From the very first play from scrimmage, Syracuse had trouble with ball security.

Ryan Nassib took the first snap of the game and fired a pass to the left sideline before Jarrod West was ready for it. The ball deflected off the wide receiver’s hands high into the air, and Minnesota safety Cedric Thompson laid out to pick it off.

And the Orange’s night was just getting started.

“Turnovers,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said after the game. “It was just turnovers. It was the turnovers. You can’t turn the ball over four times. It’s that simple.”

But Syracuse did just that, and the No. 3 passing offense in the country struggled to handle pressure and couldn’t reach the end zone until the final minute of the game – but by then, it was much too late. Minnesota dropped the Orange to a 1-3 record with a 17-10 decision full of SU miscues at Minneapolis’ TCF Bank Stadium on Sept. 22, 2012.

In addition to taking three sacks on the night due to poor pass protection, Nassib threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Aside from the game-opening blunder, Nassib’s other three turnovers each occurred inside the Gophers’ 35-yard line, ending promising SU drives. Ten penalties cost Syracuse 79 yards and didn’t help the cause, either.

Minnesota running back Donnell Kirkwood accounted for both of the Gophers’ touchdowns by pounding in two carries from inside the 2-yard line. The first score put Minnesota ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter, and the second pushed the Gophers’ lead to 14-3 on the first drive of the second half.

After that drive, SU responded by marching inside Minnesota’s 5-yard line, but two handoffs to Jerome Smith failed to break the goal line. On third down, Nassib faced heavy pressure, took a hit and released a pass that hung in the air and found the hands of Gophers linebacker Aaron Hill.

“Red-zone turnovers, those are the worst,” Nassib said after the game. “And it’s really hard, almost impossible to win a game with four turnovers.

“A lot of it, we shot ourselves in the foot. Some bad plays by myself that I wish I could have back.”

An Ashton Broyld fumble killed another Syracuse drive late in the third quarter, this one inside Minnesota’s 25-yard line.

SU’s offense finally crossed the goal line when Nassib connected with Marcus Sales for a 14-yard touchdown with 46 seconds remaining in the game, but the Gophers pounced on the ensuing onside kick.

“At the end of the day, you can’t have four turnovers,” head coach Doug Marrone said after the game. “When you do those things, it’s very difficult to win a game. For us to even be in the situation — an onside kick — to get the ball back is pretty unbelievable when you have four turnovers.”

Compiled by Phil D’Abbraccio, asst. copy editor, pmdabbra@syr.edu

Published on December 26, 2013 at 5:14 pm