FSU Serves Fourth Loss for Syracuse Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse added on another loss Saturday night to Florida State with an upsetting final score of 38-3. The anticipated game was meaningful to not only the fans but the coaches and players. This was the perfect opportunity to break the team’s 4 game losing streak and send the Seniors off the right way on Senior night. “The performance out there today, you have to put that on me. I take responsibility for that; full responsibility and it was not good enough” Head Coach Dino Babers said. Babers confirmed that Garrett Shrader felt good enough to play during practice, and that was when he made the decision to start him on Saturday.
Babers admitted that as a collective, the guys were not getting the plays necessary to be successful. During the fourth quarter, Babers wanted the offense to just run the ball on the last drive but it was not enough for a touchdown. Finishing 1 for 11 on third downs negatively impacted the Orange and the momentum of the game. Jordan Travis was 21 for 23 leading the offense to many outstanding plays. Travis was fast and he made sure to use his legs when necessary.
Garrett Shrader has been questionable the past few weeks due to a lower body injury during the Notre Dame game. He suited up and persisted in playing even though he was not at his best. Prior to Saturday, Shrader missed the last six quarters and is trying to get back in the motion of things. I could tell during the first drive that he was not at 100 percent. Shrader completed 6 of 16 attempts for 65 yards and no touchdowns during three quarters. A lot of injuries with vital players this season has resulted in the team figuring out how to play the game with the ones they do have. The offense must connect and be on the same page for them to put points on the board. Holding penalties was another issue that prevented them from moving the ball.
“I feel like there were a lot of things personally that I wanted to do tonight to help us win. The penalties hurt us a lot. We just gotta get that cleaned up and fixed going into next week” Sean Tucker said.
Sean Tucker believes that it takes every single player to be successful throughout the game. Tucker had 14 carries for 52 yards, allowing him to surpass Larry Csonka for career rushing. He is currently ranked 4th all-time and is continuing to climb the ranks and go down in history for Syracuse. Even though Tucker was not #PL34SED with his performance; there was a significant increase of yards compared to the previous game. He rushed for 19 yards against Pittsburgh and received for 3.
Mikel Jones is a key player for the defense and played his last home game at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Senior Night was bittersweet, but Jones expressed how much growth he has had since his first game starting in 2019. It has been quite a journey for him up until his last game. Jones mentioned that the defense did not play aggressive enough against Florida State. In addition, they have a lot of players out for injuries. One thing that resonated with me that Jones mentioned was how mistakes happen but you have to push forward.
With not knowing everything that went wrong, Syracuse understands that they must watch their film and put in the work for their upcoming opponent. Three takeaways that I gathered from this weekend was that:
- There were a lot of mistakes on both offense and defense.
- The team needs to work on connection so that they can execute key plays.
- Prepare for the unexpected.
The Orange head to Winston Salem on Saturday November 19, where they will face Wake Forest. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. and we are hopeful that the team can bounce back for their last two regular season games.