Syracuse football remains unbeaten with a last-second, 32-29 win vs. Purdue

Syracuse, N.Y. — When Syracuse football’s offensive stars, Garrett Shrader and Sean Tucker, were stifled Saturday, the Orange needed a supernova to propel it to a comeback win.

It was Oronde Gadsden II who exploded into the big-play generator.

With just 7 seconds left in the game, Gadsden was Shrader’s target down the left side of the field. The quarterback heaved the ball up and toward the front left corner of the end zone, where Gadsden caught it on the move while in coverage.

Syracuse (3-0, 1-0 ACC) scraped out a 32-29 win over Purdue in dramatic fashion on Saturday afternoon in the JMA Wireless Dome to remain unbeaten.

All four of SU’s touchdowns came in the final 18 minutes of play – two in the hands of Gadsden, one by Isaiah Jones and the fourth on a pick-six by defensive lineman Caleb Okechukwu.

The Orange finished the game with 306 total yards of offense, over half of which came in the second half. While Shrader didn’t look anywhere as good as he did in SU’s first two games, the QB finished with three touchdowns and 181 yards on 13 completions.

Syracuse looked unrecognizable on both sides of the ball, but especially offense, for most of the game. Its first touchdown was just as much the product of two bad Purdue penalties as it was of Shrader and Jones, who caught a 3-yard pass for the score.

Syracuse had two turnovers called back in the first half. The first was an interception on Shrader’s first pass returning to the game after being shaken up in the second quarter and leaving the field briefly.

Shrader launched the ball off a flea flicker downfield to Damien Alford, who was in double coverage. It was picked off by Purdue defensive back Reese Taylor, who then had a lengthy return until the play was whistled dead due to the flag.

The second turnover called back was also at the hands of Shrader, when an incomplete pass was at first ruled a fumble by the QB.

Both could’ve been momentum shifting plays but ended up being insignificant in the outcome of the game.

That same premise applied to Syracuse blocking Purdue’s only extra-point attempt of the first half. While Jason Simmons’ return got the Dome on its feet for about 10 seconds, he couldn’t make it into end zone, making the effort null.

The momentum overall in the game felt off, with neither team able to really capitalize on its successes early. Purdue’s lone first-half touchdown came on a mistake by the SU defense that left a wide open gap for Devin Mackobee to punch in a 15-yard score.

That was, at least, until the fourth quarter, when Gadsden stepped up in the way SU coach Dino Babers has been looking for to re-energize both the Syracuse offense and the fans in the Dome.

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