Syracuse's Comeback Effort Comes up Short at Georgia Tech

Syracuse football dominated the second half and rallied from a 21 point deficit to nearly pull off a road victory at Georgia Tech. Ultimately, the comeback fell short as the Yellow Jackets knocked off the Orange 31-22. With the loss, Syracuse falls to 5-6 on the season. The Orange will look to get to bowl eligibility next week at home against Wake Forest. That game kicks off at 2:00 p.m. Eastern in the JMA Wireless Dome. 

Once again, Syracuse used its run oriented offensive attack with either Dan Villari or LeQuint Allen lining up as the wildcat quarterback on most plays. That philosophy struggled mightily in the first half, and Georgia Tech was able to jump out to a 17-3 lead. 

The second half started with disaster for the Orange. Darrell Gill fumbled the kickoff to start the third quarter, and Jamal Haynes ran it in for Georgia Tech one play later to give the Yellow Jackets a 24-3 advantage. Given Syracuse's struggles offensively to that point, the game felt over. 

Things would take a turn in the Orange's favor, however. Syracuse took the next drive 71 yards on eight plays, capped by a Dan Villari four yard touchdown run. Two possessions later, LeQuint Allen returned a punt to set the offense up inside the Tech 20 yard line. Allen would finish the drive with a one yard run to trim the lead to eight points (a bad snap would botch the extra point). 

Midway through the fourth quarter, Allen's second touchdown of the day brought the Orange within two. The two point conversion failed as Allen tried to run outside but was read perfectly by Georgia Tech. 

The Yellow Jackets would take the ensuing drive and bleed several minutes off the clock before Haynes King ran it in 19 yards out to seal the victory. 

In total, Syracuse ran for over 200 yards in this one with LeQuint Allen eclipsing 120 yards with two scores. Villari added 64 and another score, while also completing all 14 of his pass attempts for 59 yards. The Orange defense forced two turnovers but gave up nearly 400 yards of total offense and nearly six yards per carry on the ground.