Syracuse Triumphs Over No. 23 Georgia Tech 31-28, behind Kyle McCord Career Performance

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Syracuse’s Kyle McCord dazzled, and Fran Brown picked up his first ACC win as the Syracuse Orange beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 31-28 on Saturday.

The Orange had a specific motivation for Saturday’s game following an early-week press conference with Georgia Tech Head Coach Brent Key. When referring to Syracuse, Key’s comments implied that the Orange lacked physicality.

“I took it personal when he talked about (it), it wasn’t about x’s and o’s, it’s about coming up here and being physical,” Coach Brown said. “I took it personal because of what the S means, you know it’s Syracuse, we’ve been physical forever.”

Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Dwight Freeney has his jersey retired at halftime. Freeney is only the seventh player in Syracuse football history to have his jersey retired. Photo credit: Chelsea Reeves.

Syracuse legendary pass rusher Dwight Freeney was in the house Saturday as Syracuse Football retired his iconic number 54. Freeney embodied physicality, and during halftime, had a conversation with senior defensive lineman Fadil Diggs.

Diggs said the NFL Hall of Famer “was just giving me some knowledge as a pass rusher… I learned a lot from him in the span of 10 minutes.” In his second start in the JMA Dome, Diggs recorded seven tackles, including a pair of tackles for a loss.

Fadil Diggs and Justin Baron making a big stop on 3rd-and-7 in the 2nd quarter. Diggs and Baron combined for 13 total tackles. Photo credit: Chelsea Reeves.

The Orange defense held an impressive ground-and-pound Georgia Tech’s offense to just 112 yards on the ground. In their first two games, Georgia Tech averaged 200 yards rushing.

Quarterback Kyle McCord shined against Georgia Tech, throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns while hitting eight different pass catchers.

The Orange offense celebrating with Oronde Gadsden II after his fourth-quarter touchdown. Gadsden had two receiving touchdowns in the win. Photo credit: Chelsea Reeves.

“It makes my job a lot easier. When you look across the field and there’s mismatches everywhere,” McCord said.

Syracuse has a bye week before returning to the JMA Dome against Stanford on Friday, September 20th with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.