LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Zaire Franklin stood at Louisville’s 15-yard line. Kyle Bolin lay on the ground. Cole Hikutini had the ball in his hands in the end zone.

Franklin had a free rush on the Louisville quarterback, hit him in the chest and knocked him to the turf as he threw.

But Bolin squeezed the throw into a narrowing window to Hikutini and Syracuse’s hopes of winning began to narrow, too.

“Those types of plays, I always feel like I’m so close, but I’m never close enough,” Franklin said.

That play gave Louisville (5-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast) an 18-point lead with more than nine minutes left in the third quarter of an eventual 41-17 win. It cemented a stretch in which the Cardinals scored touchdowns on two of four possessions, excluding a pick-six that immediately preceded it.

Louisville’s 21 straight points in just more than 10 minutes of game time between the second and third quarters was the turning point of Saturday afternoon’s game at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Thirteen more in the second half buried the Orange (3-6, 1-4). In the same time frame after the interception, SU’s drives ended with three punts and a missed field goal.

“It stings,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said. “It stings bad.”

Syracuse got off to a fast start with a two-play touchdown possession after a Cordell Hudson interception. But it all fell apart for Syracuse following Eric Dungey’s interception.

Louisville’s Trumaine Washington jumped in front of the intended out route and had 39 yards of open field in front of him. Dungey was the last offensive player back to the Orange’s sideline as he walked off the field after throwing a pick-six for the first time in his career. It was the first of three turnovers the freshman had in the game before getting hit in the head and leaving the game.

 

SU went three-and-out on the ensuing possession and pushed Louisville back to the 11-yard line. Five plays later on fourth-and-2 from Louisville’s own 48, Bolin looked to his left, where Syracuse had everyone covered up. He turned back to his right and found a wide-open Keith Towbridge for an eventual 32-yard gain because an Orange defender missed an assignment, defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said.

Louisville eventually scored to go up 21-10 at halftime and as the game progressed, the floodgates opened against an SU defense that struggled because of a lack of in-game adjustments, Bullough said.

“That’s the pickle we have right now,” Bullough said. “We’re not old enough to have those adjustments and put them on the field.”

At one point, SU’s entire defensive line was made up of freshmen, a position group that was already limited when senior defensive end Luke Arciniega was ruled out with an upper-body injury on Thursday.

Once Syracuse was trailing 21-10 at halftime, it was forced to be more aggressive, offensive coordinator Tim Lester said. The Orange attempted 21 passes in the second half compared to 15 in the first. Syracuse had three three-and-outs in the second half and not a single drive went for more than 44 yards.

“When you’re down, you take shots,” Lester said. “First down shot. Second down incomplete. And then you get into third-and-10. That’s naturally going to happen when we’re more aggressive.”

With the loss, Syracuse has nearly no room for error if it wants to become bowl eligible. Three games remain and No. 3 Clemson comes to the Carrier Dome next week. SU has never beaten a ranked team under Shafer and has allowed more than 40 points in four of the last five weeks.

When asked if he feels like there’s been improvement, Franklin said, “It’s always tough to say that when you keep losing games by large margins.”

Saturday was just another example.

Published on November 7, 2015 at 4:07 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds