HOUSTON — Their legacy is winning, Jay Bromley said, so there was no other way for the seniors to go out.

They weren’t the ones who made the crucial plays at the end — that was a redshirt sophomore and a freshman — but they got the only stat that matters: a win.

“It’s a blessing, man,” running back Jerome Smith said. “We’ve had a really tough team through the years and every year we’ve just come back and keep rebuilding. It’s crazy. We always seem to win these tight games and pull them out.”

With the 21-17 win against Minnesota on Friday at the Texas Bowl in Houston, the senior class claimed its third bowl victory in four years — a feat not accomplished since 1989-92. They left Reliant Stadium with the opportunity for people to view Syracuse in a different light. After one season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Orange is moving in the right direction.

“That was our thing — to turn the program around,” Smith said, a junior who entered college with the senior class and will forego his final collegiate season for the NFL Draft, “and we definitely got the job done. We’re a bunch of small-time guys from different places, and they’ll definitely be better next year and we’re excited for them.”

In their final game, they gave way to the promise for the future. Terrel Hunt’s game-winning touchdown run and Brisly Estime’s 70-yard punt return are the highlights from Friday’s win, but the seniors made it possible.

Smith took the bulk of the carries, even with talented young running backs George Morris II and Devante McFarlane on the roster. Marquis Spruill had a critical sack on the Golden Gophers’ final drive. Bromley had a sack of his own. Macky MacPherson threw the block on Hunt’s touchdown run.

Smith said he still hasn’t grasped that his SU career is over, but it won’t be long before he and his fellow seniors are just memories. People will remember them as the group that got Syracuse back to stable and that will shape the Orange moving forward.

“Coaches can hold them to a higher standard because they’re winning,” Bromley said, “so you have to be a winner. It’s not an option. You have to be a winner.

“The sky’s the limit from here.”

Published on December 28, 2013 at 8:04 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2