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Box-score watchers would’ve been fairly stunned at Syracuse’s result versus NC State Saturday. The Wolfpack averaged an impeccable 9.1 yards per play, while the Orange lagged behind at just 5.6. Yet, NC State’s offense was at a standstill for most of the game while SU’s side moved with ease.

The Orange defeated the Wolfpack 24-17 courtesy of a season-best performance from their defense, led by first-year defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson. Syracuse forced three turnovers, including a fumble recovery and interception by Justin Barron, to stall NC State’s offense across midfield. It was more than enough relief for Kyle McCord — who finished with 346 passing yards and two touchdowns — to steer the Orange to victory.

But while Syracuse’s defense won the game with takeaways, its weak point was glaring: consistently allowing big plays from the Wolfpack. The Orange gave up six offensive plays of more than 20 yards, three of which were over 40 yards and two over 70 yards.

The seven-point differential by the game’s end was much closer than it needed to be, due to SU’s issues containing explosive gains.

Here’s a breakdown of four big plays that Syracuse (5-1, 2-1 ACC) allowed against NC State (3-4, 0-3 ACC) Saturday:

2nd quarter, 2:00 — Concepcion beats Chestnut

This was the longest play SU gave up in the first half. NC State star wide receiver Kevin Concepcion hauled in a 42-yard reception on its final drive before halftime, which resulted in a touchdown to cut Syracuse’s lead to 10-7. And he did it by torching safety Duce Chestnut.

On this play, a first-and-10 from the Wolfpack 36-yard line, NC State split four receivers out wide in a single-back set while the Orange displayed their traditional 4-2-5 look. Chestnut lined up across from Concepcion in the slot. SU played a single-high safety — Alijah Clark — while the rest of its secondary went into man-to-man. Clark was on the opposite side of Chestnut, though, which proved to be this play’s downfall.

Chestnut lost the unfavorable matchup from the get-go, as Concepcion stutter-stepped to his left and scooted up the left sideline. NC State quarterback CJ Bailey immediately spotted the one-on-one battle and tossed a high-arcing pass that Concepcion easily corralled over his right shoulder. Chestnut made a solid effort to catch up with the receiver and secured the tackle, but the damage was already done.

3rd quarter, 12:50 — Bailey gets free

Bailey, a true freshman, isn’t much of a rusher, standing at 6-foot-6. Though against Syracuse, he made it pay with his legs. Bailey led the Wolfpack with 43 rushing yards on seven attempts, and here, he made his gaudiest impact on the ground.

NC State lined up in 11 personnel on a second-and-6, with one tight end positioned beside the right tackle. It split three receivers out right in a trips formation and had one running back, Hollywood Smothers, to Bailey’s left. The Orange were in 4-2-5 again, yet their defense was naturally shifted left to accommodate for the Wolfpack’s formation — which Bailey took advantage of.

Jonathan Paylor motioned from the slot to receive a play-action fake from Bailey. Smothers slipped to the right flat for a screen, but Syracuse linebacker Derek McDonald and defensive lineman Denis Jaquez Jr. hounded Bailey from the start off the left edge. In response, Bailey jumped up, planted his right foot and dashed upfield, leaving McDonald and Jaquez Jr. lost.

Syracuse’s defense was already crowding the right side of the field, allowing Bailey to scamper along the left hash marks with only one man to beat — Chestnut, who he easily ran past. A downfield block from Justin Joly on Jayden Bellamy helped seal Bailey’s path to accumulating a 28-yard gain.

4th quarter, 9:45 — A blown coverage of epic proportions

Up 24-7 with less than 10 minutes to play, this should have been time for Syracuse to seal the inevitable. Instead, it became close. On a second-and-10 from NC State’s 25-yard line, it was one of two 70-plus yard receptions for the Wolfpack in the fourth quarter.

NC State went with a trips formation on the right side and Concepcion alone on the left side as the X receiver. The Orange rushed just three defensive linemen and dropped edge rusher Fadil Diggs into coverage on an obvious passing down. The Wolfpack ran a flood concept, giving Bailey three options on the closer left side while Noah Rogers was positioned on the right covered by Bellamy.

Bailey didn’t like his options and rolled to his right. He neared the line of scrimmage and approached a choice of three options: tuck the ball and run, throw to Rogers or Joly or throw the ball away. Bellamy, McDonald and Clark were in the area to defend the play, and they all made the wrong decisions. Bailey faked as if he would run. All three defenders crashed on the quarterback. It allowed Rogers to sneak upfield and roam to a wide-open space at the 50.

Bailey floated the ball up for Rogers, who sprinted with all green grass in front of him en route to a 75-yard touchdown. Only Devin Grant got close to chasing him down on the massively blown coverage by Syracuse.

4th quarter, 3:12 — Hollywood Swinging and Missing

While this drive ended with Barron sacking Bailey to induce an NC State field goal – which led to the Wolfpack failing an onside kick attempt to clinch SU’s win – it started with a disaster.

On a first-and-10 from the seven-yard line, Syracuse ran a cover 3 set with three pass rushers, as the Wolfpack went five wide. Bellamy, who covered Smothers on the far right side, dropped back into zone coverage after Smothers cut toward the middle of the field for a drag route. Bailey faced a little pressure from KingJoseph Edwards on the edge and threw to Smothers on the check down.

Anwar Sparrow was right in front of Smothers, yet he attempted to drag Smothers from behind for the tackle and faltered. Barron and Grant were then awaiting near the first-down markers, but Smothers juked out Barron and split between him and Grant. All that was left was for Smothers to easily stiff arm Clark and shed a tackle 15 yards downfield.

Smothers shot up the middle of the field untouched and moved toward the left sideline, attempting to get away from a trailing Chestnut. Chestnut made the tackle again, finally dragging him down at the 21-yard line, but the four aforementioned missed tackles doomed SU on this play — a 72-yard catch and run from Smothers.

Published on October 15, 2024 at 8:11 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews