After the letdown last season against Syracuse at home, there was no way the Mountaineers could lose to them again this season, was there? For the second straight season, the Syracuse Orange (5-2) defeated the 11th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (5-2) 49-23 in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York.
“Syracuse beat us physically and they beat us on all three sides of the ball – they out-played us and they out-coached us, it’s as simple as that,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.
Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib is continuing to put himself atop the list of the school’s best quarterbacks with another great performance against West Virginia. Nassib threw for229 yards and four touchdowns on Friday night. Three of the four touchdowns went to tight end Nick Provo. The other, went to backup tight end David Stevens. All-in-all, the Syracuse tight ends ended up with 10 receptions for 101 yards and four touchdowns.
“We had guys in the vicinity but they were just a step ahead of us,” said Holgorsen.
While the tight ends burnt the Mountaineer defense, the real story was the rushing for the Orange. Antwon Bailey ran for 125 yards and a touchdown and was too much for the West Virginia defense to handle for the second year in a row. Due to the lack of run stoppage on first-down, the Orange took advantage of the defense with play-action.
“If you win first down then you’ve got a chance to get them off the field. Not only did we not win first down, we didn’t win third down either,” said Holgorsen. “They completely dominated us and it was on all three sides. This was a team loss and I give Syracuse credit for having their team more excited to play and being more physical and whipping us in all three phases of the game.”
On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Geno Smith faced pressure each time he stepped back into the pocket to throw. Smith ended up going 24-41 for 338 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I’m hurt…I put my heart in this game and to get the effort that we got last night makes me wonder,” Smith said.
Stedman Bailey recorded his fifth consecutive 100 yard receiving game as he hauled in seven receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown. Brad Starks was the recipient of the other Smith touchdown pass. Shawne Alston scored the other West Virginia touchdown as he punched one in from the one yard line.
Freshman running back Dustin Garrison led the way for the Mountaineers on the ground with 58 yards on 11 carries. While Garrison has shown good running skills, he often looks lost when he doesn’t have the ball.
“We’re not a very efficient football team,” said Holgorsen. “We were able to make some big plays but we’re not efficient. We knew what they were going to do. We knew they were going to play a bunch of people up and blitz half the time and keep a lid on us.
The 49 points scored by Syracuse, goes down as the most points a West Virginia team has ever allowed in Big East play. West Virginia slips to 1-1 in the conference and will prepare to go to battle with Rutgers next Saturday at 3:30 on ABC.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
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