CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College wide receiver Mike Walker broke to his left and turned around as quarterback Patrick Towles threw a strike. Walker let the ball hit his body and bobbled the pass. Syracuse cornerback Christopher Fredrick stepped into his hit on Walker. The ball flew up and linebacker Parris Bennett caught the interception.

The Eagles had gotten to the precipice of a go-ahead score. Had Walker caught the pass, BC would’ve converted a third-and-12 at SU’s 7-yard line, putting it in prime position.

Instead, SU took the ball at the 14-yard line and drove 86 yards, scoring a touchdown. The 14-point swing put the Orange up for good with a 21-10 lead.

“It was really big,” Bennett said. “We stressed that we needed to create some turnovers. Our offense had turned the ball over.”

Syracuse’s (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) defense bent but never broke inside the red zone in its 28-20 win on Saturday. Boston College (3-4, 0-4) scored on two field goals, a 75-yard run and an 89-yard kickoff return. The Eagles entered the red zone only three times in 12 total drives.

One of those drives started at the Syracuse 14-yard line after Eric Dungey was intercepted and it was returned to SU’s side of the field. Another — BC’s final drive — started at SU’s 43-yard line after Dungey fumbled the ball on third down.

Neither ended in a touchdown.

The defense allowed the Orange to break its conference road losing streak, which had stretched to eight games. The last time SU won on the road against a conference opponent was Oct. 18, 2014 at Wake Forest.

“I thought that Coach (Brian) Ward and the defensive coaches did a nice job of taking advantage of those tendencies and just playing the numbers,” SU head coach Dino Babers said. “… We tried to take away their strengths, and for the most part we did.”

The Orange has improved inside the red zone, allowing just three points inside it on Saturday. Against Connecticut, Zaire Franklin stopped quarterback Bryant Shirreffs at the 1-yard line to preserve its win. Against Virginia Tech, Rodney Williams picked off quarterback Jerod Evans to keep SU up, 17-9. On Saturday, SU got multiple red zone stops.

A big part of SU’s turn around in the last few weeks has been its defense. Since Notre Dame torched the Orange for 50 points at MetLife Stadium, SU has allowed just more than 21 points per game. Before the matchup with Wake Forest, SU had allowed 45 points per game to FBS opponents. While big plays have burned Syracuse all season, it’s cut down mistakes in the red zone.

BC completed just seven passes in the matchup, which went for a total of 64 yards. In total, the Eagles gained just 287 yards.

After Dungey’s fumble with 4:28 left in the game gave Boston College a chance to come back, BC gained the first 30 yards easily. Darius Wade, who entered for an injured Patrick Towles, completed his first pass for 12 yards. On the next play, a 15-yard penalty was tacked onto a 3 rush for BC running back Tyler Rouse.

Then Boston College stalled.

A rush for no gain, which pushed BC into a second-and-10, was quickly followed by a Josh Black sack for a loss of a 11 yards. A 7-yard completion made BC’s fourth-and-14 from the Syracuse 18-yard line more manageable. Wade dropped back and threw again to Callinan, who was standing in the end zone. The tight end leapt for the high dart, but Kielan Whitner hit Callinan.

The ball skidded away.

“As a defense, we like making fourth down stops close to the end zone,” Bennett said. “We like having the game in our own hands. It’s a great feeling knowing we can go out there and close the football game.”

Published on October 22, 2016 at 8:18 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati