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Syracuse lost its third-straight home game by double digits on Saturday. Since the Orange opened the renovated Carrier Dome with a win against Georgia Tech, the losses have worsened. Syracuse (1-6, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) piled up a 14-point defeat to Duke, a 17-point loss to Liberty and now a 24-point beatdown, 38-14, to Wake Forest (4-2, 3-2) Saturday at home. 

The Orange’s loss to Wake Forest confirmed that SU will finish with its fourth losing season in five years under head coach Dino Babers. After the Orange scored to cut the deficit to 10-7, Wake Forest scored 28 unanswered points and coasted in the second half to its fourth win of the season. 

Here are three takeaways from the Orange’s fourth-consecutive loss:

Rex Culpepper has his worst game since becoming starter

Culpepper made his first career start against Liberty and threw for 200 yards and three touchdowns, but he had a costly fumble in his second game and turnovers that led to No. 1 Clemson breaking open a lead. Despite the mistakes, Babers insisted the Orange’s other quarterbacks, JaCobian Morgan and Dillon Markiewicz, weren’t ready to play.

Culpepper had a fumble late in the first half on Saturday that nearly led to more Wake Forest points. He threw a pick six on the second drive of the second half after Wake Forest extended its lead to 17. He threw too late to the outside, and the cornerback for the Demon Deacons stepped in front for the pick six. Culpepper’s final throw of the game was intercepted early in the fourth quarter.

SU’s offense certainly looked more explosive when Morgan entered the game midway through the fourth quarter. Morgan led the Orange down the field for a touchdown score, their second score of the game. He escaped the pocket to complete the Orange’s longest pass of the day and found Luke Benson in the end zone for a touchdown. 

Culpepper finished 15-of-27 for 81 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Morgan went 7-for-7 for 57 yards and a touchdown on his first real collegiate drive.

Third downs make the difference

Syracuse entered the game 98th out of 101 FBS teams in third down conversion rate, and those issues continued on Saturday. Wake Forest converted six of its first seven third downs on offense and finished with 9-of-17 converted.

The game’s biggest play came on a third down, when the Orange missed a chance to sack Wake quarterback Sam Hartman, who escaped the pocket. Hartman fired deep as he reached the line of scrimmage, and the Orange secondary had blown a coverage. Jaquarii Roberson broke off an 80-yard touchdown to push the Demon Deacons’ lead from 17-7 to 24-7. 

Because the Demon Deacons were able to prevent negative plays on first and second downs, they ended up in much more manageable third down conversions and could keep their offense on the field. 

Syracuse finished 3-of-11 on third downs, two of those conversions coming on the final drive of the game. On SU’s two opening drives, penalties pushed the Orange into third-and-longs, which they weren’t able to convert. On the third drive, Culpepper was sacked out of field goal range. 

Cooper Lutz was a bright spot on Syracuse’s offense

SU’s offense struggled to find big plays or sustain drives, but redshirt sophomore Cooper Lutz was one of the few spots where the Orange were able to move the chains and break off plays of more than 10 yards. Lutz showed some burst around the edge, found holes that the offensive line opened up and led the Orange in both rushing and receiving on Saturday. 

Lutz redshirted the 2018 season and didn’t play in 2019. He was a scout teamer in practice and played some slot receiver. Once the Orange knew they’d be without top two running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard, Lutz took snaps as the lead running back in one of the Orange’s two scrimmages as Babers held out Jawhar Jordan.

Even with the two opt-outs, Lutz entered the 2020 season fourth on SU’s depth chart, behind Jordan, Markenzy Pierre and emerging freshman Sean Tucker. Injuries to Jordan and Tucker gave Lutz his chance, and he carried the ball 15 times for 81 yards in the loss. He also compiled four catches for 25 yards out of the backfield. 

His number of touches indicates that he has passed Pierre on the depth chart, as Pierre managed just one carry, for a loss of two yards. While SU’s passing offense was completely shut down and the Orange averaged 3.1 yards per pass attempt with Culpepper in, Lutz’s running enabled the Orange to get on the board at all.

Published on October 31, 2020 at 3:33 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo