“A tough day at the office,” said Garrett Shrader after Syracuse’s fourth straight ACC loss.
Syracuse football headed to Blacksburg, Virgina with a renewed hope looking to rewrite the second half of their season in a brighter light after a bye week. While the players showed to be well rested and in high spirits all week long at practice, leading into their Thursday debut on ESPN prime time. The spark of hope quickly vanished with an explosive Virginia Tech offense who never let up.
The first quarter alone painted a picture that would reign true for the rest of the game as Virginia Tech scored on their first four drives and Syracuse was held scoreless on all four drives, going three and out each time.
Since ACC conference play, Syracuse’s offense has developed a habit of starting slow offensively.
“It is starting to be a theme and I am not satisfied with that,” said Babers.
To overcome this offensive dry spell, Shrader says he must put on an emphasis on capturing first downs because lately there has been a loss in yards on the first down which leads to three and outs and no abilities to work a tempo offense. The Orange had a total of nine firsts downs to Virginia Tech’s twenty seven.
While the frustration brewed on the sideline for Syracuse as they watched the Hokies write history with the most total yards in a game under head coach Pry’s era and kicker John Love kick a career high field goals, they all speak the same message.
“Most important thing is we all continue to stay together,” Marlowe Wax.
With four games remaining, Syracuse must win at least two of them in order to have a postseason and a bowl game opportunity.
“There is still a lot of football left to play,” said Shrader. “This group is talented and I love playing with them.”
Syracuse will return home to the JMA Dome for the first time in over a month as they take on Boston College on November 3rd at 7:30.
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