After a Team Win; Orange Have Homecoming vs. BC

Syracuse continued its trend of playing close games on Saturday at Virginia Tech. Each of the Orange's previous four games had been decided by three points, three of which didn't go 'Cuse's way. Ten straight points for the Hokies put 'Cuse down by nine with 5:36 remaining. But this time the Orange wrote a different ending.

Everyone will remember the 45-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Shrader to Damien Alford for the game winner. However, there were plays that may have gone unnoticed that set up the dramatic finish, and an intangible, too.

"I really thought it was the faith," head coach Dino Babers said when asked about the keys to the comeback. "The faith of the team."

After a 47-yard touchdown run by Malachi Thomas gave Virginia Tech the largest lead of the game at 36-27, freshman Trebor Pena returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to start the drive at the Tech 45-yard line. Seven plays later, Courtney Jackson caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Shrader and Andre Szmyt's extra point brought Syracuse within two, 36-34.

The Orange defense stopped the Hokies and Rob Hanna's sack on third down for a 10-yard loss forced a punt, which Pena returned 15 yards to give Syracuse the ball with 1:04 remaining.

After two incomplete passes, Shrader ran for six yards on third down and six more on fourth down to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, the Orange regained the lead on Alford's touchdown.

The Orange kicked it deep on the ensuing kickoff and Luke Benson and Stefon Thompson combined to stop the returner at the Virginia Tech 13. The Hokies gained 29 yards on their first play and a pass interference call gave them the ball at the Syracuse 48-yard line, setting up the final play of the game. Braxton Burmeister's pass into the end zone fell to the ground and Orange nation could exhale.

It was another emotional game for Syracuse, but Babers isn't concerned about how his team will respond.

"Here's the thing about playing football, you've got 12 [games] and if you do really good it's 13," he said. "You don't have a lot of time to mope or feel bad about something. You really have to try to flush things and get going to the next week. If not, the season is over. We're two-thirds done. We're sitting at 4-4. We have five weeks left because we have a bye. Then it's gone. What you do is going to matter on whether you have the opportunity to (play) 13 (games). They have to rebound, they have to come back and I think it's a lot easier, obviously, when you win then it is when you lose I thought they have doing a fantastic job, even in the losses."

The Orange will try to take another step toward earning a 13th game when it hosts long-time rival Boston College on Saturday in the Carrier Dome at 3:30 p.m. Several former players will be on hand as the University celebrates Orange Central/Homecoming weekend. Dating back to 1949, the Orange are 41-29 (.586) all-time in Orange Central/Homecoming games.

"Now we get the opportunity to come back home for Homecoming versus Boston College and Jeff Hafley," Babers said. "[It's a] team we have a lot of history with. We're looking forward to having the 'old-timers' come back, so to speak. I'm looking at the internet and I see all of the guys are coming back. It's going to be a nice crowd. We're looking forward to getting back to the Dome and playing another game at home."

Boston College comes into Saturday's game with a 4-3 mark, 0-3 in ACC play. The Eagles are Syracuse's second-most frequent opponent of current ACC squads (54), trailing Pittsburgh (76). The Orange own a 32-22 advantage in the all-time series.

Visit cuse.com/tickets or call 888-DOME-TIX to purchase your tickets for Friday night. Click here for Syracuse's current public health guidelines and expectations for attendees.

Syracuse University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Damien Alford

Luke Benson

Rob Hanna

Courtney Jackson

Trebor Pena

Garrett Shrader

Andre Szmyt

Stefon Thompson

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