Syracuse Drops Fifth Straight Game to End the Season, Loses 28-7 to Boston College

Story and photos by Julia Morris

Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Boston College jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 12 seconds into the game against  Syracuse and never looked back, defeating the Orange by a score of 28-7 Saturday in both teams’ regular season finale.  The Eagles, who were coming off a close loss to defending national champion Florida State, snapped a two-game losing streak in front of their home crowd of 30,267 on senior day at Alumni Stadium.  The Orange, on the other hand, ended its season with its fifth consecutive loss.

The Eagles wasted no time getting on the board first. Sophomore running back Myles Willis returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for an Eagles’ touchdown.

But both offensives went stagnant for some time after that.  The Orange (3-9) and the Eagles (7-5) had several three and outs throughout the first quarter, with the Eagles only gaining 23 offensive yards and the Orange totaling 61.

“For the most part I was pleased with how our defense played today,” Syracuse Head Coach Scott Shafer said.

While Syracuse’s offense had a slow start, the Orange did even the score with 2:48 left in the first quarter.  After a six play, 43-yard drive, quarterback AJ Long ran the ball four yards for a touchdown to tie the game at seven.  

 

“We wanted to establish a running game, that’s one thing we preached all week,” Long said.  “We tried to do it early and were pretty successful with it.”

However, that success was short lived – the Orange touchdown would be the team’s first and only touchdown of the game.  Overall, Syracuse totaled only 128 offensive yards.

As the quarter was coming to an end, a fight erupted between the two teams on the field.  Syracuse defensive end Ron Thompson forced a BC fumble and the Orange recovered, taking over at the Eagles’ 44-yard line.  On the first play following the fumble, Prince Tyson-Gulley ran the ball for a loss of 10 yards.  After the play ended, a scuffle broke out.  Syracuse’s entire bench made its way on to the field while BC’s began to make its way across but was stopped by the officials.  Following the play, Syracuse’s Ryan Sloan was ejected from the game. Orange guard Rob Trudo was also whistled for a penalty following the skirmish.

“I don’t know why I got flagged for it to be honest,” Trudo said.  “Nick Robinson got their defensive end pretty good and their linebacker didn’t like that too much.”

Despite the confrontation, the rest of the game continued without further issues.

Eagles take halftime lead

As the half was winding down, the Eagles scored with just 1:10 left in the second quarter to put them ahead 14-7.  Led by quarterback Tyler Murphy, BC put together a four-play, 55-yard drive in less than two minutes.  The drive ended when Murphy threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Sherman Alston. A holding penalty against Syracuse on the previous play gave the Eagles new life after the Orange seemed to have stopped the drive.

Syracuse struggled offensively in the second quarter and failed to convert on any of its three 3^rd down opportunities.  The Orange finished the half with nine total passing yards. 

“It’s difficult to win games when you’re struggling as much as we have on offense,” Shafer said.

Orange offense sputters

The offensive struggle continued into the second half.  On the Orange’s first drive of the third quarter, Long was picked off by BC’s Mike Strizak to set up the Eagles on the Syracuse 30-yard line. 

“Next to Clemson, this is probably my worst game,” Long said.  “Didn’t throw the ball well, didn’t make good reads, had a lot of mental errors.”

Following the Eagles’ interception, Murphy started off the drive with an 18-yard run.  Murphy totaled 20 rushing yards on the day giving him 1,079 for the season - setting the ACC single-season rushing yard record by a quarterback.  The Eagles scored following a 7-yard run up the middle by freshman running back Jon Hilliman, making the lead 21-7.

BC wraps it up 

In the fourth quarter, Boston College scored again while holding the Orange scoreless for the third consecutive period.  Murphy completed a 15-yard pass to  freshman Charlie Callinan to set up the Eagles on Syracuse’s 44-yard line.  On the next play, former Baldwinsville High School star Tyler Rouse pushed through several tackle attempts and ran the ball 42 yards into the end zone to give BC a 28-7 lead. 

“Disappointing when we gave up the big one there at the end when it was kind of over,” Shafer said.  “Hats off to Tyler Rouse, anytime a Central New York kid has success you’re happy for him, unfortunately it was against us today.”

Offensive difficulties continued for Syracuse up until the final minutes of the game.  Syracuse quarterback Austin Wilson replaced AJ Long with 3:29 left in the fourth quarter.  The redshirt freshman completed a pass on his first play but threw an interception on the following one.  BC senior Sean Duggan picked off Wilson and returned the ball 15 yards to the Syracuse nine-yard line.  While BC couldn’t score as time was winding down, the damage was done.   The Eagles won by a final score of 28-7.

Syracuse Reflects on the End of the Season

Coming off a season in which it won the Texas Bowl, Syracuse will not be bowl eligible this year 

having finished the season with only three wins.

“Very difficult season for us, we had a lot of uncontrollable moments, a lot of things that weren’t easy for our kids and our coaches to be honest,” Shafer said.  “You can’t control when you have a lot of injuries and things go wrong, you learn a lot about yourselves.  The thing I’m most proud of with this team is they’ve stayed a tight knit group of young men who will appreciate each other for the rest of their lives.”

Freshman quarterback AJ Long echoed Shafer’s sentiments, saying that the relationships he built with teammates this year made it a positive one for him.

“It was a poor season football-wise but the relationships I’ve built this is probably my favorite year of football I’ve played,” Long said.  “I can walk away from this saying I have 120 other brothers.”

Seniors Sean Hickey and Cameron Lynch also spoke about how much they will miss their teammates next year.

“I’ve seen so many different faces come through this program that have impacted me in a positive way,” Hickey said.

“It’s really about the guys that are with you,” Lynch said. “Tackles and sacks, those things come and go.  It’s the guys you build this bond with - that’s what it’s all about.”

With the season now over, the Orange will look ahead to next year.  Shafer said recruiting for next season will start on Monday.

“The main priority is to go out there and keep these kids,” Shafer said.  “We have a lot of good committed football players, good people too.  I’m excited about this group.”