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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Saturday was as lopsided a loss as Syracuse has seen in recent years.

The Orange set up a 4th-and-3 with five minutes left in the first quarter down three points. SU had stuffed North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, giving Syracuse a chance to take a 7-3 lead if the offense kicked into gear. On the ensuing kick from Ben Kiernan, Denis Jaquez Jr. raised his left hand and got a hand to the low punt.

But Kiernan nabbed the loose ball at the Tar Heels’ 25-yard-line and took off. Twenty-nine yards of open space later, Anwar Sparrow flew in from down field and connected on a massive hit which left both players needing medical attention.

It was close. Kiernan’s right leg had hit the first down marker, but he held the ball in his left hand that lagged behind. The referees converged at midfield and ruled it a first down, telling head coach Dino Babers that they’d spotted it as a first down and reviewed it. A livid Babers walked back to the sidelines as he yelled at the referees.

Babers was standing close to the line of scrimmage on SU’s sideline, but said he had a good view of the hit. Despite the referees already telling him they’d reviewed it, he asked to call a timeout and challenge the spot of the ball.

“I want them to understand that they know they’re wrong,” Babers said. “There’s rights and there’s wrongs.”

The call stood, and the Tar Heels put together a nine-play drive, finished off with a 1-yard quarterback sneak from Maye to put UNC up 10-0. North Carolina never looked back. It trotted right down the field after holding Syracuse to a three-and-out and made it 17-0. Maye found Byrson Nesbit for a 23-yard touchdown.

Saturday was a chance for Syracuse to upset No. 14 UNC and take down a ranked team on the road for the first time since 2010. Maye entered as one of the best signal callers in the country, but the Orange had a chance to stifle him given their stellar defense through the first four games. Yet, following the depleting first down call and touchdown, Syracuse (4-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost 40-7 to No. 14 North Carolina (5-0, 2-0, ACC) — its worst defeat of the season. Maye and North Carolina torched SU for the most yards the Orange allowed since 2016.

“He did everything that I saw on film. I was impressed with his play,” Caleb Okechukwu said. “He’s the top two quarterbacks in the nation right now, and he played like it today.”

Last season, Syracuse’s first loss was a 27-21 heartbreaker to Clemson. It spurred a midseason, five-game freefall for the Orange and an eventual defeat in the Pinstripe Bowl. Heading into North Carolina this season, SU tried to ensure that it wouldn’t let a first loss at the hands of Clemson derail its year.

But before SU could settle in on Saturday, the Tar Heels were up by two possessions. Damien Alford dropped two catches. Garrett Shrader tried to scramble out of a blown pocket and fumbled it. North Carolina followed with its longest touchdown drive of the season. Syracuse got its fourth first down of the game in the second quarter but saw the drive quickly stall out when Chris Bleich was called for tripping.

Babers said on Monday that the Orange didn’t play well against Clemson. He noted that SU clearly lost to a very good team but that Syracuse didn’t show up. “You get an opportunity and you get a stage like that, you have to perform,” Babers said.

He said those same players stepped up in Chapel Hill, even noting that Donovan Brown and Umari Hatcher “wanted” the ball. But Babers said North Carolina was just too good for Syracuse. And next week, the Orange take on No. 3 Florida State.

By the time Syracuse got the ball with seven seconds left in the first half, the Orange were down 27-0. It marked their largest halftime deficit since a 41-3 loss to Louisville in 2021. Mistakes riddled the first half. Maye lit up SU for 280 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-35 passing, finishing with his ninth career game of over 400 passing yards and three touchdowns. The Orange had 22 plays for just 70 yards. The projected top three pick in the 2024 NFL Draft completed one of his career-best games against SU.

“We have to show up and play. We can’t do what we did last week,” Shrader said following SU’s loss in Week 5. “We’re not good enough to go out and just screw around in the first half and then go out and win.”

Trailing 27-0, Syracuse came out of halftime and marched downfield for a touchdown. Shrader overcame an illegal man downfield call with a 34-yard pass to Hatcher. Then, Shrader hit Hatcher across the middle before scrambling for 18 yards. For a moment, the Orange’s offense looked put together, like the cohesive, explosive unit that rolled through their first four opponents.

Syracuse even looked to convert on a 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak on its second drive of the third quarter. But offensive lineman Joe Cruz moved too early and the Orange had to punt it away. Maye took the field again and moved North Carolina down the field on a drive that started at the Tar Heels’ 17. Syracuse had forced a 3rd-and-9, but Kevon Darton jumped offsides, giving UNC a manageable 3rd-and-4. Maye wanted more.

He dropped back and surveyed his weapons. He spotted Kobe Paysour in front of Alijah Clark on a slant route across the middle. Maye threw behind an outstretched Paysour, who popped it up. Clark was right there but bobbled the loose ball long enough for Paysour to snatch it back. The sophomore receiver took off for a 77-yard touchdown, Maye’s longest completion of the season.

“Going against Drake Maye and Tez Walker … it just presents a challenge for us every week, and it’s something we need to prepare for,” Justin Barron said.

Shrader came back on the field. Three plays later he threw a low ball intended for Hatcher but Alijah Huzzie was there. Jumping the errant throw, Huzzie laid out acrobatically to intercept possession, causing another Syracuse turnover.

Maye didn’t finish the game. He left with just under seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Noah Burnette’s fourth, and final, field goal of the game cemented SU’s 13th loss by 30 or more points during Babers’ tenure with the Orange. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson took over for the final drive to just run off the final minutes. He also threw an interception.

It was the biggest game of the season, one of the hardest ACC road tests Syracuse has on its schedule. It was an opportunity to prove that it belonged in the top echelon of the conference. It felt that way for nine minutes. It ended with Syracuse walking away with more questions about the viability of its roster, another loss and another thought of what could have been.

“We gotta get back to the drawing board and figure it out, because obviously it’s not working,” Shrader said.

Published on October 7, 2023 at 7:18 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt