Syracuse Football lost a game they should have won and it feels to me that we should be pretty well accustomed to this by now. I mean losing games isn’t new, but more specifically, losing them in a dumb way. So, I’m a bit confused by the “burn it down” responses which continued over the weekend.
The Orange played a sloppy, sloppy game as they lost 21-18 to California. It’s the type of loss a team like Syracuse can’t afford to give away and they did….but some of the comments act like this was similar
to watching teams absolutely dominating the Orange like we’ve seen far too often the last decade.
That’s not what happened on Saturday though:
- Syracuse out-gained Cal 437-249
- They won the time of possession 34:06 to 25:50
- Cal was 3 for 13 on 3rd down conversions, Syracuse was 7 for 17
- Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele was held to 182 yards passing, the first time he’s been under 200 yards in his 15 game career.
- The defense held Cal to a 2.6 yards per carry average running the ball
This was a game that Syracuse controlled. The difference was execution for the Orange. Again, plenty to be mad about and complain about here. I get the immediate in-game and post-game frustrations as it’s a game you can’t give away by doing all of this:
- A missed 31-yard field goal
- An interception with the Orange in field goal range
- The penalties negating Demetres Samuel’s punt-return TD
- The penalty negating Davien Kerr’s punt-return which would have given Syracuse a FG attempt on the final play before halftime
- The call to go for 2 after taking a 12-7 lead
- The game winning interception return came on a 3rd and long with 5 minutes to play
Sloppier than steaks at Truffoni’s for sure……but was the performance worthy of the reactions continuing yesterday? Calling for coaches to be fired is always going to happen, but now we’ve also got lots of calls to bench Angeli (different story if he’s hurt). People legitimately suggesting the program should drop to FCS level to put money into basketball (giving up millions in revenue doesn’t help anyone).
Is it that game alone or is it more the cumulative effect of Orange fans being beaten down for the better part of 25 years? Fans have struggled to adapt to the current landscape more than former Syracuse athletic staff members. This isn’t a program brimming with cash that can buy their way out of mistakes (just ask Ohio State fans if paying top dollar gets you away from frustrating losses).
We’re going to get these WTF losses, you just have to hope you can overcome them by scrapping out some “How did we” wins….you know the way that Syracuse has done in their last two 10-win seasons.
