Louisville cornerback Shaq Wiggins sat on the ground and watched Syracuse receiver Amba Etta-Tawo trot into the end zone. His defensive partner, safety Chucky Williams, was on his back with his hands in the air.

Etta-Tawo had just hauled in a pass over the middle of the field, lowered his shoulder and sent Williams to the turf on an attempted tackle. At the same time, Wiggins was holding onto Etta-Tawo’s backside, but the receiver shook him off and darted toward the end zone. He broke one more tackle before the score.

“He’s a good player,” SU wide receiver Steve Ishamel said. “He’s making a lot of plays.”

The Maryland transfer caught eight passes for 103 yards and two scores in SU’s 62-28 loss to No. 13 Louisville. That brings his total to 313 yards and three touchdowns in his two games with Syracuse — the same total of touchdowns he had in three years at Maryland.

Etta-Tawo didn’t have quite the game that he had in his debut — 12 catches, 210 yards and a score — but he found success on broken plays against Louisville, providing an effective outlet for SU quarterback Eric Dungey.

Dungey had to scramble to his left on the 47-yard scoring pass to Etta-Tawo. The receiver was able to get enough separation for the pass to come. It cut Louisville’s lead to 35-14.

Etta-Tawo’s other score came on the very next drive at the goal line. Coming out of a timeout with 48 seconds left in the half, Dungey lofted a fade to Etta-Tawo in the left corner of the end zone. The receiver got his left hand on the ball, but it fell incomplete.

The Orange ran the same play on the next play, 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line. This time, Etta-Tawo sprinted off the line for even more separation and snagged the ball with two hands.

Etta-Tawo finished with eight catches on Friday,  the most for any players in the game. He was named the ACC receiver of the week after Week, 1 when he compiled more receiving yards than anyone else in the country.

“He’s caught on quite quick and he’s doing a lot of stuff,” Ishmael said. “I’m sure happy for the team.”

Published on September 10, 2016 at 2:33 am

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus