Observations from Syracuse vs. Boston College: 26-point 4th quarter hides poor 1st half play

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CHESTNUT HILL, M.a. — Three schools have gone 0-6 after starting a season 6-0. There was plenty Syracuse could have done to avoid joining that niche group, and even more stacked in favor of them heading into Saturday night’s game against Boston College. The Eagles entered reeling from a blowout loss to Notre Dame in the midst of a disappointing 3-8 season that saw Zay Flowers as its only bright spot.

There wasn’t much to like from Syracuse’s final game before the final frame. But helped along by an 83-yard drive in the third quarter that ended with a field goal and 26 points in the fourth quarter, it avoided the 0-6 slide.

The warts revealed during the first half of SU’s (7-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) eventual win over Boston College (3-9, 2-6 ACC) were covered up by an unanswered 28 points. And for the second time under head coach Dino Babers, the Orange will finish the season with a winning record.

Here are some observations from the 32-23 win over the Eagles:

Uninspiring start

It doesn’t get much worse than a 3-8 team with a redshirt freshman quarterback starting his fourth collegiate game leading a 6-5 SU team that put up 35 points the week prior and at one point was riding off of a 6-0 record.

First, Bryce Steele swung around Matthew Bergeron on a Syracuse 3rd-and-7, stripped Garrett Shrader from behind and recovered the fumble. The ensuing Boston College drive totalled just six yards, but it was enough to bring out Connor Lytton for a 28-yard field goal. A bad start would only result in three points, so Syracuse came out on the ensuing kickoff with a dynamic 35-yard return from LeQuint Allen. Syracuse’s coaches encouraged the offense as it jogged out for their next possession.

Then Sean Tucker lost three yards on a sweep. Courtney Jackson grabbed a six-yard pass across the middle, but Shrader’s next play was an off-target bomb to D’Marcus Adams, who was wide open across the left seam after Boston College’s defensive back tripped. A three-and-out was further made worse when Jeremiah Franklin and another rusher blew through SU’s blockers and blocked a Max Von Marburg punt attempt. Just three plays later, Flowers juked out Isaiah Johnson to create a wide-open touchdown reception and extend BC’s lead to 10.

Worst rushing team does well on the ground

Boston College’s 60.9 rushing yards per game average ranks dead last out of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams by over 16 yards. Pat Garwo III, BC’s lead back hasn’t averaged over 3.6 yards per carry in a game since Oct. 1. It was supposed to be a reprieve for a middling SU defensive line unit reeling from injuries and getting overpowered each week since its loss to Clemson. Then after the Eagles announced redshirt freshman Emmett Morehead would start his fourth career game, it looked like a certainty that BC’s run game would be ineffective again.

But at the end of the first half, Boston College had 44 rushing yards, all coming from Garwo, and the Eagles leaned on their rushing game more than they’ve done all season. With 18 rushing attempts and 12 passes, the Eagles executed a more balanced offensive approach than Syracuse saw from the Eagles this season. Eaten up again at the line of scrimmage, especially after Marlowe Wax went down in the second quarter, the depleted unit saw one final rushing attack push it around in the regular season.

While its drive stalled out at the Syracuse 38-yard line, mostly from a costly holding call, Boston College’s first drive out of the halftime break took off six minutes after four rushes from Garwo helped get the Eagles across midfield and intro striking distance. A mixture of Garwo and Alex Broome worked to prolong drives and extend opportunities for BC. It took any momentum out of Syracuse, and any wind out of its sails that could’ve led to a comeback.

Garwo then totaled two rushes, starting at the 11-yard line, that put the Eagles up 17-6 with just under 13 minutes left in the game. He finished with 86 yards on 24 attempts, along with the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

Sacking Shrader

Despite a healthy offensive line, Shrader got roughed up in the pocket more than he’d been in weeks, getting sacked seven times.

Syracuse went scoreless on each drive allowing a sack on Shrader until the third quarter, and the blown-up pockets tended to lead to third and long plays or — like on the first possession of the game — a turnover that instead led to BC scoring. Led by Donovan Ezeiruaku’s 1.5 first-half sacks, Shrader was terrorized.

On Syracuse’s third drive, Shrader got pressured from two rushers, first from Marcus Valdez. He avoided Valdez but ran into the back of Carlos Vettorello attempting to get away from the collapsed pocket, and was taken down by Kam Arnold.

Syracuse finally overcame a Shrader sack during its only possession in the third quarter, but Ezeiruaku took away a chance at a touchdown to cap off the drive when he bolted up the middle, blew up Kalan Ellis and sacked Shrader.

3rd quarter drive shows life

While it was just a field goal that didn’t give Syracuse the lead, the first drive, one that spanned 83 yards and took up 7:04 of game time, showed that its offense wouldn’t be stagnant all game. It stalled out in the red zone because of a sack and another throw-away from Shrader, but it ate through meaningful time in the third quarter.

Devaughn Cooper delivered SU’s first explosive play when he caught a play action pass from Shrader in the flat and cut up field. Avoiding one man and pushing off another, Cooper — who flew across the line of scrimmage with presnap motion, bolted up the near sideline for a gain of 23 yards. Two plays later, Gadsden fought off three Boston College linebackers to gain a first down after a sack on Shrader. Then Shrader went back to Gadsden atop two defenders for a gain of 26 yards. An ensuing 10 yard scramble by Shrader up the middle set up Syracuse inside the red zone.

It was the first time the Orange had made it that far down the field all evening. It sputtered out, mostly due to two false start calls issued to Vettorello, but it helped build toward what ended up being a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put the Orange behind 17-12.

…then SU puts up 26 points in the 4th

The two-point conversion to cut Boston College’s lead failed. Receivers were well covered after their initial cuts, and Shrader scrambled too early to see Courtney Jackson open up in the back of the end zone. But SU forced a poor ensuing possession from Boston College and began a quick trek down the field starting at the 27-yard line. SU muddled through two plays before settling back in shotgun with two receivers spread out right. On the outside was Alford, who simply flew by his defender, gaining a few feet of separation on him, and opening up plenty of space for Shrader to drop in a pass leading to a 58-yard touchdown.

SU didn’t even need to convert the two-point conversion, because on the next possession, Caleb Okechukwu swung around the right horn, batted the ball away from Morehead and allowed Steve Linton to pick up the fumble. Syracuse took off nearly three minutes on the six-play, 37-yard drive and went up 25-17 following a five-yard rushing touchdown from Tucker. A final seam Tucker hit, the final few defenders he outran past the 15-yard line and a final trip to the end zone catapulted him over 100 yards rushing and gave the Orange the win.