SU Football has Guardian Angeli, beats UNC in overtime

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., — 350 days.

That’s how long Steve Angeli waited to return as Syracuse’s starting quarterback after his season-ending achilles injury last year. But when he did, he threw five interceptions in a three-game span. The Orange was 1-2 and Angeli was sidelined again.

Saturday, 37 days and a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection after his last appearance, Angeli started again. With the Orange staring down a program-record 12-game conference losing streak, Angeli turned in his best game of the year. He piloted a come-from-behind effort and hoisted Syracuse (3-4, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a 31-30 overtime win over North Carolina (4-3, 2-2 ACC) at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.

“I feel kind of like the old me, Angeli said. “I can run, I can make plays. I just feel like myself again.”

But it didn’t click right away for Syracuse. Early on, it looked like more of the same.

North Carolina scored on its first two possessions in a dominant first quarter. Tar Heels quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. found wide receiver Jordan Shipp for a five-yard score on the game’s opening drive, then — after a Syracuse punt — marched his team down the field for a 27-yard field goal.

North Carolina had the ball for more than 10 of the game’s first 15 minutes.

In the second, Angeli had the answer. He responded by guiding the Orange on a 16-play, 88-yard scoring drive, capped by running back Ahmad Miller’s two-yard touchdown run. Miller led SU’s backfield with 30 carries for 125 yards for the game.

When UNC regained a six-point lead after another field goal, Angeli had the answer again. With barely two minutes left in the first half, he led SU down the field for a buzzer-beating field goal, and the Orange were within three points at halftime.

Out of the break, the Syracuse offense sputtered. A punt on the first drive of the second half was answered quickly, when UNC running back Demon June scurried home from 25 yards out, and UNC took a 10 point lead again. 

Syracuse didn’t score in the third quarter. When the frame ended, Angeli had fewer than 100 passing yards to his name.

Early in the fourth, though, he changed the game on one play.

After a Davien Kerr blitz forced Edwards into a third-down incompletion, North Carolina punted. Angeli and the Syracuse offense regained possession at their own 24-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Angeli collected a shotgun snap, pump-faked, and uncorked a deep pass along the left sideline for Umari Hatcher.

Hatcher — who exploded for a career-high 224 receiving yards and two touchdowns last week against Louisville — had been quiet to that point. UNC spent most of the night double-teaming him, and he’d mustered three catches through three quarters.

This time, with a defensive back draped on him, Hatcher rose to make the downfield catch, then shed his matchup and bolted for the end zone. The 76-yard touchdown — the longest catch of Hatcher’s five-year SU career — gave the Orange life. They somehow trailed by three again.

“I think that play gave the guys a little bit more hope,” Brown said postgame. “It was like, oh, yeah, we’re going to do this.”

North Carolina responded with a field goal. Their lead was six with under eight minutes left. Once again, Angeli had the answer.

With time dwindling, the Orange embarked on an 11-play, 75-yard drive. Angeli found wide receiver Calvin Russell III three times for 46 of those yards. Miller tied the game after a three-yard touchdown run. The Orange were an extra point from taking the lead with 1:54 to go.

But kicker Shay Barker, who entered the game 11-for-17 on kicks since he replaced Tripp Woody, missed the go-ahead extra point, his third missed PAT of the year. 

Neither offense scored again in regulation. Edwards hit June for a three-yard touchdown and UNC took the lead in overtime, 30-23. The feeling of another opportunity by the wayside thanks to Syracuse’s kicking game seemed to hang over the Orange sideline as overtime began. 

Angeli had the answer again.

Facing third-and-11, he connected with Russell for 16 yards, pushing the Orange to the UNC 10-yard line. Three plays later, the Orange faced fourth-and-goal from the UNC four-yard line with the game on the line. They connected again, this time for a touchdown that drew SU within one.

On the sideline, Brown didn’t hesitate.

“I was sitting there to myself like, I’m going to just go for two,” Brown said. “Might as well just go for two.”

Russell wanted the ball again.

“Give me the ball. Let’s do it,” Russell recalled telling the coaching staff.

Angeli obliged. He found his freshman wideout at the goal line for the game-winning two-point conversion. 

“I was ready to go ballistic, but then I heard the ref say it was under review,” Russell said. “I got a little nervous.”

Officials reviewed the play while Brown and UNC head coach Bill Belichick met at midfield. After a long wait, the call was upheld, and Syracuse sealed its first conference victory in more than a year.

Angeli finished the day 20-of-34 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns. It was his first interception-free outing against an FBS defense since the Clemson game in which he was injured last year. 

After he revealed postgame that inflammation near his surgically-repaired achilles had limited his mobility earlier in the season, he finally felt healthy. And for his coach, it was a long-awaited reward after a month of near misses.

“Losing sucks. It hurts to lose,” Brown said. “People don’t understand it if you’re not in it. It hurts really, really bad, especially when you’re as close as we’ve been.”

Syracuse returns home next Saturday for a Halloween clash with No. 23 SMU. It has a chance to build on its first conference win.

But on this night, the Orange found a way to finish.

And their quarterback finally looks like himself again.