Entering Friday night as 24-point underdogs, Syracuse took down No. 2 Clemson 27-24 at the Carrier Dome.
Clemson never even led in the game, and it was especially stunning to their defense look rather ordinary. The Tigers’ defense has dominated all season; they hadn’t even allowed over 21 points in a game. But they had no answer for the Syracuse offensive attack. Syracuse had 448 yards of total offense, with quarterback Eric Dungey throwing for 278 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, as well as rushing for 62 yards.
On offense, Clemson starting quarterback Kelly Bryant suffered a concussion on a scary play in which he had his head slammed into the turf late in the second quarter. And he didn’t even enter the game at 100% after suffering an ankle injury last week that left his status for Friday night’s game up in the air. Redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper Jr was 10-of-14 for 88 passing yards in relief, but the Clemson offense didn’t look quite like it would with a healthy Bryant.
Either way, the Clemson defense wasn’t good enough, and you can see evidence of that on this Dungey 30-yard play-action touchdown pass to Steve Ishmael to give Syracuse a 24-17 lead in the third quarter:
After Clemson’s Travis Etienne ran for a 52-yard touchdown, Syracuse kicked what would serve as the game-winning field goal with 9:41 left:
Clemson even resorted to trying a fake punt, and, well, that didn’t work:
The play to –for all intents and purposes — secure the win for Syracuse came on this 3rd-and-8 incredible QB draw run from Dungey:
And then the final kneeldown to officially give Syracuse the stunning upset:
A massive, massive win for the Syracuse football program, and a big hit to Clemson’s College Football Playoff hopes. Quite a start to Week 7 in college football.
[ESPN]
