopes right when they reached a peak — that sealed Saturday’s outcome. After a 6-0 start, the two consecutive losses have provided more questions than answers. It’s unclear how injured the Orange’s starting quarterback is, if their front six can hold together for four more games and how much this grueling second-half slate will hurt where they play come December.

“I’m really disappointed about the loss but I still feel good about this football team,” Babers said. “We’re 6-2, the two opponents that we just played were extremely, extremely physical.”

Published on October 29, 2022 at 4:00 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_