Photo by: Charles Wainwright
Sunday Sidebar: Defense Steps Up
9/25/2016 12:23:00 PM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – There has been a lot of talk about Syracuse's offense this season and rightly so. But it was the Orange defense that ultimately sealed yesterday's 31-24 victory against Connecticut at Rentschler Field.
After yielding a combined 107 points in losses to two of college football's better offensive teams in Louisville and USF, the Orange surrendered 24 points against the Huskies. And it wasn't for lack of UConn opportunities. The Huskies ran 91 offensive plays and held the ball for nearly 40 minutes.Â
Safety Daivon Ellison and linebackers Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett all set personal bests with 14 tackles apiece. Franklin in particular was stellar, notching 2.5 tackles for loss and playing a role in two of the game's most pivotal plays.
With the game tied at 17 late in the third quarter, Franklin tipped a Bryant Shirreffs pass into the waiting arms of cornerback Cordell Hudson who returned the ball 22 yards for a touchdown to give Syracuse the lead heading into the final period. Then midway through the fourth quarter and Huskies still down seven, Franklin stopped Shirreffs for a gain of one on fourth-and-goal from the SU 2-yard line. Quarterback Eric Dungey and Co. took over and went on a 99-yard scoring drive on the ensuing series to put the game out of reach.
"Just the way we were playing throughout the day, we had a lot of confidence," Franklin said. "We knew that we wanted the game to be in our hands."
Hudson's interception was the first defensive touchdown for the Orange under coordinator Brian Ward. It also guaranteed that 2016 would be the third year in a row that at least one Syracuse defender recorded a pick-six.
Orange head coach Dino Babers said the effort of the defense and the way the offense fed off it is the type of thing that makes football teams closer.
After yielding a combined 107 points in losses to two of college football's better offensive teams in Louisville and USF, the Orange surrendered 24 points against the Huskies. And it wasn't for lack of UConn opportunities. The Huskies ran 91 offensive plays and held the ball for nearly 40 minutes.Â
Safety Daivon Ellison and linebackers Zaire Franklin and Parris Bennett all set personal bests with 14 tackles apiece. Franklin in particular was stellar, notching 2.5 tackles for loss and playing a role in two of the game's most pivotal plays.
With the game tied at 17 late in the third quarter, Franklin tipped a Bryant Shirreffs pass into the waiting arms of cornerback Cordell Hudson who returned the ball 22 yards for a touchdown to give Syracuse the lead heading into the final period. Then midway through the fourth quarter and Huskies still down seven, Franklin stopped Shirreffs for a gain of one on fourth-and-goal from the SU 2-yard line. Quarterback Eric Dungey and Co. took over and went on a 99-yard scoring drive on the ensuing series to put the game out of reach.
"Just the way we were playing throughout the day, we had a lot of confidence," Franklin said. "We knew that we wanted the game to be in our hands."
Hudson's interception was the first defensive touchdown for the Orange under coordinator Brian Ward. It also guaranteed that 2016 would be the third year in a row that at least one Syracuse defender recorded a pick-six.
Orange head coach Dino Babers said the effort of the defense and the way the offense fed off it is the type of thing that makes football teams closer.
"They have their best player (Shirreffs) with the ball on the 1-yard line tackled by our best player in Zaire Franklin on the 1-yard line. And then we turn around, going 99 yards, converting third downs and ending up with a score with our best player (Dungey) jumping over somebody again for our touchdown.
"That's exciting, and that's the kind of stuff that brings teams together."
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