Four Syracuse Sacks Made SMU’s Yardage Work Much Harder

A six-yard loss can look harmless when it is printed beside 421 yards of offense. In SMU’s 30-27 loss at Syracuse, the one late in the fourth quarter was anything but harmless.

The Mustangs held a 27-23 lead with 5:26 left Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome. Kevin Jennings gained nothing on first down from the SMU 25. On second down, Syracuse sacked him for six yards. Third-and-16 produced an incompletion, and Wade McSparron punted from the SMU 19 at 3:36.

Syracuse needed 11 plays to travel 68 yards on the possession that followed. Steve Angeli found Noah Meyers for a 2-yard touchdown with 17 seconds remaining, and the Orange had turned a game they trailed into a win. The key possession began with SMU holding the lead; the sack helped ensure Syracuse would begin its winning march with room to operate.

That sequence gives the Mustangs’ offensive numbers their proper shape. SMU gained 421 total yards, while Syracuse had 338. Jennings completed 29 of 36 passes for 351 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Those are winning-caliber passing figures in many afternoons. They were attached to an offense that repeatedly surrendered chunks of territory at exactly the wrong moments.

Syracuse finished with four sacks for 52 lost yards. That total explains why SMU’s rushing line ended at 70 net yards despite 129 yards gained on 31 rushing attempts. Kendrick Raphael still produced 51 net yards on 14 carries.

Jennings ran 13 times for minus-5 yards, and the sacks pulled the team’s average down to 2.3 yards per attempt. The rushing column was less a portrait of the running game than a record of how expensive the negative plays became.

The first sack altered a promising red-zone possession in the opening quarter. SMU had moved from the Syracuse 8 to the 1 after Jennings ran for seven yards. He then lost five yards, sending the ball back to the 6.

On third-and-6, Syracuse brought Jennings down for a 17-yard loss, and the ball wound up at the Syracuse 23. Brendan Baird made the ensuing 40-yard field goal.

A touchdown was still an opportunity, but the sack made it much harder to finish the possession in the end zone. SMU had built the opportunity with a 43-yard completion to Derrick McFall and a 19-yard Christian Rhodes run. After the sack, the Mustangs were asking their kicker to rescue a drive that had been sitting near the goal line.

SMU received three points from a possession that had brought it to the Syracuse 1. Even a productive drive can leave something costly behind, particularly in a game decided by three.

The second sack produced an even uglier retreat. In the second quarter, an apparent 51-yard completion to Jalen Cooper was erased by an ineligible-downfield penalty. On the next snap, Jennings lost 17 yards on a sack, moving SMU from its own 30 to the 13.

Jennings completed a 14-yard pass on third-and-30, leaving SMU to punt on fourth-and-16 from its own 27. A return and penalty put Syracuse at midfield, and Ahmad Miller’s 1-yard touchdown run followed.

SMU’s passing production makes the sack story more complicated, not less convincing. Yannick Smith caught five passes for 95 yards. Knight contributed 80 receiving yards, a touchdown and six catches.

Jennings also delivered an 88-yard touchdown drive in the first half, then led an 85-yard touchdown possession in the third quarter. SMU went 4-for-4 in the red zone, scoring three touchdowns and one field goal. The Mustangs were capable of finishing drives once they reached the right part of the field.

The third sack interrupted another drive that had been moving. During the third quarter, SMU advanced from its own 9 to the 45 before Jennings was dropped for a 12-yard loss. The offense recovered enough to reach its own 49, but the possession ended with a punt.

One snap removed most of the ground gained by the previous sequence without producing a turnover or an immediate score for Syracuse. Field position is often lost less dramatically than a fumble and just as decisively.

Syracuse’s offense also deserves credit for making those lost yards matter. The Orange ran for 138 yards, converted all four of their fourth-down attempts and stayed alive on the final drive when Angeli connected with David Clement on fourth-and-1 at the SMU 39. Clement caught the pass at the SMU 40 and gained seven yards, moving the ball to the SMU 32.

Two more completions and a run for no gain preceded Meyers’ touchdown.

Jennings was not the easy villain. His passing was the best part of SMU’s offense, and the Mustangs scored on every red-zone trip. The sharper criticism belongs to the arithmetic of the possessions: four sacks, 52 lost yards and a final punt from the 19 while protecting a four-point lead.

SMU’s 421 yards were real. Syracuse simply made too many of them expensive to keep the victory.

Sources

SMU: official game book and play-by-play

ESPN: final game record and play-by-play

SMU: Dallas campus location