3 takeaways from Syracuse football’s 27-20 OT win over Connecticut

Syracuse rallied for a 27-20 win on Saturday over Connecticut for its first win of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Brown steadies Angeli

Connecticut was in command for most of the way, holding a 17-6 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli and the offense were unable to put up any points for 25 minutes and with 10:10 to go, and Angeli appeared to throw a back-breaking interception that set up UConn at midfield. A score from the Huskies would potentially put the game out of reach.

After the interception, head coach Fran Brown spoke to Angeli.

“I just said, 'You gotta have fun, right? Stop playing like I played in high school. Have fun,'” Brown said. “You've got to loosen the moment. You have to let him know that he’s human and everyone makes mistakes, and then just come back."

Angeli heeded the advice. With 5:41 left and the game on the line on fourth-and-4, Angeli connected with senior Justus Ross-Simmons for a 53-yard touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion, the score was 17-12.

Defense stands tall

The Syracuse defense then did its job, giving Syracuse one last drive to try and win the game. Angeli began the drive on the Syracuse 20-yard line and marched the team down the field, and capped off the drive with a touchdown rush from sophomore Yasin Willis.

Syracuse went for two points and converted, leaving the score at 20-17. But the game was not over. Jim Mora and UConn had 48 seconds and three timeouts to try to level the score.

With the help of UConn’s Skylar Bell and kicker Chris Freeman, UConn tied the game at 20 apiece, leading into overtime.

While the Orange offense would be the side to be given praise for the comeback, the defense kept the game within striking distance for much of the second half. The unit struggled significantly against Tennessee in its opener, but against Connecticut, they held them to just 4-17 on third down chances and only six points the entire second half.

“We focused on it all week. It was definitely a huge point of emphasis after Tennessee,” SU defensive lineman Kevin Jobity said. “It was great to really get our feet on the ground and get some knock back on the line of scrimmage and show what we have been working on.”

Even with the long break, Angeli did not miss a beat. Syracuse was given the ball first, and the SU quarterback rifled a 50/50 pass to Ross-Simmons in the endzone, giving Syracuse the lead.

That led to the defense having a chance to get one last stop to secure victory. The Orange were on the right track until a defensive pass interference made it seem like a touchdown was inevitable.

But once again, the defense stood firm thanks to freshman linebacker Antoine Deslauriers, who batted away two passes on third and fourth down to secure victory for Syracuse.

A win is a win

Many would see the win as very ugly. But Brown does not believe in that adage.

"I don't even know what an ugly win is," Brown said. "I just want one more point."

Brown pointed out that the expectations were that Syracuse would blow out a Connecticut team that is an independent. But the Huskies were a bowl team last year that defeated two ACC teams.

Although Fran Brown did not view the game as an ugly win, he was still not entirely pleased with the outcome, as he made his team run sprints after the game.

"It's a certain way we want Syracuse football to look," Brown said. "We didn't do that for two weeks."

SUPPORT THE JUICE ONLINE

Chat about this story and all things Syracuse on our message board, Cuse Classified!