CORRECTION: In a previous version of this column, the number of conference losses Syracuse has was misstated. Syracuse was winless in the three games it wasn’t heavily favored to win: Penn State, Northwestern, Clemson. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s crazy how two drives can change the entire perception of a team.

Syracuse won ugly on Saturday, mostly thanks to a pair of gashing, fourth-quarter runs from Jerome Smith and Prince-Tyson Gulley. Terrel Hunt struggled to connect with his receivers while the defense warmly accepted an even sloppier North Carolina State offense in a game filled with sideways rain and early timeouts.

If SU had lost and dropped to 2-4, it would have needed to upset Georgia Tech or Maryland to reach six wins and I probably would have booked my vacation to Orlando for winter break.

But at 3-3, the Orange should be favored against Wake Forest, Boston College and Pittsburgh. Suddenly, this team is in position to make a bowl. Suddenly, its glaring deficiencies — a mediocre-at-best wide receiving corps and a plagued secondary — don’t seem so bad.

“You don’t want to go 2-4,” Gulley said. “People look at the record and just judge, like if we’re 2-4, we’re not that good, but if we go 3-3 we actually can do this.

“That’s how we’re looking at it, and that sure is how our team is going about it.”

The Orange is controlling the ground game on both sides of the football. With 362 rushing yards against the Wolfpack, which entered the game as the 17th best run-stopping team in the country, SU has out rushed opponents 1,324 to 722 this season — 5.3 yards per carry to 3.1.

On Saturday, Syracuse’s front seven held N.C. State to just 2.9 yards per carry and logged 13 tackles for loss.

“If there’s one thing that we’ll do well, we’ll stop the run,” linebacker Marquis Spruill said.

Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The wide receivers who went catchless against Clemson caught only four balls against the Wolfpack. The improved secondary still dodged a couple of bullets, like when Pete Thomas overthrew a wide-open Jumichael Ramos down the seam in the third quarter. And N.C. State made even more self-inflicted wounds, like passing on a chip-shot field goal to turn the ball over on downs in the second.

So which side will go on to define the 2013 Syracuse football team? The old-timey, ground-and-pound, beat-you-with-defense team or the hard-to-watch pass-heavy team?

Let’s take a look at SU’s remaining schedule to find out:

Oct. 19 at Georgia Tech (3-3, 2-2): The Orange opens as 9.5-point underdogs, but after handling the Wolfpack, it’s possible SU hangs around with another run-reliant opponent.

Nov. 2 vs. Wake Forest (3-3, 1-2): The Demon Deacons have allowed more points than they’ve scored. Tanner Price and Michael Campanaro could challenge the SU defensive backs, but this should be the Orange’s first home conference win.

Nov. 9 at Maryland (5-1, 1-1): Syracuse hasn’t fared well against big-play offenses this season and the Terrapins are averaging 31 points per game. Expect Stefon Diggs to be problematic.

Nov. 16 at Florida State (5-0, 3-0): LOL.

Nov. 23 vs. Pittsburgh (3-2, 2-2): The Panthers may be playing for a bowl selection with No. 10 Miami (Fla.) waiting for them in their finale. They’re coming off a 23-yard rushing performance in a loss to then-No. 24 Virginia Tech.

Nov. 30 vs. Boston College (3-3, 1-2): The Eagles have played Clemson and Florida State close, and aren’t quite the should-be win they appeared to be when the schedule was released. Still, it’s more than likely the Orange’s bowl hopes come down to this throwback Big East reunion.

One week ago, Syracuse was coming off its worst loss since 2008. It was winless in the only three games it wasn’t heavily favored to win.

Now it’s in line for the postseason. All it needs to do is take care of business at home.

Stephen Bailey is an asst. sports editor at The Daily Orange whose column appears occasionally. He can be reached at sebail01@syr.edu or on Twitter at @Stephen_Bailey1.

Published on October 14, 2013 at 1:51 am