CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Syracuse (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) beat Boston College (3-4, 0-4), 28-20, on Saturday. The Orange got back to .500 before its matchup against Clemson in two weeks.

Check out three fast reactions from the game.

Sloppy joes

Syracuse and Boston College played relatively below average in the first half. A large reason for that is the turnovers and interceptions. The Eagles and Orange combined for five total turnovers, including two botched snaps from under center (Patrick Towles and Eric Dungey had one apiece) and an interception from Dungey.

On SU’s first drive, the offense had several false start penalties, including on back-to-back plays and the BC defense jumped offsides several times. When SU was at the 35-yard line, it appeared as if the Eagles had jumped offsides and Dungey threw a deep pass to Ervin Philips on what would have been a free play. Instead, no offsides was called and the pick stood. It led to a shoving match with BC players running into the SU sideline.

Then Dungey fumbled snap on a third-and-short stopped a drive SU had pushed deep into Boston College territory. Despite getting first-half weather similar to or worse than in the Orange’s matchup with Wake Forest, SU managed two scores, one more than it tallied in the whole game against WFU.

Despite scoring an end-of-third-quarter touchdown, SU had a holding call and two false starts that pushed SU back for a 1st-and-goal from the BC 20-yard line.

Bend don’t break

Both teams had to do a little bit of stretching on Saturday. The biggest impact play in the red zone was likely Parris Bennett’s interception to stop a 53-yard Boston College drive. With the Orange nursing a 14-10 lead toward the end of the third quarter, cornerback Christopher Fredrick hit BC wide receiver Michael Walker. The ball popped loose and Bennett came up with the interception. The Orange quickly drove down the field and took a 21-10 lead on a Steve Ishmael touchdown.

The play became crucial because Patrick Towles scored a 75-yard touchdown on BC’s next drive and then scored on a field goal to close in on SU, 21-20.

After Dungey’s interception on the first drive, Syracuse also prevented Boston College from scoring a touchdown. The Eagles started with the ball at SU’s 14 and didn’t progress in the drive, knocking home a 30-yard field goal. The two stops proved crucial in what ended up being a one-score game.

On BC’s final drive of the game, it drove all the way into the red zone but failed to convert for a touchdown. Josh Black sacked BC backup quarterback Darius Wade for a loss of 11 yards on 2nd-and-10. After a short gain of seven yards, Wade tried to fit a high throw to Charlie Callinan, who dropped the pass after he was hit by two SU defenders.

Clear Skies

Although there were anything but clear skies, they were clear enough for SU’s aerial attack. The Orange had two 100-yard receivers in Amba Etta-Tawo and Steve Ishmael. The latter had his first 100-yard receiving game of the year.

Ishmael jumped and stretched his arms out in the back of the end zone, bringing his left foot down while grabbing an Eric Dungey pass for his first touchdown of the year. The touchdown accounted for the last point SU would need against Boston College.

Etta-Tawo added a late 68-yard touchdown and lead Syracuse in receiving with 144 yards in the game. He also passed the 1,000-yard mark in the game, becoming the fourth SU wide receiver to do so in program history. Although he didn’t score, Brisly Estime gained 93 yards from the inside receiver position while Ervin Philips accounted for two of SU’s four touchdowns.

That all added up to a 434-yard day for Eric Dungey, good for the second-most yards in program history.

Published on October 22, 2016 at 4:05 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati