Syracuse football falls to Pittsburgh on the road
Syracuse football falls to Pittsburgh
One week after a near upset over Clemson on the road, Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh 44-37 in overtime at Heinz Field on Saturday afternoon.
After starting the game with two touchdown drives, the Orange’s momentum halted following a two-play, 75-yard Pitt drive capped off by a 69-yard touchdown run by Panthers running back Qadree Ollison. Following the momentum shift, the Panthers (3-3) stripped Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey and returned the fumble 35 yards for a touchdown to even the game at 14.
In a back-and-forth game that saw Pitt lead 20-17 at halftime, the Orange (4-2) failed to immediately respond following a Panther touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. But the momentum then shifted again in Syracuse’s favor. The Orange ended up outscoring the Panthers 14-7 in the third quarter, forcing three straight punts along the way. SU then recovered a fumble to start the fourth quarter.
After converting on only one first down following the fumble, the Orange made a field goal to go up 34-27 with 11 minutes remaining in the game. The Panthers responded with a touchdown of their own from senior running back Darrin Hall.
Syracuse responded by stringing together one of their few extended possessions, a seven-play drive highlighted by a 42-yard pass from Dungey to Jamal Custis. The drive was capped off by a 54-yard field goal from redshirt-freshman place kicker Andre Szmyt. Szmyt went three for three on field goals and four for four on extra points, finishing with 13 total points in the game.
Pittsburgh would not go away. The Panthers strung together a 13-play, 48-yard drive concluding with a 45-yard field goal from Alex Kessman. Kessman had a game of his own, with field goals from 55 and 54 yards to counter Szmyt.
The two teams headed into overtime locked at 37, and Pittsburgh scored on its first possession thanks to another touchdown run from Hall.
In an effort to match the Panther score with one of his own, Dungey took a shot to the end zone on the first play of overtime and was intercepted by Pitt defensive back Therran Coleman to end the game.
The Orange now own a 1-2 ACC record going into a bye week.
Head coach Dino Babers now looks to shift the Orange’s focus to a North Carolina team that has struggled all season and heads into the game with a 1-3 record. The one common opponent between the two schools is Pitt, and the Tar Heels defeated the Panthers 38-35 in Chapel Hill.
The teams will meet Oct. 20 in the Carrier Dome.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
