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Syracuse Beats North Carolina in an Overtime Thriller

Cuse.com

After dropping two straight games on the road, the Orange returned to the Dome to play the North Carolina Tar Heels. Syracuse continued to use the Dome as a home-field advantage and beat UNC in dramatic fashion.

  

This 40-37 overtime win was definitely not the best performance for Syracuse Football. From the beginning of the game, Eric Dungey and the offense struggled to produce points. It took them until late in the second quarter to finally put points on the board. The offensive woes continued throuhout the game and into the final minutes of the fourth quarter, where the Orange trailed 27-20. The lack of production from Dungey, drove Coach Dino Babers to bring in the backup quarterback, Tommy Devito. Immediately, Devito proved that he was the spark this team needed after completing a 50-yard pass to Jamal Custis on his first throw. Later in the quarter, Devito played showed that he was ready for high-pressure situations and threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to tie the game with two minutes left in regulation. Tommy put this team on his back and throw the game-winning touchdown to Ravian Pierce in double overtime. Finishing with 181 yards and three touchdowns, Devito showed that he has what it takes to lead this team after the Dungey era ends.

 

On the other side of the ball, the defense allowed 500 yards. Despite this meager performance, the defense came up with key stops. One of those stops came after a missed touchdown opportunity by the offense. With a little over two minutes remaining in the game and the defense needed to get a stop to put the ball back into Tommy Devito and the offense’s hand. The team could not allow a first down or the Tar Heels would be able to use the running game to run out the clock. The defense came up huge and forced a punt that led to the game-tying touchdown. The defensive standout for this game was linebacker, Ryan Guthrie who recorded 12 total tackles with one for an 11-yard loss. He also came up with a fumble recovery that changed the momentum at that point in the game

Even the special team, who is among one of the best in the country, underperformed in this game. Early in the game, mid-season All-American, Andre Szmyt missed a 45-yard field goal. Before this game, Andre was 16 for 17 on field goal attempts, so this miss is very rare for the freshman. Lucky for the Orange that was the only kick he missed all afternoon, but it was still unusually for the consistent kicker. The team also allowed a punt to be returned back for a touchdown which contributed to North Carolina’s 17 point third quarter. This was the first time this season, the team has allowed a punt return for a touchdown.

The next game against North Carolina State. NC State is coming off a 41-7 loss to Clemson for their first loss this season. Syracuse looks to remain undefeated at home next week against the Wolfpack.