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Aside from two short-yardage handoffs, Garrett Shrader stood on the sideline for the entirety of Syracuse’s 31-22 loss against Georgia Tech. The Orange relied on tight end Dan Villari and running back LeQuint Allen Jr. to generate a team total of 259 offensive yards.

It was the same gameplan that helped SU end its losing streak against Pittsburgh. Without Shrader or Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, who wasn’t on the travel roster, the gameplan was necessary.

But as the Orange made some tweaks to their newly-minted offensive formula, they decided to add in third string Braden Davis into the rotation of plays.

In the loss to Georgia Tech (6-5, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), Syracuse (5-6, 1-6 ACC) gave Davis and fellow backup Luke MacPhail the most playing time since they both appeared in the season-opener against Colgate. Davis played more as a slot receiver, motioning and catching a pass. But the backup quarterbacks’ appearances against the Yellow Jackets weren’t enough to tip the scales in favor of the Orange. In fact, it was the opposite, since Davis’ one throw was a near-interception and MacPhail’s was the game-ending pick. Though the stats may not have reflected an elite performance, Davis’ teammates were impressed.

“Braden stepped up. He was ready,” Allen Jr. said. “Nobody knew he was going to catch a pass. First drive, he came in and caught a pass.”

Both Davis and MacPhail got time during the blowout win over Colgate, but only handed the ball off to backups like Juwaun Price, Ike Daniels and Mario Escobar Jr. The two never got any time besides that, remaining on the sidelines for the Pitt game when Syracuse didn’t have a fully-healthy starting quarterback.

During his Monday press conference before the game, head coach Dino Babers defended the throwing ability of both Davis and MacPhail, citing the Orange’s run-heavy, wildcat gameplan as the reason they didn’t chuck it downfield.

“They’re quarterbacks, they can throw the football,” Babers said. “We didn’t feel like, based off of what was going on in the gameplan, we had to.”

Davis didn’t attempt a pass until the third quarter. It almost became a disaster. With 13:12 left in the quarter, Villari stood in the shotgun and faked a direct snap run before throwing back to Davis. Wide receiver Damien Alford blocked for Davis, but Georgia Tech’s LaMiles Brooks and Braelen Oliver moved past Alford and had an option shot at the third-stringer.

With Davis facing some heat, he hurled the ball for Allen Jr., who had moved up all the way to the end zone. The ball Davis threw remained in the air for about 38 yards, coming just a yard short of the goal line. While Allen Jr. was down there, so were three GT defenders. Yellow Jacket Clayton Powell-Lee had both hands on Davis’ pass, yet Allen Jr. broke up the pass and the ball bounced to the turf.

Still though, Davis’ performance wasn’t completely a minus. When he served as a motioning receiver, the Orange started to make progress.

On SU’s first drive, Davis finally entered the field. Standing on the far right side of the line of scrimmage, Davis stuck out like a sore thumb as Syracuse inched closer to the red zone. Davis motioned on a sweep but didn’t get the ball as Allen Jr. picked up a first down to continue the drive that gave the Orange their first points of the game. Though Davis wasn’t the most active of receivers, Babers noted the importance of his mere presence.

“Anytime you have a quarterback on the field, it affects the calls of the defense,” Babers said.

Later in that same drive, Villari threw a screen to Davis, who picked up seven yards and ran out of bounds on the right side. Babers alluded to Davis’ new role coming out of health.

“Some of those guys are not as healthy,” Babers said. “We’re still waiting on those guys to get healthy so that they can do the things they used to do.”

But the Orange still needed to rely on Allen Jr. and Villari. Allen Jr. scored the touchdown (one of two on the night for the tailback) to put the Orange back within two points and also came up short on the two-point conversion. On the former of those plays, Davis ran a fake sweep. And on the latter, he blocked.

After an over five-minute clock-killing drive highlighted by a 19-yard Haynes King rushing touchdown, Syracuse ran a hurry-up offense, and it couldn’t rely on Villari or Allen Jr. to run the ball down Georgia Tech’s throats anymore. The Orange needed to pass and, trailing 31-22, go fast.

Babers didn’t tap Davis’ shoulder in those final moments. Instead, he went to the fourth-stringer MacPhail.

So, instead of direct snaps to either the running back or the tight end, MacPhail dropped back to pass. On MacPhail’s first snap, he stood in shotgun and immediately threw an interception to GT linebacker Kyle Efford on the right side of the field.

It was MacPhail’s only throw of the night and SU’s last pass of the game, as Georgia Tech ran out the rest of the clock. But Babers insisted that MacPhail was the right option on Syracuse’s final offensive play of the night.

“He knows our two minute offense the best out of the quarterbacks that are healthy to run it,” Babers said.

Published on November 19, 2023 at 2:08 am

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