The Syracuse Orange rallied from a 21-0 deficit to knock off the Miami Hurricanes and they did it with a balanced offensive approach which kept Miami from unleashing their pass rush.
In the first half, Jeff Nixon went pass heavy on first down and while the Orange didn’t rack up the yards, they responded from the early deficit and questionable illegal formation penalty to keep the chains moving against the Canes.
Once the Orange took the lead, it was the running game that put it away with an impressive performance by the offensive line and LeQuint Allen to keep the ball for the final 3:42 of the game. The drive featured four first downs and kept Cam Ward from getting a shot at leading the Canes back to a win.
Syracuse did enough on first down to allow them to convert 7-10 on third downs in the game and that ability to keep possession was crucial to getting the upset win.
I’m going to try and compile the season stats in the next couple of weeks but we saw a huge improvement this season in what the offense did on first down. Not surprising they found success on third downs, and overall, because they weren’t behind the sticks right away.