Duke dominates Syracuse Football at home

When Syracuse football last took the field inside the JMA Wireless Dome prior to Saturday, the Orange defense gave up more than 430 yards of offense to the outmatched Colgate.

Many dismissed the concerning statistic in SU’s 66-24 win, arguing that the defensive backups were responsible for the Raider offense’s success.

But when Syracuse returned to a sold-out Dome Saturday for an ACC matchup with Duke, defense was yet again the problem. And this go around, it cost the Orange big time.

The Blue Devils crushed ‘Cuse with more than 500 yards of total offense, cruising to a 38-3 victory that keeps their perfect record in Syracuse alive. This loss marked the largest margin of defeat during head coach Fran Brown’s tenure at Syracuse. 

“We didn’t play tough football,” Brown said. “That’s not how it’s supposed to look. We have to make sure that we use our shoulder pads and helmet.”

On the other side of the ball, the Syracuse offense that scored 34 points last week at Clemson was nowhere to be seen, mainly due to the absence of Steve Angeli, who had  surgery to repair his torn Achilles on Monday.

Coming into the game, Syracuse redshirt quarterback Rickie Collins had completed just 14 total collegiate passes. The last time he started a football game under center was in high school. 

Collins’ inexperience was evident on Saturday.

After back-to-back completions to wide receiver  Johntay Cook to begin the opening drive, Collins was picked off by Duke’s Caleb Weaver on a bad read. 

In response to Collins’ mistake, Duke quarterback Darian Mensah led an efficient, seven-play, 40-yard drive that ended with the Blue Devils converting a 22-yard field goal. 

After regaining the ball, the Orange fired back. A third down and eleven completion to wide receiver Darril Gill Jr. and a 35-yard rush by running back Yasin Willis, which featured an epic hurdle, got the Orange all the way down to the Duke 6-yard line. 

Yet, offensive inefficiency forced SU to settle for a 29-yard field goal that tied the game. 

From that point on, it was all Blue Devils.

On the following drive, Duke running back Nate Sheppard powered through Syracuse’s defense, taking the ball all the way to the house for a 49-yard rushing score. 

Sheppard had a monster day, totaling 168 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Back-to-back three-and-outs from both teams led to the end of the first quarter, with the visitors up a touchdown. Syracuse’s offense came back onto the field, looking to even up the score. 

After a shaky pass that was nearly picked off, Collins looked to have connected with Cook for a big downfield completion. But after Cook hauled it in, the ball was punched out and recovered by the Blue Devils. 

The play was reviewed for targeting, but that was ultimately dismissed, much to the disapproval of the home crowd. 

Mensah wasted no time after taking over, finding his go-to-guy Cooper Barkate for a 34-yard touchdown. 

The Orange needed to get something going offensively. So on fourth down and one from their own 34-yard line, Brown elected to go for it. Willis helped Brown’s gamble pay off, moving the chains with a 2-yard rush. But after that, it was a comedy of errors, including offensive pass interference and a dropped ball by Collins, that forced the Orange to punt the ball away from deep within their own territory.  

As time ticked down in the first half, the Blue Devils moved the ball downfield. Two fourth down conversions helped the visitors march all the way up to the Syracuse 12-yard line, where Mensah once again connected with Barkate for a score. 

At the end of the first half, Syracuse found itself down 21 points. It’s defense could not seem to stop Duke’s well-rounded attack, while Collins struggled in his first full half of college football.

“We didn’t play complimentary football,” Brown said. “So therefore, he [Ricky Collins] couldn’t really get into a groove.” 

Syracuse did force Duke into a quick three-and-out on the Blue Devils’ first drive of the second half. But that momentum quickly vanished, when Cook fumbled the ball for the second time of the day on SU’s first offensive play of the half.  

Three drives later, Nate Sheppard scored his second touchdown of the afternoon to put the game out of reach. 

Collins and the Syracuse offense showed vague signs of life towards the end of the quarter with a decently strung-together drive downfield, but ultimately failed to convert a fourth-and-nine deep in Blue Devil territory.  

At that point, the Dome began to empty out, as fans accepted Syracuse’s first ACC loss of the season. 

“I would have probably left too,” Brown said. “There’s a certain way that we’re supposed to look while we’re on the football field, and I don’t think today was a good example.”

At the end of day, Collins was outplayed by the quarterback for Duke. Mensah was far more efficient, completing 78% of his passes for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns. Collins may have thrown for 229 yards, but there’s no doubt that it was still a shaky performance from the LSU transfer, who could’ve easily been picked off three or four times instead of just once.

Still, Collins sees Saturday’s game as something to expand upon ahead of next week’s contest against Southern Methodist. 

“We had sparks here and there, but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” Collins said. “Something to build off definitely, we just got to get back to the drawing board and figure it out.”

Things won’t get any easier for the Orange next week, when they fly to Dallas to take on SMU. But as Brown’s squad learned last year in their blowout loss to Pittsburgh, sometimes a game like this is just what a team needs in order to get it together. 

“There’s a lot of blessings in disguise, possibly, in this,” Brown said. “We have backs against the wall. That’s usually when some people are at their best.”