Syracuse’s postseason hopes are over.

The Orange (3-7, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) imploded after three competitive quarters and fell to No. 22 Duke (8-1, 4-1), 27-10, on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Here are three costly mistakes Syracuse made in the fourth quarter that doomed SU’s season on Senior Day. 

That burst

Duke hinted at its explosiveness on special teams with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that was called back for holding in the first quarter.

Syracuse caught a break then, but definitely didn’t catch Jamison Crowder in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devil caught the punt at his own 52-yard line in the middle of the field, took off and threw one lethal stutter that started his trek for six. 

A Syracuse defender flew right past him and Crowder coasted to the end zone, giving one last look over his left shoulder as he crossed the goal line and starting the fourth-quarter onslaught that crushed the Orange’s postseason aspirations.

Losing faith?

Mitch Kimble held onto a zone-read, went down for a loss and brought up fourth-and-4 for the Orange.

SU’s defense, an energetic, lockdown group nearly all game long, was waiting on the sideline to go out and get the team another stop, trailing by seven points.

But Syracuse elected to try a fake punt. And it didn’t work. Duke took over at SU’s 32-yard line and Ross Martin tacked on a field-goal to increase the separation to 20-10 with 9:08 left in the game.

Downfield issues

Behind 20-10, it was desperation time for Syracuse.

Right after Martin’s field goal, SU quarterback Austin Wilson launched a bomb downfield for Jarrod West, but the fifth-year senior stopped running. Duke cornerback Breon Borders didn’t.

Borders ran down his second interception of the game and put the Blue Devils in position to put the game even more out of reach. Three plays later, Anthony Boone lofted a pass for Issac Blakeney, who left Julian Whigham on the ground and cruised into the end zone for the second time in the game.

Published on November 8, 2014 at 4:55 pm