Tar Heel Trouble: Syracuse football loses to North Carolina 31-6 (Brent Axe recap)

Syracuse, N.Y. —Every football game is filled with missed opportunities.

The scoring chances and momentum swings that evaded the Syracuse University football team in a 31-6 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels to open the 2020 football season are going to linger like a hangnail as the Orange (0-1) get ready to take on Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Sharod Johnson had a touchdown pass slip right throw his fingertips.

Drew Tuazama committed a blindside block to negate a punt return for touchdown by Nykeim Johnson.

Andre Szmyt, the winner of the Lou Groza Award as the best kicker in college football, missed a chip-shot field goal.

After wondering for weeks if COVID-19 would shutdown Syracuse football, we were gifted an ugly football game for three quarters, but one that Syracuse trailed by a score of just 10-6 as the fourth quarter began.

That’s all Syracuse needed was a chance, right? SU head coach Dino Babers even hinted at it in the week leading up to the matchup with the Tar Heels.

“Mathematically, there is a chance,” Babers said on Monday, ‘Dumb and Dumber’, right? You’re telling me I have a chance. So, we’ll see. I think the big thing is our guys are excited about playing a football game and we’re going to do down there and give it our best shot.”

As it turns out, the Syracuse defense gave its best shot but was simply overwhelmed by a lack of support by the Orange offense against UNC.

In the end, the Orange couldn’t even cover the point spread of 22.5 points.

“I think the biggest thing is you win as a team and you lose as a team,” Babers said. “Obviously, you are trying to put everything together. We had a situation in the first quarter where it was fourth and 1. We could have kicked for a field goal right there, made it a 7-6 game, but we knew what kind of game it was going to be at the end. When you are in the red zone and get an opportunity like that, you punch one in you really can get the momentum going early. I thought the defense did a fantastic job.”

The Dark Side

Offensive Display

Stop me if you heard this one before but the Orange offensive line struggled, giving up seven sacks and providing little push for the ground game to open up.

Syracuse needs redshirt junior guard Dakota Davis back ASAP from his undisclosed injury. God bless Chris Elmore and his versatility and willingness to step in when needed, but he’s not a left guard.

The NCAA denying Florida transfer Chris Bleich’s waiver also provided a major blow to an offensive line that constantly has the hood up and is under repair.

Open It Up

Syracuse certainly had its chances on offense against the Tar Heels as covered above, but the overall game plan from new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert was vanilla.

The fact that tight ends Aaron Hackett and Luke Benson were targeted once against the Tar Heels combined is a major head-scratcher.

DeVito needs quick outlets to get the offense moving (especially when he is under duress). Hackett and Benson combined for nine touchdowns last season. Syracuse was 4-of-19 on third down. Where were the targets for Hackett and Benson?

Get those two the football, Dino.

UNC sniffed out every first down run Gilbert called (and SU ran on first down A LOT against the Tar Heels). It’s fair to point out that Syracuse running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard opted out of the 2020 season, changing the dynamic of the ground game.

Jawhar Jordan and Markenzy Pierre totaled just 38 yards on 19 carries.

That combined with the continued struggles of the offensive line signal that Gilbert has more a rebuild on his hands than a simple tweaking of the offense.

The Orange produced just 202 yards on 73 plays against UNC.

Tommy Trouble

DeVito was just 13-of-31 for 112 yards against UNC. He was active in the ground game as well, rushing for 30 yards on 16 carries, but a bulk of those were forced as a result of breakdowns in coverage.

The redshirt junior QB often struggled past his first look and a familiar sight of throwing the ball out of bounds or rolling to the sideline to avoid a big loss were prevalent against the Tar Heels. If the Orange offense continues to stall, opposing teams are going to quickly sniff out when DeVito’s number will get called, as UNC did on a 4th-and-1 play that resulted in a change of possession.

DeVito and his receivers struggled to connect on short and deep passes. DeVito overthrew Taj Harris and Anthony Queeley early in the game. DeVito and Harris read the defense differently twice, leading to incompletions. Even when DeVito found a rhythm, like on the noted well-thrown ball to Johnson in the end zone, his receivers let him down often.

DeVito is clearly a talented quarterback. He also has the deck stacked against him with a patchwork offensive line and a running game that clearly needs work.

Gilbert, Babers and DeVito have to figure out a way to utilize his talents efficiently, even with the flaws on the offense, or the excuses are going to run out and the blame game will only accelerate.

“I thought timing was off, obviously," Babers said. "You had some guys in the end zone that put the ball on the ground. Couple balls were thrown to guys and they just caught it and fell down. There was a bunch of cuts out there. Guys were cutting off the inside foot. No one can cut off the inside foot and stay up. Even the great ones. Once I think we go back and work on these things, not only from an offensive standpoint, but defensively we are going to get a lot better.”

Penalty Problem

Syracuse led the ACC in penalty yards per game (73.9) last season. The Orange committed eight penalties for 60 yards against UNC.

None hurt more than the ill-advised block by Tuazama blowing up the punter on a blindside block to negate a punt return for touchdown. The block was not only illegal, but unnecessary. You have to trust that Nykeim Johnson can run past an opposing team’s punter.

“We have to make sure we shield that block and get off that block, especially when have a returner like Nykeim Johnson who has the speed to finish the thing if you don’t make a mistake,” Babers said.

Mikel Jones was lucky he was not thrown out of the game after what looked to be a clear targeting on UNC QB Sam Howell.

Linebackers Steve Linton and sophomore Geoff Cantin-Arku both jumped offsides on third downs, allowing the Tar Heels to get into the end zone on the first drive of the game.

Some mistakes and sloppy play were expected in a first game of a season with limited practice time in the offseason due to COVID-19, but Syracuse doesn’t have the room for error in its favor to overcome it.

“I don’t know exactly what we have," Babers said. "Now after watching it against other personnel, we’re starting to get an inkling of what we’ve got. It’s probably going to take two more games to figure out who is playing in and out of positions. Somewhere around game four we are going to get this thing rolling.”

The Sunny Side

Defense Did Enough

The Syracuse defense gave up 31 points and 463 total yards.

Normally that would indicate the Orange defense struggled. That was certainly not the case against the Tar Heels.

The Orange 'D, playing its first game under new coordinator Tony White and his aggressive 3-3-5 scheme, did more than enough to keep Syracuse in the hunt for victory, providing two turnovers and allowing North Carolina to score just 10 points over the first three quarters.

Time after time the Orange defense stopped the Tar Heels' offense cold, only to be let down by miscues by the Orange offense.

Josh Black dropped Howell for a key sack and provided pressure throughout the game.

Kingsley Jonathan logged a drive-ending sack in the second half.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Steve Linton pressured Howell multiple times.

Ifeatu Melinfonwu showed why he has a rising reputation among ACC cornerbacks with a solid day in coverage, including knocking a ball loose that enabled Jones to snag an interception.

Freshman corners Stefon Thompson and Garrett Williams held their own with Williams leading the Orange with nine tackles and Thompson right behind him at eight stops.

Andre Cisco, slotted to the new “Rover” position in the 3-3-5, recorded his 13th career interception.

“You mean Cisco who was picked first-team AP All-American but wasn’t on the first ACC team? That Cisco? I guess he’s just OK," Babers said. "Just another guy around the block. Everyone has one of those guys on their team that doesn’t get enough recognition of what they deserve.”

There were some encouraging signs from White’s 3-3-5 scheme, a much needed elixir with the memories of an Orange defense that mostly faltered in 2019, giving up 463 yards per game and over 50 points three times last season.

'We’re going to get better," Babers said. “Those guys are going to get their conditioning. They are going to get fresher and fresher. Take off those (training) camp legs and get ready to play in the ACC. I think they can get better. I think in two, three weeks you are going to see a better defense. As long as we stay healthy. I was really encouraged by what we saw defensively.”

Taj Time

Wide receiver Taj Harris provided the lone bright spot on offense for the Orange, catching five passes for 64 yards.

Harris was targeted the most by DeVito and for good reason. Harris creates separation and has the speed and route-running ability to be a No.1 wide receiver.

Last season Trishton Jackson, now with the Los Angeles Rams, created a grand canyon gap between himself (11 touchdowns) and the rest of the Orange receiver group.

I’d like to see DeVito spread the wealth a little more this season, but Harris has shown he could be the next in line of top targets at SU.

This, That and the Other Thing

• Syracuse’s loss to UNC snapped an opening game winning streak at six. Syracuse had won every season-opener since 2014. With the loss, Dino Babers is now 4-1 in season-openers as SU head coach.
• Syracuse’s all-time record in season-opening games is 84-43-4.
• Dating back to the 2019 season, DeVito has 201 consecutive passing attempts without an interception.
• Babers confirmed that running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard have opted out of the 2020 season while linebacker Tyrell Richards is out due to injury.
• 7 Syracuse football players opted for social justice messages, not their names, on the backs of jerseys for the UNC game.

Tweet of the Game

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