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BOCA RATON, Fla. — Syracuse needed something, anything to score before halftime while trailing 24-0.

Third-string quarterback Braden Davis was lined up in a jumbo set, looking to give the Orange a first down on a 3rd-and-5 in USF territory. But almost immediately, Daquan Evans sacked Davis, who fumbled the ball, giving USF defensive end Tramel Logan a clear path to the endzone.

SU was in field goal position. If Davis just fell down, his team would’ve had another attempt for a field goal. Instead, the Orange were shutout in the first half of a bowl game for the first time since the 1966 Gator Bowl.

There was no denying the fact that South Florida’s (7-6, 4-4 American Athletic Conference) offense, led by quarterback Byrum Brown and wide receiver Sean Atkins, mowed down the Syracuse (6-7, 2-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) defense to the tune of 407 total yards. But the Orange also had costly errors that kept them outside of shouting distance. With four turnovers, which consisted of two Dan Villari interceptions and two scoop-and-score touchdowns for USF, SU faced its biggest defeat this season. The contest was over by halftime.

Early in the game — when it still seemed like Syracuse a shot against South Florida — the Orange had struggled to get any traction by using Villari and Davis as its signal callers.

After Syracuse punted it away, Brown continued USF’s momentum with an 8-yard sneak up the left side. On the next play, Brown faked a handoff before rushing for a first down. A play after Kevin Jobity Jr. sacked Brown, Atkins fumbled the ball and Alijah Clark nabbed the ball and ran it back for a touchdown.

But there was an illegal block from Jason Simmons Jr., which negated the score. While SU still had possession, Justin Barron and Marlowe Wax were both incredulous with the officials on the penalty.

Regardless, Syracuse had the ball and a chance to score from USF’s 28-yard line. It was the team’s best-starting field position all night. But a disastrous special teams play signaled doom.

Villari started the drive with a rush up the middle that gained two yards. LeQuint Allen Jr. followed up the play by fumbling the ball after a jet sweep, narrowly avoiding a turnover as the ball went out of bounds. On a 3rd-and-23, Villari chucked the ball to Damien Alford for a pickup of 10 over the middle and gave Brady Denaburg a 45-yard field goal attempt.

Holder and punter Jack Stonehouse fumbled the snap. As the Orange tried to limit the damage, USF’s Aamaris Brown recovered the ball and ran it back up the right sideline for a touchdown. Instead of a 7-3 score, South Florida was now up 14-0.

By this point of the game, rain started pouring down periodically, something the Orange never dealt with this week when its practices were mostly sunny. But interim head coach Nunzio Campanile said the weather had nothing to do with SU’s poor play.

“I don’t believe so,” Campanile said. “(It was) just executing.”

Even as the Orange allowed another passing touchdown from Brown, this time on a 33-yard scoring strike to Kahfre Brown, their quarterback situation made things worse. With Garrett Shrader not available as a decoy after he underwent surgery on his torn right shoulder following the regular season, the Villari-Davis tandem combined for 24 pass attempts and only completed 10 of them.

While Davis flaunted some potential, Villari struggled. On the Orange’s fifth drive of the game, Davis completed a 33-yard dart to Alford to get them into USF territory. But Villari ended that drive with an interception.

The tight end dropped back and tossed a pass off his back foot. Jhalyn Shuler deflected the throw and backup linebacker Jacquez Williams intercepted it.

“They had a great call against it,” a dejected Villari said.

Davis’ fumble and ensuing USF touchdown only increased the pain. The second half featured more quarterback errors.

The Orange couldn’t even complete a drive to start the second half without a pick. On the first two plays, Allen Jr. recorded a two-yard rush and Davis threw an incomplete pass. Villari threw a short pass to Umari Hatcher that got intercepted by Tavin Ward along the right sideline.

Villari said he made a bad choice on the second interception, trying to squeeze a throw on the sidelines. Campanile added that since Syracuse had been running what was practically a rush-only offense, the mistakes in guarding the two quarterbacks, one of them being a quarterback who hadn’t started until today, were key.

“We have not spent a ton of time in pass protection, so much of what we’ve been doing the last two months it has been the wildcat stuff, running the football,” Campanile said. “And we just didn’t really recognize the field pressure.”

The rest of the second half just felt like funeral rites. Even in the final moments, as Syracuse offensive players walked off following a three-and-out and hugged each other as some played with their teammates for the last time, there was one last cruel twist of fate.

It came from Stonehouse, who bobbled the snap on a punt and had run across the end zone to get the low line drive punt off. It led to one more kneel-down before South Florida’s fans stormed the field.

“I know execution-wise (today was) really poor,” Campanile said. “I gotta do a better job coaching them and having them prepared. But I did feel like they fought all the way through the game.”

Published on December 22, 2023 at 1:36 am

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