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At the start of the second quarter, wide receiver Anthony Queeley caught a screen pass and took off up the right sideline for a 68-yard touchdown run. Syracuse already led 21-10 against UAlbany, but SU still struggled when a holding penalty negated the touchdown and the offense had to run all the way back. 

Trebor Pena was called for a hold, which canceled out a near 50-yard run from Sean Tucker up the right sideline in the second quarter, too. And when quarterback Tommy DeVito threw a quick pass to Courtney Jackson during the first quarter, offensive lineman Chris Bleich’s holding penalty backed the Orange to their own 10-yard line. 

Those calls were among the four holding penalties that Syracuse (2-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) committed in its victory over Albany (0-3, 0-1 America East). Tucker said head coach Dino Babers would definitely be correcting those penalties and that both himself and the offensive line just needed to “get better and focus up.” Bleich said that he was happy those holding penalties occurred against UAlbany and not in a bigger-stakes game where they could’ve had larger ramifications. 

“I just have to move on and get better from it,” Bleich said postgame.

Last season, Syracuse averaged seven penalties per game, a mark that was 102nd out of 127 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. Against UAlbany, a Football Championship Subdivision school, the Orange had eight penalties in the first half. They had eight last week in a full game against Rutgers. By the end of their 62-24 blowout win, they doubled that total to tie a program-record 16 penalties. 

The 163 penalty yards — which surpassed 140 in a game against Cornell in 1958 — that Syracuse gave up included the four holding penalties, four facemask calls, four false starts and two other special teams penalties. 

“We talked about it at halftime, we talked about it at the end of the game and we’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Babers said after the game. “That’s too many.”

Last week in Syracuse’s loss to Rutgers, special teams penalties plagued SU. The Orange had three illegal formation penalties while punting and were called for interfering with the punt returner. Against UAlbany, those miscues continued, albeit in different forms. Pena fielded a punt near midfield during the second quarter and ran before being tackled just before he reached the end zone, but the play was negated by an illegal block in the back call. 

Another punt ended with a 15-yard facemask penalty on Syracuse’s special teams unit. SU was called for running into the kicker. Kicker Andre Szmyt lined up and nailed a 43-yard field goal before being forced to rekick it due to a false start penalty on SU. 

Szmyt had just enough power to convert the 48-yard try, but as Bleich said, those kinds of sloppy penalties could hurt the Orange against better opposition.

On special teams, Babers has said that Syracuse’s lack of a designated coordinator isn’t causing repeated miscues. As a coaching staff, they share the responsibility and take special teams seriously because it’s part of the two-of-three facets needed to win a football game, Babers said. But for the second consecutive week, Syracuse’s special teams unit put up an uneven performance that was filled with penalties.

Six of Syracuse’s 16 penalties came during the fourth quarter when the Orange’s starters had already headed to the sideline. Freshman defensive lineman Jatius Geer was called for a facemask penalty. Babers said that sometimes facemask penalties happen when a taller defensive player is tackling a shorter offensive player and the defensive player doesn’t bend their knees like they’re supposed to. 

Freshman Anwar Sparrow was ejected for targeting on a helmet-to-helmet hit, and an SU defensive back was flagged for pass interference in the end zone. 

“You saw penalties and things like that, and guys missing signals, and that’s what happens when you’re young,” Babers said. “But it does take time.”

When asked about penalties postgame, Babers explained a play in the first quarter where Tucker stiff-armed his defender and the UAlbany player moved his face unexpectedly, resulting in a facemask penalty against Tucker. Then Babers glanced over and saw his star running back right next to the podium and began laughing because he didn’t know Tucker was listening to him. 

“That’s kind of a happening, I don’t think it was anybody trying to hurt anybody, or anything like that,” Babers said.

“But those other ones,” Babers said, before pausing for multiple moments. “We’ll discuss that with the family.”

Published on September 18, 2021 at 6:29 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16