By james art 
5 takeaways from Syracuse’s 38-31 win over Virginia Tech
Syracuse rallied for an impressive 38-31 overtime victory over Virginia Tech.
Here are the key takeaways from SU’s sixth win of the season that made them bowl eligible.
Wax and Allen shine (again)
This is being written before all the games for the day have been completed, but Marlowe Wax Jr. should be in line for his second ACC Linebacker of the Week honor following his performance. His return gives the defense a big impact and creates some depth in the back week with Justin Barron’s ability to play both line and linebacker.
Mirrory Wax’s impact is LeQuint Allen’s tough running offense, as evidenced by his tough late drop in both the Virginia Tech and UNLV games. Both players are the emotional hearts of their units and it’s easy to see their teammates feed off of them.
The Hokies are showing defensive adjustments early
While it wasn’t the detonation that Pitt’s defense caused, Virginia Tech did take one lesson from that film when it came to stopping the Orange offense. While their pass rush hasn’t been as ferocious, the Hokies have focused on eliminating the short passing game that has been SU’s bread and butter early in the season.
In particular, the Orange’s passing attack was really stifled in the first half. He generated just 90 yards through the air on an average of 4.5 yards per attempt with just three completions that were good for double figures, the longest being an 18-yard gain where Darrell Gill Jr. got confused.
Even SU’s big plays in the second half were short passes. Justus Ross-Simmons’ 55-yard and 28-yard touchdown catches look like deep drives on the score sheet, but they were short passes where he slipped through a tackle and went the distance. Trebor Peña’s 41-yard heave to set up LeQuint Allen’s first score was a screen pass that saw him run on the move to set up a cluster of blockers as Kyle McCord stripped the ball before the snap.
A separate note on short passes is that 3rd and 15 may not be the best time to double pass to a running back near the line of scrimmage.
Kennedy kicks a long FG
Jackson Kennedy’s 44-yard field goal was the longest field goal by the Orange this season. It was the first field goal attempt longer than 33 yards by an SU player this season after Brady Denaberg and Jaden Oh combined to miss five attempts of 40 yards or more.
PATs were nearly blocked
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s final two extra point kicks came close to being blocked by an outside rusher after an earlier one was blocked by a rush up the middle. Either Kennedy wins the job by the end of the season, or Syracuse has to go “no field goal and always play for two” the rest of the way, then take an established kicker out of the postseason.
Second half key
The quiet key to Syracuse’s comeback was 5-of-7 in the second half after going 2-for-7 before the break. They also reached 6.79 yards per play after halftime after posting 4.90 yards per play prior to that.
—-
Chat about this story and all things Syracuse and Syracuse recruiting on our premium message board, Cuse Classified!
Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnlinelike us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.
Tips/Questions/Concerns? Email Recruiting Analyst Charles Kang here.
Not a subscriber to The Juice Online? Join today for access to all our premium content and message board community.