Syracuse, N.Y. — Nobody in the ACC gives Clemson a tougher game than Syracuse.
Here the Orange was again, vying to become the only team to beat the Tigers twice in the last five seasons.
In the final minutes of regulation, Garrett Shrader eluded pressure and found Damien Alford on the run to move the sticks on the front end of Syracuse’s last-gasp effort that later included a 4th-and-7 conversion and a heads-up play by Anthony Queeley to dislodge the ball from a Clemson defensive back to preserve the drive.
It all allowed Andre Szmyt the chance to sink a 48-yard field goal with 43 seconds left and likely send the game into overtime for the second week in a row.
But Szmyt’s kick wasn’t close, short and to the left, giving Syracuse yet another heartbreaking finish with a 17-14 loss here Friday night.
“Wow,” Dino Babers could be seen saying on the broadcast, as the kick missed.
Syracuse has played Clemson within 10 points in three of six meetings under Babers, including the memorable upset in 2017 and close call down in Clemson the following year.
SU seemed primed to strike a blow to Clemson’s conference title hopes on a night the Tigers came into the Carrier Dome carrying around just 60 scholarship players, helping level the playing field between two teams that recruit in different stratospheres.
It got the chance after Shrader uncorked a 62-yard touchdown pass with linebacker Barrett Carter in his face to hit Trebor Pena, who stepped out of a tackle by Jalyn Phillips to bring Syracuse within three midway through the fourth quarter.
Aside from the missed field goal, Clemson’s high-end talent shined through and the football gods smiled down on Clemson on the 50/50 plays that swung the momentum pendulum.
The Tigers pounced on a fumbled punt deep in their own territory.
Their punter’s prayer of a throw on a fake punt was answered with an acrobatic catch with SU’s top cornerback in coverage in front of the home bench to set up a score right before halftime.
And before all that, the five-star quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei, delivered the best ball of the night into the end zone, where the four-star receiver, Joe Ngata, high-pointed the catch with Duce Chestnut in coverage to give Clemson an early lead on a night the number of punts nearly matched the winning score.
Those were some of the miniscule number of plays that helped decide this one, continuing another week of fourth-quarter drama and close calls that have left a fan base agonizing over what it settling in as Syracuse’s reality in 2021.
The team is much-improved, but the wins aren’t showing up in the record.
Syracuse heads to Virginia Tech next week on a 10-game conference losing streak that dates back to last year but in which the last three losses have come by a combined nine points.
It’s the first time since 1981 that four Syracuse games have been decided by three points or less. They’ve all come in consecutive weeks.
B.T. Potter’s 40-yard field goal with 9:22 remaining gave Clemson the largest lead of the night and the decisive score.
The sudden ending put a damper on what was shaping up to be an exciting finish minted by another strong effort by Sean Tucker.
On a day Syracuse threw cold water on the idea Tucker could wear the fabled No. 44 jersey this season, SU’s sensational second-year tailback made another big statement, rushing for 132 yards on just 12 carries in the first half before the nation’s No. 2-ranked scoring defense limited him to nearly nothing until the final drive of the game.
Tucker is barrelling toward SU’s first 1,000-yard season in nearly a decade and could, at this rate, break Joe Morris’s single-season rushing record of 1,372 yards by November.
Tucker’s hot start jolted a crowd that may have lagged behind what is usually Syracuse’s highest-attended sporting event but was carried by a student turnout that overflowed into the last row of bleachers in the upper deck, as it would for a basketball game against Duke.
But it wasn’t enough to ever give Syracuse a lead Friday night.
Clemson punter Will Spiers threw up a jump ball to tight end Davis Allen on a gutsy fake punt call on 4th-and-5 from the SU 41-yard line right before the half.
The acrobatic catch set up a short touchdown run by Kobe Pace to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead.
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