Syracuse falls to Minnesota in the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl
The Orange made their 27th bowl appearance Thursday afternoon when they squared off with the 8-4 Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
After beginning 6-0, Syracuse closed their second half of the season with a 1-5 record, barely escaping Boston College with a victory in the final game of the year. While their bowl eligibility was never in question the second half of the season, the seventh win helped secure a date in the Bronx with Minnesota, a team they have not found much success against in the past, going 2-3 against the Golden Gophers.
This was the second time these two played each other in a bowl game. The Orange grabbed a 21-17 victory in the 2013 Texas Bowl, but this game was all the Golden Gophers.
With no score after one quarter, the Orange started slow, carrying with them their lethargic second half of the season on the offensive side of the ball. On three possessions, Syracuse gathered just 37 total yards on nine plays.
However, three snaps into the second frame, Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim punched in his first touchdown of the game and his 53rd career touchdown as a Golden Gopher.
Later in the second quarter, Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was helped off the field, nursing a lower right leg injury, and would not return.
His replacement? The winningest QB in Golden Gopher history, Tanner Morgan.
The sixth-year play caller was injured in a loss to Illinois and would miss a start the following week, breaking his streak of 45 consecutive starts for the maroon and gold.
Just four plays after checking into the game, Morgan threw a touchdown pass to Daniel Jackson to give Minnesota a two-touchdown lead over scoreless Syracuse with 6:39 to play in the second quarter.
As Garrett Shrader and the Orange offense have done many times before this season, they scored a touchdown on a miraculous late-quarter drive. In just 47 seconds, the Orange ran five plays for 86 yards to the end zone without taking any timeouts.
Two Syracuse field goals sandwiched a Minnesota pick-six, making the score 21-13 with about a minute to go in the third quarter. Then, a 72-yard kickoff return set up a 25-yard touchdown to Jackson, his second of the game. The score read 28-13 in favor of the Golden Gophers with a victory in sight.
Syracuse would make a late push when Garrett Shrader got to the end zone after breaking multiple tackles, cutting the lead to eight, 28-20, but Syracuse’s onside kick was recovered by Minnesota.
With one chance remaining and needing a stop on 4th & 2, defensive back Alijah Clark committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, resulting in a Golden Gophers first down. That was the icing on the cake, as Minnesota took the 28-20 win over Syracuse in the 2022 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
Penalties have been a major issue for this Syracuse team all season, but Thursday night, it cost them what would have been their fourth straight win in a bowl game and closed their 2022 record at 7-6.
“We play an aggressive style,” said Babers. “We play an aggressive style on offense. We play an aggressive style on against defense. I think the thing we need to improve on, there’s no doubt about it, is our special teams and our penalties. Both of those showed up in this game, it showed up in the first game, and it showed up in the last game.”
Syracuse was without three of their key players for the bowl game: Matthew Bergeron, Sean Tucker and Mikel Jones. The effects were apparent from start to finish, with little protection in the pocket and some defensive let downs that Jones could have assisted on.
Linebacker Marlowe Wax played in the game and registered two tackles and a pass break-up, but without his right hand man and captain, Mikel Jones, Wax could not carry all the weight alone. Kadin Bailey, potentially a bright, young star in the making, made five tackles and one sack against the Golden Gophers, having everybody’s eyes on the six-foot-two freshman.
The buck did not stop at the loss, though. Wax and the Orange will have to regroup after this loss and prepare for the offseason.
“Oh, yeah, 100% the loss definitely does hurt, but we have to remember that we did some great things this year,” said Wax. “A lot of people didn’t have us going to a bowl game, so I just- just giving thanks to the team and Coach Babers and all the other coaching staff because we really did come together and do some great things this year.”
Syracuse ends the season 7-6 after losing to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl. With plenty of star power either declaring for the draft or exploring the transfer portal, the Orange will certainly have a new look next season.