In a game that was never really close, Syracuse (4-7, 2-5 Atlantic Coast) dropped its third straight to No. 17 Florida State, 45-14, on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. After forcing a punt on SU’s first drive, FSU scored in under five minutes to take a lead it would hold the rest of the way.

Here are three quick reactions to the game

Hello, goodbye

On senior day, the Orange bid farewell to some of its players before the game. Somebody it didn’t want to see go was junior linebacker Zaire Franklin.

That’s exactly what happened early in the second quarter, though. Franklin went down in pursuit of Seminoles running back Dalvin Cook and writhed around in pain, grabbing at what looked like his left leg. He needed help walking off the field, not putting much pressure on it. He later came back on to the sideline in a T-shirt and sweatpants, done for the day.

But the Orange also welcomed some players back from injury. Wide receiver Steve Ishmael, who missed last week’s game against North Carolina State with an injury, came back in a limited role. Alvin Cornelius started the game in his place, but Ishmael got a few looks on the field. He was targeted only once.

Cornerback Cordell Hudson, who last week came back to play on special teams, got snaps on defense, his first since the Wake Forest game back on Oct. 8. Earlier this week at his press conference, head coach Dino Babers said he was planning on working the redshirt sophomore back slowly.

Silver lining

The Orange got beat down on Saturday, but the one bright spot was SU’s special teams.

It looked bad at first, as punter Sterling Hofrichter had his first attempt tipped as it ended up traveling only 24 yards.

But from then on out, Hofrichter was fantastic. He punted the ball eight more times for 376 yards, averaging 47 yards on those attempts. He had three of them called for fair catches. Five of them traveled more than 50 yards in the air and five downed inside the 20-yard line.

Meanwhile, SU’s return game was strong, too. FSU punted the ball only twice, and both resulted in big returns from Brisly Estime. His first went for 42 yards, and after breaking multiple tackles to make it that far he was probably one away from reaching the end zone. His second went for 22 yards.

Sean Riley also had a few decent performances returning kicks. While two of his four returns didn’t get back to the 20-yard line, he had two others that went for 28 and 36 yards.

Brought down

Going into the game, SU was facing an uphill battle with the injuries on the offensive line. Donnie Foster, the third-string center, started after Colin Byrne, the second stringer, left last week’s game with an injury and was ruled out.

Things were about as bad as they could get for Orange quarterback Zack Mahoney. He got sacked eight times on the afternoon, including four times in the first quarter. Four of the sacks came on third down.

When Mahoney tried to escape the pressure, he was often left with little running room or he was forced to make poor, rushed throws, like when he lofted a ball in the air down the sideline that was picked off by defensive back Ermon Lane.

Published on November 19, 2016 at 7:15 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer