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Head coach Dino Babers showed no signs that something was amiss in what would end up being his final press conference as head coach of Syracuse. He sighed when he first got to the podium before talking about him and his team’s disappointment. There were no questions about the status of his job after a win against Pittsburgh seemed to quell them.

The next morning, Director of Athletics John Wildhack announced that Babers tenure, after eight seasons atop the Orange, was over. Against Pitt, SU did something revolutionary in the face of key injuries to Garrett Shrader and Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, pulling off a win.

But reality hit against Georgia Tech. Without a healthy Shrader or Del Rio-Wilson, SU had to run the wildcat, run-option offense with sparring screen passes. The element of surprise was gone. Syracuse had put nearly everything on tape that it would end up doing Saturday night against the Yellow Jackets. There wasn’t much creativity off of it.

“The only difference was they knew it was coming,” Dan Villari said. “We tried to catch them off guard with some perimeter screens, but they knew.”

There are plenty of issues to consider when looking at a macro level at Babers’ eight seasons at the helm of the Orange. He came in as the hot Group of 5 coach that had just led Bowling Green to a 10-win season. He won 10 games in 2018 and upset Clemson at the JMA Wireless Dome and inked a multi-year extension with a $10 million buyout to ensure his stay.

He tried to come out ahead — and nearly did after going to the Pinstripe Bowl last year. But too much went against Babers this season, and he ended up out the door. What was once a promising hire, a dream of a relentless veer and shoot offense ended, ironically, with Syracuse (5-6, 1-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) implementing a run-option, wildcat offense that was easily stopped by Georgia Tech (6-5, 5-3 ACC) in its 31-22 loss.

The candid answers began to permeate through press conferences following a third-straight loss earlier in the season. For the second-straight year, a once-promising, undefeated start had been dashed by ACC teams. Babers went just 20-45 across eight seasons in conference games, and it once again ravaged Syracuse’s regular season. The juxtaposition of where the Orange were as a program in Babers’ eighth season and where top-echelon teams like North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson was clear. They’d been outscored 112-24 and hardly competed in any of the losses.

“Our depth is in the transfer portal. You know how many guys we lost. Schools like us, we’re not gonna have a lot of depth because it gets bought away,” Babers said ahead of the Orange’s eventual loss to Virginia Tech.

Players like Ja’Had Carter, Duce Chestnut, Jatius Geer and Courtney Jackson left, all at positions Syracuse struggled this season to keep healthy. The first signs of trouble this year came when David Wohlabaugh and Oronde Gadsden II went down with season-ending injuries in consecutive weeks. Players kept going down, and the losses began to pile up.

Babers became more candid. After an uncompetitive loss at Virginia Tech, Babers said that “everything was going to be under consideration.” Then Shrader went down, and Del Rio-Wilson threw four interceptions against Boston College in a loss. Babers tried to bolster his chances this offseason, making key hires like Long and Nunzio Campanile to help solidify recruiting circles and help continuity. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck was promoted to ensure Shrader and the offense stayed in a similar system for the second-straight year.

He tried a new-look offense out of necessity and slogged through two games, winning one game Wildhack said was key for recruiting and money coming into the program. None of it was enough to save Babers. The best the Orange can do after a loss to Georgia Tech is 6-6, sneaking into a bowl game while only winning two conference games and only competing in three of them. He tried five offensive coordinators and four defensive coordinators in eight years. None of it worked long term, and Saturday turned into Babers’ final loss.

“The bottom part of success is getting these guys to a bowl game. If we can find a way to get them to a bowl game, that’s a good thing,” Babers said on Monday.

The game was won when…

Haynes King faked a pitch to Jamal Haynes and a massive hole opened up 19 yards in front of the end zone. King bursted through and sped into the end zone unscathed to give Georgia Tech a 31-22 lead with 2:22 left in the game. The Orange had stymied the Yellow Jackets throughout the second half en route to a 21-point comeback after an initial touchdown to begin the third quarter. But GT put together a 9-play drive that chewed through nearly five minutes of game clock in the fourth quarter to set up the rush.

The Orange’s defense, much like it did in key spots against Clemson and Boston College, gave way to the Yellow Jackets on the most crucial drive of the evening. A botched extra point attempt and blown two-point conversion on two previous possessions led to the touchdown making Saturday night a two-score game. Luke MacPhail dropped back on the Orange’s following play from the line of scrimmage and threw an interception to seal the loss.

Quote of the night: Dan Villari

“To be honest, a bowl game is not my standard. My standard is an ACC Championship game.”

Syracuse started the season 4-0 with one of the most prolific offenses in the country. Since then, it lost six of its ensuing seven games, winning just one conference matchup. After the hot start, the Orange were getting floated as possible matchups in bowl games against ranked opponents. The most recent projection had SU in the Military Bowl against Navy. On Monday, Babers said that “the bottom part of success is getting these guys to a bowl game. If we can find a way to get them to a bowl game, that’s a good thing.”

Stat to know: 12

Syracuse committed 12 penalties Saturday night for 85 penalty yards. Heading into the loss, the Orange ranked in the bottom third of the Football Bowl Subdivision in penalties, many of which have hindered key drives this season. Babers has preached the need for clean games. With an offense that threw the ball just 16 times and ran the ball 42 times, SU needed to stay in front of the chains and away from 3rd and long scenarios. But, in part, the penalties contributed to the Orange going just 1-for-10 on third downs.

Three final points

Campanile has done this before

Campanile is no stranger to taking over a team in freefall midway through the season as the interim head coach. Despite being one of the younger members of the staff, Campanile was tapped to be the interim head coach to finish out the season. Syracuse’s tight ends’ coach overtook a struggling Rutgers team in 2019 early in the season when Chris Asch was fired after four games.

Though the Scarlet Knights ended up going just 1-7 under Campanile, numerous former players from that season told The Daily Orange in July that Campanile was “a no brainer” to take over the program because of his ability to connect with the team and handle the locker room.

Darrell Gill Jr. spurs special teams

Despite a costly fumble to begin the third quarter that led to a quick touchdown from Georgia Tech and a 24-3 deficit, Darrell Gill Jr. finished with 135 return yards on five attempts. He was explosive from the start of the game, getting 35 yards on his first return. The true freshman has taken over for Donovan Brown this season at a position that’s seen a great deal of turnover throughout this season.

LeQuint Allen Jr., who typically returned kickoffs and punts earlier in the season, was likely pulled from the spot because of his increased workload in the offensive game plan. With an offense that couldn’t move the ball consistently throughout the game, Gill’s returns gave Syracuse solid field position that later turned into field goal attempts and the near-21-point comeback.

Syracuse can still play strong defense

Overlooked in the strange new approach to offense and six losses in seven games is the fact that Syracuse’s defense has — at times — stood out against talented opposing offenses. Against Georgia Tech, the Orange forced two turnovers, though the offense was unable to translate either into points. They also held the Yellow Jackets to just 14 points in the second half, allowing Syracuse to methodically storm back in the third quarter and nearly come back.

Next up: Wake Forest

Syracuse has one final chance to qualify for its third bowl game under Babers when it takes on Wake Forest next week in the JMA Wireless Dome. The Demon Deacons are coming in after a 45-7 walloping at Notre Dame, their fourth-straight loss in the middle of a 4-7 season. Syracuse hasn’t beaten Wake since 2019. The Demon Deacons season has been one one marred with close losses to Duke and Clemson and blowouts to Florida State, NC State and the Irish.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Mitch Griffis has taken over the offense, starting nine games this year, but has struggled with accuracy and has thrown seven interceptions to his nine touchdowns. Wake Forest averages the second fewest points per game in the ACC and have allowed the most sacks (33) in the conference.

Published on November 19, 2023 at 6:49 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt