The Cavaliers erased a 24 14 deficit with 15 and 19 play scoring drives in the final frame of SU’s 44 38 triple overtime loss on Saturday. After forcing two critical second quarter turnovers, the Orange defense allowed five third down conversions, one on a Franklin face mask, and one fourth down conversion before giving up three touchdowns in overtime.
A unit that was once the backbone of the program has allowed 400 yards of total offense in three straight games and 89 points combined to South Florida and UVA.
“As much as this sucks, lifting prima e dopo http://www.facemaskit.top/ we have to move forward because we have no other choice,” Franklin said. “All our goals are still attainable. At the end of the day, everything we want to do we can still do including win the Atlantic (Division) whether people will believe it or not.”
The lack of experience throughout the defense has created more missed assignments and penalties this season, but tackling has been especially inconsistent in the last two weeks.
The Orange drilled in hard after a 45 24 loss to the Bulls last Saturday, but defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough watched his unit regress in the second half against the Cavaliers.
“That’s what we’ve got to figure out, if guys are getting tired or what it is,” Bullough said. “We just didn’t tackle well in the second half.”
The later the game went, the more the defense wore down.
Senior corner Julian Whigham and freshman safety Kielan Whitner got beat over the top in overtime as UVA quarterback Matt Johns threw a 36 yard scoring strike to Canaan Severin.
Then, after SU kicker Cole Murphy missed a 48 yard field goal, the Orange front seven gave up a goal line score to Jordan Ellis.
With a Pittsburgh team that posted 41 points against Georgia Tech coming to the Carrier Dome next Saturday, the Syracuse defense will need to improve for the team to snap its three game skid.