Syracuse football upsets No. 23 Georgia Tech, 31-28
Syracuse football upsets No. 23 Georgia Tech
Kyle McCord’s four touchdown passes give Orange first ACC win of the season.
Fran Brown earned another pair of first milestones Saturday.
With a 31-28 win over the No. 23 Georgia Tech in the JMA Wireless Dome, the Orange gave the new head coach his first-ever ACC win as well as victory over a ranked team.
Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord topped his career best from the previous week against Ohio by throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns along with new career marks for attempts and completions by going 32 of 46.
Going into the game, many questions surrounded the Orange defense, specifically their ability to stop the run. It was not perfect, but the Orange held off Georgia Tech for the most part. In the absence of Marlowe Wax, a big game from Fadil Diggs at linebacker was essential to the win.
“Lining me up in different places is hard to scheme for, and it helps free up other guys,” Diggs said. “I don’t have much experience playing that, but a lot of extra men stepped up this week — a lot.”
Diggs tallied seven total tackles, including two for loss. One tackle for loss was on fourth-down from Georgia Tech’s 35-yard line. Syracuse regained possession and followed with another score.
At halftime, Syracuse honored NFL Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney by retiring his No. 54 jersey. During his senior year at SU, Freeney led the nation with 17.5 sacks and was selected as an All-American.
Diggs said he received advice from Freeney before the game that he won’t forget.
“He was just giving me some knowledge as a pass rusher,” Diggs said. “He’s one of the greatest to do it. I learned a lot from him in 10 minutes.”
Back and forth early
On the game’s first drive, Lequint Allen Jr. opened with a six-yard run. On the second play, McCord threw a swing pass to Will Nixon who ran for 25 yards. After McCord missed Zeed Haynes twice, Allen Jr. took a screen 28 yards to put the Orange in the red zone. Mccord would then find Trebor Pena the next play on an 11-yard wheel route for the touchdown with 12:21 left in the first quarter.
Tech responded on their second drive of the game. Linebacker Derek McDonald nearly sacked Haynes King, but the Georgia Tech quarterback would go on to break free for a 21-yard scramble to score Tech’s first touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
Pena, who missed most of last season due to injury, now leads all Orange receivers with 12 catches for 166 yards and five touchdowns this season. After six receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns last week, he was back for more against Georgia Tech.
The Orange would come back, marching down the field again. On third and 15, McCord hit Pena for a 32-yard laser. Pena would also close the drive for the Orange, scoring from 11 yards out again to put Syracuse up 14-7.
“It makes my job a lot easier when you look across the field and there’s mismatches everywhere,” McCord said.
Tech would again answer with a score of their own on a 26-yard QB run to the left from King.
At the half, the Orange led 21-14. Both teams would go scoreless until mid-way through the third quarter when Brady Denaburg was successful on his second field goal attempt of the game from 33 yards, pushing the Orange lead to 10, 24-14.
In the 4th quarter, McCord reached the 350-yard mark, making him the only second quarterback in SU history with consecutive games of 350 yards. Eric Dungey was the first.
McCord would find Oronde Gadsden II on the same drive for a 17-yard score, pushing the lead to 17, 31-14 with 8:39 left to play.
The Orange thought they had the game in the bag after the score but Georgia Tech would not quit. With 5:08 left to play, King hit Chase Lane for a four-yard touchdown. Tech then recovered the onside kick.
“Some guys are ball guys, and some guys are blockers,” coach Brown said. “That’s on me.”
Striking again with a 15-yard run from Jamal Haynes, Tech cut the lead to three, 31-28, with 2:31 left to play.
“At the end of the game, there’s certain things that you want to do; we weren’t playing to stop the run,” Brown said. “We were playing to keep the quarterback in the pocket.”
McCord and Allen ensured Tech would not get the ball back. McCord hit Gadsden on a critical third and 10. Then, Allen rushed for 24 yards and slid on a play where he could have scored to kill the clock. Allen’s heads-up physical run ensured that Georgia Tech would have to burn the last of its timeouts shortly after the game ended.
“You see, when the fourth quarter came, who we gave the ball to. That’s our guy, the leader of our football game,” Brown said.
is the Sports Lead Producer for The NewsHouse.
is a photographer for The NewsHouse.