Since we don’t have any current sports on the docket, and we don’t have any current iterations of NCAA Football, we’ll be continuing to play through the Syracuse Orange football season on NCAA Football 13 for the PlayStation 3.
Check out the rest of the series here.
Picking up where we left off, after a rivalry win against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Orange were flying high. They saddled up to head down for a matchup with the NC State Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium. With just about everyone recovered from injury and coming in at 6-0 off a rout of Pitt, it only seemed fitting that Syracuse was feeling confident.
The game started well enough, with Moe Neal taking the opening snap for a 32-yard run, followed up by a quick 16 yard pass to Taj Harris over the middle. The offense proceeded to stall out from there, with some unsuccessful probing of the middle of the field and a real bad sack taken by Tommy DeVito to knock the Orange out of field goal range. Sterling Hofrichter’s punt was inches from sealing the Pack inside their one, but harmlessly bounced just inside the end zone.
From there, the stage was set. First play from scrimmage, Matthew McKay hit Cary Angeline on a tight end flag from the NC State 20-yard line and the Wolfpack were on the board. Now this isn’t the first time the Orange have been down early this season, but this felt different. Angeline split the coverage perfectly, though were it not for a pursuit error by Evan Foster, he probably wouldn’t have scored.
That quick score seemed to be a rallying cry for all of Carter-Finley, creating some deafening crowd noise on the next drive, but DeVito was able to keep his composure through the drive, hitting a few recievers in stride for fifteen yard catches, then finishing it off with a 14-yard completion over the middle to Nykeim Johnson, coming across on a post route to even the score.
The Wolfpack started to answer that score as well, methodically marching down the field, however, Evan Foster had other ideas. When Matt McKay decided to turn the corner on a designed quarterback keeper, Foster read the play from the start, coming up and laying a hard hit on him and popping the ball loose. Kenneth Ruff recovered and gave the Orange another offensive possession as the second quarter wore on.
The Orange, however didn’t make the most of it, with DeVito going for the endzone, targeting Trishton Jackson. The ball came down a touch short and into the waiting arms of the NC State safety for the first of Tommy’s picks on the day. Syracuse’s defense held, and the offense had another chance to take the lead with thirty seconds left in the half, but another third-down sack took the Orange out of their rhythm and they couldn’t kill the clock.
The Orange held to start the second half, but would soon give up an unfortunate pick on a deflected ball batted in the air by the outside linebacker. The Wolfpack got the ball on the Syracuse 30-yard line and completed another quick drive, again to Cary Angeline. Angeline was the Pack’s best weapon and brought home Player of the Game honors this week with his two touchdown stat line.
The Orange wallowed through the rest of the third and let NC State put up a 32-yard field goal by Christopher Dunn to pull ahead 17-7 early in the fourth. The following possession, DeVito found Sean Riley on a 61-yard bomb over the top to bring them back in the game, which could have brought them back to only down a field goal late in the fourth. Unfortunately, Mr. Automatic, Andre Szmyt, missed the extra point, making it a four point game.
The defense held and Syracuse got the ball back with 1:47 on the clock. The Orange needed a touchdown to win. Then DeVito found Taj Harris on the second play from scrimmage, with a 74-yard reception but he couldn’t find paydirt. He was knocked out of bounds at the four yard line.
At this point, the ghosts of Iowa past came back to haunt the Orange. First and goal from the four yard line with around a minute left should be no problem. Alas, Moe Neal was stuffed on a sweep by a cornerback that read the play perfectly and two passes broken up by tight coverage left fourth and goal with the game in the balance. The Orange tried to get the ball to a blanketed Harris, checked down to Jackson who was covered and dumped the ball to Neal on a swing as a last resort. He was tackled on the two, just short of the end zone.
A hard week to take your first loss, but it looks like it will be a great matchup next week against the Clemson Tigers who are undefeated and still ranked first in the nation.
Weekly Stats:
Passing - DeVito - 17/23, 315 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 191.5 rating
Rushing - Neal - 10 carries, 36 yards; DeVito - 6 carries, -21 yards
Receiving - Johnson - 5 Rec, 72 yards, TD; Harris - 5 Rec, 139 yards; Sean Riley - 2 Rec, 64 yards, TD
Defense - Andrew Armstrong - 9 tackles, 5 solo; Ifeatu Melifonwu - 5 tackles, 2 solo; Trill Williams - 5 tackles, 3 solo;
Recruiting:
The Orange pulled in three prospects for the class of 2020.
- Donald Armstrong - P - 80 Overall - JUCO
- Steven Johnson - CB - 3-Star - Ithaca, NY
- Josh Holiday - DT - 2-Star Gem
All three were positions of need, so we’re shoring up those ranks and down to just two more cornerbacks and a center. I have no idea where we’ll find a center.