Syracuse Blown Out at #14 North Carolina

The Orange lost its second straight game as the Tar Heels dominate from start to finish.

North Carolina overwhelmed Syracuse from start to finish as the Orange dropped its second straight. This time it was a 40-7 blowout at the hands of the Tar Heels. With the loss, Syracuse falls to 4-2 (0-2) on the season. Next up is at #5 Florida State on Saturday, October 14th. 

The game turned on a controversial play in the first quarter. Trailing 3-0, Syracuse got a stop and forced North Carolina to punt. Denis Jaquez blocked the punt, which was picked up by Tar Heels punter Ben Kiernan. He ran with the ball and was hit hard by a pair of Syracuse defenders. He appeared to be about a yard short of the marker, but the ball was spotted for a first down. Replay showed he was clearly short, but after a review following a Dino Babers challenge, the play was upheld and North Carolina kept the ball. 

The Tar Heels would turn that into a touchdown and the momentum would only grow from there. 

Syracuse could not sustain any offense in the first half and the Orange defense struggled to stop Drake Maye and the Tar Heels all afternoon. Trailing 27-0 at halftime, Syracuse briefly showed life to start the third quarter with a 75 yard touchdown drive capped by a LeQuint Allen run. The Orange defense forced a field goal on the following possession, but Syracuse elected to punt on fourth and six in UNC territory in what was essentially a white flag for the game. 

Maye and the Tar Heels offense torched the Syracuse defense all afternoon. Maye threw for over 400 yards with three touchdowns, while UNC ran for nearly 200 as well including a rushing score by Maye. In total, North Carolina racked up over 640 yards of total offense. 

The lone bright spot for Syracuse was Umari Hatcher, who led the team with six catches for 85 yards including some really tough catches in traffic. 

The Orange has a lot of questions to answer following two straight losses including this one in blowout fashion. 

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