The ball flicked off Tommy DeVito’s fingertips, masked by the Orange T-shirts in the stands. The roars of the crowd intensified as it hung in the air. Receiver Jamal Custis opened up his hands. Seemingly an eternity following its release, the 50-yard prayer floated into the palms of Custis.

DeVito burst down the middle of the field, motioning at his teammates as starting quarterback Eric Dungey has done for the better part of four seasons. He smacked his hands together, and thread a slant route to Custis for five more yards. After two plays and 55 yards, the game was DeVito’s.

“It was kind of like a sense of momentum for the team,” Custis said. “And it just felt like we had a chance after that.”

After eight punts and a fumble capped of every Syracuse drive since its second half, DeVito entered the game with just more than five minutes remaining and SU down a touchdown. Thereafter, he led three touchdown drives, threw for 181 yards and capped it off with a four-yard touchdown pass to Ravian Pierce, which sealed the Orange’s 40-37 double overtime victory over North Carolina Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

Less than an hour prior, it seemed improbable. North Carolina (1-5, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) scored 17 points in the third quarter. The Tar Heels hit on two plays of more than 50 yards and a 75-yard punt return. Big plays, the kryptonite of Syracuse’s (5-2, 2-2) best start under head coach Dino Babers, were sinking the Orange once again. Insert DeVito.

“I like to prepare like I’m a starter and always be ready for any given moment,” DeVito said.  “Anything can happen and, sure enough, it did.”

For a season and a half, DeVito has been a commodity the public has only seen glimpses of. When the former Elite 11 quarterback committed to Syracuse on Feb. 1, 2017, the hype began. Babers compared the four-star recruit to Denzel Washington in the Academy award-winning film, “Glory,” in which Washington waves a United States flag in the heat of battle.

After redshirting his freshman season, the No. 8 ranked pocket passer in the Class of 2017 stumbled in his first game action at Western Michigan. He entered that game after it appeared to be a blowout, and two weeks later he led SU over Florida State only because Dungey was out hurt.

Against North Carolina, Syracuse needed him again.

“They had a bit of a beat on us and sometimes just changing one character throws off the defense,” Babers said.

The first series, after DeVito hooked up with Custis for the long gain, flaked in the red zone. But when DeVito strolled out for his second drive, he came out firing once more.

On 1st-and-10 from the North Carolina 42 yard-line, Nykeim Johnson noticed his defender playing off him. When Johnson reached 10 yards, and his defender stood even with him, he ran deep down the Syracuse sideline. Again, the ball soared. This time it landed in Johnson’s hands for a touchdown.  

“It was in the air for a while,” Johnson said. “But I knew my guy was going to put on the money.”

Running back Dontae Strickland fell to his knees. On the Orange block “S” at the 50-yard line, Strickland raised both arms with his eyes up to the sky.

DeVito, the redshirt freshman, Dungey’s backup, pulled Syracuse out from the abyss.

“Ever since he’s got here and been recruited you could always just see how he just has a lot of confidence in himself,” junior wide receiver Sean Riley said. “You can see it when he walks around, he’s very confident in his game.”

On the second play of overtime, DeVito lifted a ball into the back right corner of the end zone. Custis snagged it at its highest point and tiptoed in bounds over the North Carolina defender. DeVito pointed one finger off into the distance where Custis stood and hugged Strickland.

After a touchdown tied it, and a field goal pushed North Carolina up three, DeVito stood in the same offensive huddle as Dungey. One of Syracuse’s all-time most productive quarterbacks tapped DeVito on the helmet, as he had continuously while DeVito was under center.

“He just told me to have fun and play football,” DeVito said of Dungey’s message after the switch. “I just wanted to do my job.”

On the first play of SU’s second overtime possession, DeVito shot the ball outside  to Johnson. After a few running plays brought Syracuse to the four-yard line, the game ended with a final whip of DeVito’s right arm.   

DeVito pulled the ball out from Strickland’s chest as the North Carolina defense collapsed on the run fake. He bounced once before he found a wide-open Pierce.

“To have the guys rally around you,” DeVito said, “and kind of to pull it off in the end is really something special.”

Pierce somersaulted over and turned to a sea of Orange jerseys swarming him. The bench, including Dungey, cleared in celebration of its first overtime victory of the season.

After a highly anticipated year, there’s no need to wait any longer. DeVito is here.

Published on October 20, 2018 at 4:52 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44