Instant Juice: Syracuse 15, Rutgers 23

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rutgers

Piscataway, N.J. – A quick take on Syracuse’s 23-15 loss against Rutgers in front of 48,011 on a beautiful fall football afternoon at High Point Solutions Stadium:

WHAT HAPPENED: Rutgers (6-0/3-0) broke open a 7-7 game at halftime with a blocked FG returned for a 75-yard touchdown by Duron Harmon, and its own FG off a SU fumble on the subsequent series four minutes into the third quarter to never look back.  The sudden 10 points seemingly broke the will of the Orange (2-4/1-1) players, even though SU scored eight late points.

Steve Rene’s subsequent fumble of  a punt on the first play of the 4th quarter led to another Scarlet Knights TD, and essentially ended any hopes for an Orange comeback. Since 2009, Rutgers has more blocked kicks (27) than any other FBS team.

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Rutgers ran over SU

» More SU football: Syracuse fans experience unfamilar emotion

ANALYSIS: Special teams continue to plague the Orange with the blocked FG the game changer against Rutgers.  It’s readily apparent the program could use a special teams coach instead of having head coach Doug Marrone handle those duties, and it’s been two seasons since there was an individual special teams coach.  The unit is simply too important not to have a position coach.

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HERO: Rutgers QB Gary Nova calmly took what the Orange defense gave him in guiding his offense and taking advantage of the Orange miscues.  Nova finished 14 for 23 passing with 152 yards and a TD throwing to six different receivers.

ZERO: A tie between SU’s special teams, and offensive line.  The line run blocked fairly well, but had trouble giving QB Ryan Nassib time to throw, and was ripped on the bench by a livid Coach Marrone on the blocked FG that turned the game upside down.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Orange will face former coach Paul Pasqualoni when they host Connecticut on Friday, Oct. 19 at 8:00 p.m. TV: ESPN.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.