Highlights & Recap: Syracuse Falls at Home to Clemson
Syracuse, N.Y.-- The Syracuse Orange were handed their first loss of the 2023 season in their conference opener against reigning ACC Champion Clemson at the JMA Wireless Dome, 31-14.
The Clemson Tigers looked like a vastly different team with added motivation who came out firing right from the open kickoff. Statistically, in both of their losses against Duke and Florida State, Clemson was the better team. On Saturday afternoon, Clemson didn’t leave that up for debate against the Orange.
Even with over 42,000 fans making it a hostile environment, Clemson scored two touchdowns early in the first quarter off Syracuse turnovers and never looked back. SU head coach Dino Babers believed that the moment might’ve gotten the better of some of the younger players, which hurt their game plan execution.
“They didn’t handle the stage, and you don’t expect that to happen. You expect them to be able to overcome, and they'll do better next time. There's a lot of guys that were playing Clemson for the very first time. I think there’s no doubt this team is extremely young, and they’ll do better with all that stuff,” Babers said.
Quarterback Garrett Shrader finished the first quarter strong answering with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to a score. After going 4-5 for 77 yards in the opening frame, Shrader went 11-24 and just 104 yards for the rest of the contest. QB1 took accountability for the Orange’s first loss, especially considering
“I thought that defense played studly, and they gave us every opportunity. I'll take the responsibility on offense because you can’t have three turnovers. We got to go out and make plays. If we're not doing that at a high level, and turning the ball over, I give us no chance to even compete [against Clemson],” Shrader said.
Syracuse held Clemson to 389 yards of total offense and 126 on the ground, much improved from their 27-21 loss a season ago. The kryptonite for “The Mob” against Clemson was inefficiency on third down and penalties. The Tigers converted six of nine opportunities in the first half, resulting in drives continuing and more points on the scoreboard. Syracuse finished with nine penalties totaling 92 yards in big spots.
With three minutes left before the break, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik scrambled 14 yards up the middle to move the chains instead of a three-and-out. On the ensuing play, Klubnik connected for a 47-yard touchdown with Beaux Collins due to blown coverage to make it a 21-7 game. Defensive end Caleb Okechukwu knows that those conversations proved costly for Syracuse.
“It was annoying. It’s really a killer because on those types of plays, you gotta make stops on third down. They are so important because we put so much work into first and second down. We gotta make those corrections moving forward,” Okechukwu said.
Offense was hard to come by in the third quarter for both teams, but Syracuse made things interesting to open the fourth. SU turned defense into offense, following DB Jayden Bellamy’s fumble recovery forced by Myles Farmer. The Orange stormed down the field with a touchdown drive in less than two minutes capped off by LeQuint Allen catching a pass in the back corner of the end zone.
Shrader had another opportunity to make it a one-possession game with seven minutes remaining but was picked off by Clemson’s Jeremiah Trotter Jr. on the third play of the drive. The nail in the coffin for Syracuse was a Phil Mafah 32-yard rushing touchdown on the next play. Coach Babers recognizes you can’t afford to give a program like Clemson that amount of opportunities that they did today.
“We played a team whose athletes are the top of the conference, and we spotted them three turnovers that turned into touchdowns. Some of our guys got it done today, but I don't have doubt that this team will be extremely good. Unfortunately, I want them really good now,” Babers said.
Shrader and Okechkwu envision this loss as a way to better prepare for the rest of ACC play. The duo also realizes that the loss is frustrating but won’t result in a dip in confidence moving forward.
“You just take it week by week and do what you can to make sure you're prepared for the game plan. I liked our game plan this week but didn’t execute it very well. Like I said, we felt very prepared, and we were ready. We just fell short, and I didn’t play up to the standard that I need to play at,” Shrader said.
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