Syracuse Secures Comeback Over Top 25 SMU

Halloween began with a cross-country trip for the one who is writing this story to you.

Broadcasting "Wake Up Call with Dan Tortora" live from The Big West Conference Fall Meetings while accumulating content to be released over the coming weeks, I found myself having to take the red-eye option that brought me from Ontario, California, to Seattle, Washington, to New York, New York, and over to Syracuse, New York, with over an hour to spare to get to the Dome.

Inside this final day of October feature in Central New York, the Syracuse Orange were looking for their second win in a row in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after ending their drought without a conference win at 12 games when they defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels on the road last week, 31-30 in overtime. Their record at entry into this game was 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the ACC.

The SMU Mustangs (6-1) came in in a different spot as a top-two team in the ACC in the conference's standings, with a conference record of 4-1, behind only the Miami Hurricanes (5-0). They were ranked 19th in the nation in the AP Poll and 16th in the Coaches' Poll.

SMU's first drive went four plays with a first down gained on their first play but not on 3rd-&-7 with Syracuse providing good coverage of quarterback Kevin Jennings' options while pressuring Jennings, ultimately forcing a punt.

On Syracuse's first drive of the day, the Orange offense gained two first downs and the drive concluded with fifth-year quarterback Steve Angeli looking around at options, seeing the Mustangs' defense leave the middle of the field wide open, and deciding to take off, keeping his balance with the ball low to the ground, and speeding into the end zone for a 26-yard keeper. This rushing touchdown was Angeli's first of the season and it gave Syracuse a 7-0 lead at the 10:04 mark.

SMU would gain two first downs on their second drive and would find their way into the Syracuse redzone.

However, Orange senior linebacker Chris D'Appolonia would chase down Jennings to prevent a quarterback-keeping touchdown, followed by defensive ends combining to sack Jennings for a loss of 17 yards, with the duo being senior Keyshawn Johnson and fifth-year Tunmise Adeleye who moved the Mustangs out of the red zone. This would lead to SMU attempting a 40-yard field goal, which fifth-year kicker Brendan Baird made to bring the score to 7-3 with 6:10 left on the first-quarter clock.

Syracuse's second drive would end far different than their first, with the Orange punting the ball away after running three plays and amounting no first downs.

The Mustangs would run 12 plays on their third drive of the game and take 4:38 off of the game clock (4:49 to 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter), with Jennings throwing a dart on the run to senior wide receiver Jalen Hale for a nine-yard score that gave SMU their first lead of the day, 10-7.

Syracuse Offensive Coordinator Jeff Nixon trusted in the run on the next drive, running the ball eight times to three pass plays. But at the SMU five-yard line, Angeli would be sacked by senior defensive tackle Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder and senior defensive end Jahkai Lang for a six-yard loss, which rolled the Orange backward to the Mustangs' 11 and brought up fourth down.

Junior kicker Tripp Woody would attempt a 29-yard field goal, but before he got the kick off, the whistle blew.

Then, the officiating crew stated their was no foul on the play, picking up the flag, which gave Woody another shot, which he made to tie the game at 10-10 at the 9:08 mark of the second quarter.

Hale, who caught the first-quarter touchdown for SMU, would fumble after a catch on the third play of SMU's fourth drive. The ball was recovered by Syracuse junior defensive back Davien Kerr who got the ball to the SMU 22-yard line after Hale fumbled on the 38-yard line.

Woody would get another opportunity, this time from 25 yards away, and he would send this one through as well, giving the lead back to the Orange at 13-10 with 6:39 remaining in the first half.

On 2nd-&-8 from his own 35 on his team's fifth drive of the day, Jennings would send the ball out to sophomore wide receiver Jalen Cooper who switched fields and got the Mustangs into the Orange redzone... but the officials would flag SMU for an ineligible receiver downfield, negating the massive gain and moving SMU back five yards to their own 30.

The very next attempt by Jennings would be thwarted by Keyshawn Johnson and fifth-year linebacker Gary Bryant, III, who sacked Jennings for a 17-yard loss back to their own 13-yard line.

Two plays later, the Mustangs would punt the ball away for the second time in the game.

Nixon trusted in the run once again, running the ball seven times to just two pass attempts on Syracuse's fifth drive.

Going for it on 4th-&-1 with under 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Orange Head Coach Fran Brown's trust in the offense would pay off as senior running back Ahmad Miller carried the payload over the threshold for a one-yard score to give Syracuse a 20-10 lead with 22 seconds before half.

Baird would attempt a 57-yard field goal on SMU's sixth possession that fell to the ground outside of the open arms of the goalposts.

However, the Mustangs would get one more opportunity to score before halftime, thanks to an offsides penalty on the Orange.

Jennings eluded defenders, planted, and threw the ball downfield into traffic, and with no SMU player coming up with the ball on this first-half heave, the score remained 20-10 Orange heading into the locker room, with the Orange receiving the ball after the break.

7-for-12 for 78 yards. Each of these seven passes were caught by different players.

Miller had 14 carries for 49 yards and one rushing touchdown.

Keyshawn Johnson assisted on two sacks and Bryant and Adeleye each assisted on one sack in the opening half.

Jennings went 15-for-19 (78.9%) for 184 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions in the first half.

Junior wide receiver Yannick Smith led all SMU receivers in the first half with 62 yards, coming on three catches.

Hale had the lone receiving touchdown and overall touchdown for the Mustangs in the first half.

Freshman running back Christian Rhodes had 19 yards and senior running back Kendrick Raphael had 18 yards total ahead of halftime.

Alcorn-Crowder and Lang assisted one another on the lone sack by SMU in the first 30 minutes of play.

Syracuse would begin the second half with a punt, sending the ball away after just three plays.

The Mustangs would have a better showing at the start of the second half, going down the field with 10 plays with the final of those being a touchdown pass from Jennings to senior wide receiver Yamir Knight who had separation from his defender and was waiting for the ball, welcoming it for a 14-yard score that brought the game to 20-17 Orange at the 8:52 mark of the third quarter.

Syracuse would run five plays and punt the ball away for the second-straight possession in the second half.

Both teams would punt on their next drives, with the latter punt coming from the Orange after running up the middle on three-straight plays before sending the ball back to the Mustangs.

Knight would return Syracuse's third punt of the second half to right around the Syracuse 10-yard line after catching the ball inside his own 30, but a holding penalty would negate this return, placing SMU at their own 22 instead of inside of Syracuse's redzone.

This drive ended in another punt by the Mustangs, placing the Orange at their own eight-yard line at the 13:21 mark of the fourth quarter.

Syracuse would have a huge chunk of yards negated on this ensuing drive, with redshirt-freshman wide receiver Calvin Russell, III, getting the Orange out of trouble from deep in their own territory to inside the SMU 30-yard line, but then seeing the play called back due to a holding penalty.

On the play that followed this penalty, Angeli would get flagged for intentional grounding while throwing from his own end zone, resulting in a safety that made it 20-19 Syracuse with 12:07 remaining and the Orange punting the ball back to the Mustangs.

SMU made the most of getting the ball back after already obtaining two points from the safety, as they went nine plays with the ninth being a rush by Raphael for a 28-yard touchdown. Ahead 25-20, Mustangs' Head Coach Rhett Lashlee elected to go for two, with Jennings going left and then throwing out right to junior running back Derrick McFall for a wide-open conversion that made it 27-20 Mustangs with 9:04 remaining.

On the next drive for the Orange, Angeli had back-to-back passes deflected at the line of scrimmage. However, right after the deflections, the Mustangs would be flagged for pass interference, bringing Syracuse from 3rd-&-10 to 1st-&-10 and getting the ball out of their side and onto the SMU 47-yard line.

Angeli would air out to sixth-year wide receiver Umari Hatcher for a 19-yard gain that placed the Orange inside the Mustangs' redzone, at their nine-yard line, but the Orange failed to move the ball more than one yard on the next three plays, leading to a 26-yard field goal by Woody that made it 27-23 Mustangs with 5:26 to go in the game.

With under five minutes to play, Adeleye would sack Jennings for a six-yard loss, followed by Jennings sending the ball downfield to fifth-year tight end Theo Melin Ohrstrom who got his hands on it but did not come down with the ball, leading to a punt by SMU on a three-and-out.

With 1:57 remaining, Syracuse had the ball on the SMU 42-yard line on 3rd-&-4.

Junior running back Ju'Juan Johnson would gain three yards on the ground and then Syracuse took advantage of SMU thinking they would run and, instead, Angeli passed the ball out to senior tight end David Clement on 4th-&-1 for a seven-yard gain.

Angeli would complete back-to-back passes for 15 yards apiece first to Russell and then to sophomore tight end Daunte Bacheyie to get to the SMU two-yard line.

Then, just as before, the Orange would run a play for Ju'Juan Johnson on the ground and then get the defense to bite on the thought of them running, with Angeli going back to a pass to a tight end, this time to senior Noah Meyers.

Woody would connect on the extra point to give Syracuse a 30-27 lead with 18 seconds to go in the game.

On the third play of their final drive, SMU would lose the ball when senior tight end Randy Pittman, Jr., fumbled and the game would end in the hands of the Orange, courtesy of freshman cornerback Chase Geter.

After not winning an ACC game in 12-straight contests, Syracuse has now won back-to-back ACC games as they improve to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the ACC, handing SMU their second loss of the season, moving SMU to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

So on a week that began with me seeing UCF Knights' fans storm the field when they defeated a Top 25-ranked BYU Cougars' squad (ranked 2nd), that week ends with me seeing another storming of the field, this time by Orange fans after Syracuse took down a Top 25-ranked foe in SMU (19th in the AP and 16th in the Coaches' Poll).