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Saturday’s contest against Miami was destined to be a difficult game for Syracuse’s defense.

Throughout the season, the Hurricanes have proven to score at any turn. Miami entered first in the nation in total yards with 541.5 per game and scoring offense at 44.7 points. Quarterback Cam Ward has been lethal since transferring in, elevating to a consensus top NFL Draft pick.

His success continued early against Syracuse, helping Miami to three scores on its first three drives, notching 153 yards on 75% passing and two touchdowns. It looked like Ward’s domination would be far too much to handle.

Ward and the Hurricanes offense got their fair share of production, totaling 503 yards and five touchdowns. But as the game progressed, SU’s defense stepped up to the challenge. Syracuse (9-3, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) forced a key turnover and stymied Ward just enough to take down No. 8 Miami (10-2, 6-2 ACC) 42-38 in comeback fashion.

“There’s only so much that you’ll be able to do to stop an offense like that because they’re good in all areas on a football field,” SU head coach Fran Brown said postgame. “We were able to take some possession from those guys and get them to punt the ball a few times. And I think that helped.”

Despite facing Ward, a Heisman Trophy candidate, SU elected to test him first. It won the coin toss and put its defense on the field. The Orange showed an early look to hinder Ward, flushing him out of the pocket to the right on third down with Caden Brown and Rashard Perry closing in. Twelve yards behind the line of scrimmage, Ward fired an off-balance, on-the-run dime along the right sideline to Jacolby George for a 19-yard gain.

The Hurricanes punched it in with a Mark Fletcher Jr. rush up the middle to finish the opening drive. SU’s secondary continued to get exposed by Ward and his weapons.

Xavier Restrepo, who entered the game with 10 touchdowns and 979 receiving yards on the year, was in the slot. Then there was tight end Elijah Arroyo. The redshirt junior found the end zone five times through 11 games. On the outside, George added an explosive element.

A crossing route to George put Miami across SU’s 30 and a corner hit to Restrepo doubled Miami’s lead. To push its lead to 21, Ward struck through the middle of Syracuse’s zone. He found George twice for huge gains and then Arroyo wide open for six.

Miami’s Cam Ward completed 25-of-36 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns in its 42-38 loss to Syracuse. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer

The game couldn’t have started worse for the Orange’s defense. Three drives, three touchdowns. Trailing by 21, the defensive unit reconvened and adjusted.

“It was just go back to what we know, go back to the same skills and stuff that we’re taught in practice,” Syracuse safety Devin Grant said. “We know what type of defense we could be. And it was let’s lock in really. It was come on, let’s play together. Let’s calm it down.”

SU then bunkered down the rest of the half, inhibiting the run while pressuring Ward. Syracuse forced two punts to close the half, as its offense cut the deficit to seven.

“We just want to rely on all that hard work that we put in in the off-season starting from January,” SU linebacker Marlow Wax described as the halftime message. “Starting from all the time that we put in behind the closed doors. We had to just come together and remember that.”

As Syracuse’s offense tied the game to start the second half, Ward got back to work and split through the middle of the field once again. Restrepo and Arroyo continuously found seams in between the hash marks. Additionally, Ward put the ball on the ground himself for a 17-yard gain.

The Hurricanes retook the lead but the Orange matched. Ward looked to retake the lead, but for the first time all game, SU got to Ward. On a second-and-17, Syracuse rushed four. Edge rusher Fadil Diggs was one-on-one with 6-foot-9 left tackle Markel Bell. Diggs simply speed-rushed him, beating Bell around the edge and driving Ward into the ground for an eight-yard loss.

Now in a third-and-25, Ward was pushed out of the pocket to his right by linebacker Justin Barron, throwing the ball out of bounds just before another sack. Its two best pressures of the day added to SU’s momentum. Syracuse freshman running back Yasin Willis, however, fumbled on the next drive, killing a chance at taking its first lead.

As Miami drove downfield, the Orange’s defense made its biggest play of the season. Ward hit Restrepo on a quick screen, initially moving the sticks. Restrepo was first tripped up by Wax and Grant punched the ball out before Restrepo went down. The ball bounced off the turf and directly into Grant’s hands, who took the scoop and score back for a 56-yard touchdown. The recovery and touchdown were the perfect answer to push SU to the finish line.

“All we kept talking about was if we get takeaways, we gonna win this game,” Wax said. “We saw their defense get a takeaway so it’s like ‘Oh, we got to get one. We got to match them.’ And we just did that in a better way by scoring off of it.”

Safety Devin Grant notched a 56-yard scoop and score touchdown, giving Syracuse a 35-28 lead in the third quarter. The Buffalo transfer helped spearhead SU’s largest comeback win in program history. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer

Miami’s offense wouldn’t go away and answered with a touchdown to tie the game at 35-35. The Orange scored to take a 42-35 lead with nine minutes to play and needed a defensive stop to secure the victory. Ward used his three weapons to pick through the defense in all facets. Charging down to SU’s seven, the Hurricanes were backed up to the 22 on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

It was bend don’t break for the Orange from there. On third-and-goal from the 15, Syracuse sent five free rushers with Wax spying Ward. The quarterback stepped up and scurried for a few positive yards before Wax tackled him at the 10.

Though trailing by seven, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said postgame he leaned on analytics to make his fourth-and-goal decision. He said taking the points and trusting his defense to get a stop with just under four minutes to play made the most sense.

The Hurricanes kicked the field goal and couldn’t make the final stop. While SU’s defense was punctured throughout the day, it made the key stop when it needed to in the late stages.

Ward had another superb day, totaling 368 total yards and three touchdowns. Restrepo, George and Arroyo each finished with five or more receptions, while George had a season-high 121 yards and Restrepo notched a game-high 148. Still, when it mattered most, the Orange made the key plays to capture a program-altering win.

“Do your job but have fun while you’re doing your job,” Wax said. “Just go out there and play together and remember that winning this game is gonna be everything. Winning this game is gonna be history and changing the program.”

Published on December 1, 2024 at 1:44 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky