California Dreamin; Allen’s two TDs lead Syracuse over Cal 33-25

On Saturday, Syracuse went to the west coast and took on the University of California, Berkeley. After an abysmal showing last Saturday against Boston College, another week on the road seemed to be a confusing path. Lequint Allen’s health was questioned, the defense looked horrid, and head coach Fran Brown wasn’t showering. So, going into the matchup against the Golden Bears, all eyes were on how Syracuse would respond. Would they show the toughness that Fran Brown prided himself on?

Here are the key takeaways from this weekend:

“Winner’s get washed”- Fran Brown

Syracuse played a more complete game than in recent weeks: six straight scoring drives to open the game, no three-and-outs, and three drives lasting over five minutes. Syracuse and Brown will now get to shower after a good showing. 

This type of bounce back performance after a loss was the type of showing I expected after the abysmal outing against Pitt. Save for a miraculous 24 point comeback win; the game against Virginia Tech was not a complete game and without the Hokies’ starting quarterback and running back, the Orange should have never been in that position. 

Winning the turnover battle

Cal leads the nation in takeaways with 22 and has a probable All-American at cornerback in Nohl Williams. McCord tested him once towards the end of the game and Williams dropped what should have been his eighth interception of the season. Nonetheless, McCord has 12 interceptions on the season and most would have bet their bottom dollar, to include me, that he’d have another today. He didn’t.

The Syracuse defense coming into the day had only forced five takeaways all season. On Saturday the team recorded two interceptions off Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza

I’m still not convinced that this defense has been saved from their sinful showing against the run last week against Boston College. As it’s been said on many occasions on the Fresh Squeezed Podcast, the defense gets looked over when the offense plays well. The offense makes other teams have to throw the ball and keep up; especially when it has three drives over five minutes. But in games where the offense is not high flying and teams can stick with the run, the defense folds. 

Lequint Allen Jr. is the best player on the team 

Sorry, Kyle McCord, and thank you for all that you have done for Syracuse alongside  Coach Brown but, Lequint Allen Jr. is, as the kids say, “HIM”. This also is not a knock on McCord, but when offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon allows Allen to get busy, the Orange win. It also opens up the offense for McCord to thrive in all of his greatness. In the last three weeks Allen has seven touchdowns. In the Orange’s three losses Allen Jr. recorded under 50 rushing yards. 

Allen still has eligibility left, and because his production value took a hit this season with the arrival of Kyle McCord, hopefully he will decide to not only forgo the NFL draft, but come back to Syracuse. I’m not insinuating that Lequint Allen would transfer but with the way the portal works, if he decides to stay in college, I’m certain there will be a plethora of coaches that come calling. 

While all of this may seem minute, Syracuse still has an opportunity to win next week and do a “very funny thing” in the dome against Miami,who by that time will either have nothing at all to play for, or everything to play for. But to pull off a win like that Syracuse will have to play even more complete than it did today. Post-game, coach Brown said the team has to finish better, and he’s not wrong. After dominating for most of the day, this team almost turned into the “cardiac Orange” for the way that they allowed Cal back into the game. 

Before we get to Miami, Syracuse still has to see UConn in the dome and while that seems like a sure-win; ask Stanford what’s possible in the JMA Dome. In case you missed it, Stanford won their first game today since beating Syracuse on September 20th. UConn will try to run the ball, so the run defense will get another test, when they play Syracuse at noon on Nov. 23.