In its first home game in nearly a month, Syracuse (4-6, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) lost a shootout with Wake Forest (6-4, 3-3), 64-43, Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. The Orange hadn’t eclipsed 30 points since its Week 3 win over Central Michigan on Sept. 16th, but went into the locker room with 38 points on the board while the Demon Deacons had 24.

Here are superlatives from the game:

The Big Moment: Wake Forest’s fourth-and-1 fourth-quarter touchdown.

Down 41-34, Wake Forest scored a touchdown and was on the cusp of tying the game. But SU defensive tackle Chris Slayton blocked the extra point attempt and cornerback Scoop Bradshaw returned it for a two-point conversion. SU was up three, the Dome reached its peak volume and it seemed like SU had regained momentum.

But eventually, Wake Forest had a fourth-and-1 from the SU 29-yard line. Quarterback John Wolford ran it in for a touchdown, and SU never regained the lead.

Stud: John Wolford, Wake Forest quarterback

Wolford is arguably the best quarterback Syracuse has played all season, and he had a field day picking apart its defense. The senior signal-caller entered the game with the best passer efficiency rating in the ACC. He worked efficiently on Saturday.

The Demon Deacons racked up 21 points in the first quarter. In that frame, Wolford was 9-of-12 for 155 yards and one passing touchdown and also added eight carries for 42 rushing yards and a score on the ground.

SU’s defense largely stymied the Wake offense in the second quarter, but Wolford came out firing again in the second half. On multiple third and fourth downs, Wolford kept the ball to himself on quarterback keepers and converted or scored for WFU.

He ended the game going 25-for-38 for 363 yards and three touchdowns in the air, while adding 136 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 19 carries.

Dud: Parris Bennett, Syracuse linebacker

The senior linebacker from Detroit has been fabulous for SU this season, racking up a team-leading 83 tackles entering today’s game. The entire defense struggled on Saturday, but perhaps nobody did more than Bennett.

Bennett ended the game with just four tackles and was oftentimes not close to being involved on some key runs. The most notable one was a fourth-and-one in which Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford kept a read-option and ran in for a score. It gave Wake Forest the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter, one it wouldn’t let go.

Highlight: Steve Ishmael’s second-quarter touchdown

Ishmael has had a career year for his senior campaign, and it continued on Saturday. He made a highlight-reel catch early in the second quarter to give SU its first lead of the game.

With the Orange 30 yards out, Ishmael ran toward the end zone. A Wake Forest defensive back turned toward Ishmael and basically hugged him for five yards into the end zone, drawing flags from two different officials.

The defensive back tried to disengage right as the flags came flying in. As he did, Ishmael fell down and scooped up the ball from quarterback Zack Mahoney before it hit the ground, corralling it for the touchdown.

Ishmael ended the game with 14 catches for 145 yards and the one touchdown.

Lowlight: Zack Mahoney’s interception.

It wasn’t announced that Mahoney would be the starter for the game until the very first play; in fact, the official Syracuse Football Twitter account initially tweeted that Eric Dungey would be starting. But for the third straight year, Dungey was hurt in Week 10, having injured himself in last week’s loss to Florida State.

Mahoney played well in the first half, going 22-for-35 for 297 yards and three touchdowns. But he struggled to get the SU offense moving in the second half, missing receivers and throwing some dangerous balls into tough coverage. The Demon Deacons dropped a few would-be picks in the second half. When they finally got one, though, it was a back breaker for SU.

SU picked up one first down, but then Zack Mahoney threw a ball right into the gut of linebacker Jaboree Williams. Williams returned it to the SU 20-yard line, and Wake Forest scored a touchdown five plays later.

Published on November 11, 2017 at 7:04 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer