Instant Juice: Syracuse 61, Pittsburgh 76

babers
Besides seven Dome games for the upcoming season, SU football will hit the road five times and head south
babers
Syracuse finished the season 4-8

A quick take on Syracuse’s 76-61 loss to Pitt on Saturday afternoon to close out the 2016 season:

WHAT HAPPENED: Already down 35-21 to begin the second half, reserve quarterback Zack Mahoney threw a backbreaking pick-6 to Dane Johnson, giving Pitt a 42-21 lead with 11:38 left in the third quarter. On Pitt’s ensuing possession, Quadree Henderson took it to the house on a 66-yard run, giving Pitt an insurmountable lead in what ended up being a back-and-forth offensive slugfest. It ended an up-and-down season for Dino Babers first season on The Hill, dropping the Orange to 4-8 and eliminating any outside chance of a bowl game.

» Related: Syracuse football, basketball gives thanks

ANALYSIS: The 2016 season comes to a close and the Orange will miss a bowl game for the third straight season. But there are plenty of positives in Dino Babers’ first season at Syracuse, namely an upset of then-No. 17 Virginia Tech, the first ranked opponent that SU has toppled since the Doug Marrone era. While the wins and losses didn’t show it, few can argue that Babers’ team this season was more competitive than Shafer’s team last year. It takes time to implement a system, especially ones that are as dramatic as Babers’ uptempo offensive scheme, and the Tampa 2 philosophy on defense. So the key for the fan base is patience as Babers recruits his own style of players to Syracuse.

HERO: Amba Etta-Tawo had a day reserved for video games with the setting on easy, catching 13 passes for 178 yards and five touchdowns. In case you were wondering, yes, that is a school record for most touchdowns by a receiver in a single game.

ZERO: Syracuse’s defense gave up 646 yards, 395 of them on the ground. Pitt averaged 10.1 yards per rush and scored at least two touchdowns in each quarter. The 125 combined points was the most in ACC history, eclipsing the previous mark of  138 set by Georgia Tech and North Carolina in 2012.

WHAT’S NEXT: See you in September, with the Orange likely to open the 2017 season on Saturday, Sept. 2, though there is no scheduled opponent at the moment.

For more Syracuse coverage, Like our Facebook page and follow us @TheJuiceOnline.

Avatar photo
About Wes Cheng 2907 Articles
Wes has worked for Rivals.com covering the New York Knicks, as well as for Scout.com covering Syracuse athletics. Wes has also been a contributing writer for the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), for SportsNet New York (SNY) as a news desk writer covering all of New York professional sports, and reported on the NBA and MLB for the New York Sportscene. A native of Long Island, New York, Wes graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 with a degree in journalism. Contact him at wes[at]sujuiceonline.com.