CLEMSON, S.C. — After Syracuse’s heartbreaking, 27-23 loss to No. 3 Clemson, standing outside the visitors’ locker room, Dino Babers addressed a blitz of questions.

Feel like your team deserved to win that game?

 Did your team earn some respect today?

 Does it prove anything about this program?

 “We can’t be satisfied with coming close,” Babers said, answering the last question. “Because that doesn’t pay the bills for us.”

Syracuse (4-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) proved it’s a good football team Saturday — programs don’t lose to the No. 3 team in the country by four points, on the road, by accident.

But as the Tigers slashed down the field late in the fourth quarter on their game-winning drive, it became clear that, though Syracuse is improved, there are disparities still between the Orange and the upper crust of college football.

“We’re in a run to be the best team we can be,” Babers said. “It’s unfortunate that we lost today.”

 On Saturday, Syracuse went 3-for-15 on third down, took five penalties for 31 yards — an illegal man downfield cost a fourth down conversion — and kicked three field goals.

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To win against the best, especially on the road, sustaining drives and scoring touchdowns is critical. The rationale is simple: The more you have the ball, the more likely you are to score.

SU went for it on fourth down, converting once. The failure came with about nine minutes left, as Syracuse led Clemson, 23-20. Lined up at the Clemson 43-yard line, SU ran a run-pass option. SU quarterback Eric Dungey pulled the ball from Moe Neal, saw no running lane, and lofted a ball to tight end Aaron Hackett, who had a free release.

It worked beautifully, except for the flag on the field. A signature feature of an RPO is a run blocking screen, despite the possibility of a pass. Left tackle Cody Conway was six yards downfield when the ball was caught. The ineligible receiver downfield penalty cost Syracuse five yards and a potentially game-changing first down.

But Conway’s assignment as a tackle in a run blocking scheme is to get to the second level — he has no way of knowing if a run or pass is coming behind him. Dungey saw the play developing, but held the ball too long, apparently deciding between running and throwing. Babers took the blame after the game. Clemson was in a Cover 0 defense, Babers said, meaning SU had one-on-one matchups across the board. Babers said he should’ve audibled.

Instead of a first down, Syracuse punted.

Keeping drives alive is critical, especially against the best teams in country. Compounding the issue with penalties only adds insult to injury.

 When Syracuse found itself on the Clemson side of the 50, the end zone remained elusive. Of the seven drives that reached Clemson territory, two resulted in touchdowns, including a 10-yard drive, courtesy of a muffed punt. Three ended in field goals, two in punts.

“We needed to score one more touchdown,” Babers said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

The Orange did capitalize on the punt, as it needed too, but SU’s two other turnovers — a Trill Williams pick and Alton Robinson fumble recovery — set Syracuse up twice in Clemson territory. SU turned those two takeaways into a combined three points.

Teams like Clemson don’t give away gifts that often, and Syracuse didn’t make the Tigers pay.

“It’s going to come down to one or two plays,” Babers said. “One field goal that turns into a touchdown. One touchdown that turns into a field goal.”

Clemson started its decisive 94-yard march with 6:06 left in the game. It rolled down the field behind running back Travis Etienne until facing a defining fourth and one. Syracuse had three timeouts. A false start backed the Tigers up five yards. But backup quarterback Chase Brice connected with Tee Higgins for a first down. Higgins stepped out of bounds. Clemson, with 2:41 left on the SU 32 yard-line, eyed the end zone.

With the game in the balance, Syracuse needed one stop and couldn’t get it.

Five-straight handoffs later, :41 remained and Clemson led, 27-23.

Clemson’s running backs, particularly Etienne, ran free because of lapses from Syracuse’s linebackers. On Etienne’s second rushing touchdown, a stretch to the right side, linebacker Ryan Guthrie took a step to his right. As the hole shifted, and Etienne cut to Guthrie’s left, the linebacker could only dive at Etienne’s ankles.

When Etienne slipped past Syracuse’s linebackers for the game winning touchdown later in the fourth quarter, all three were swallowed up in the heart of the offensive line. Guthrie and Kielan Whitner, on the play side, failed to set the edge.

It didn’t have to go that way.

Babers understandably wanted to sit on his timeouts, sensing there may be a need for a last-chance drive. But after Clemson converted on fourth down, and the defense didn’t seem to have anything left, the clock still ran and Etienne walked into the endzone.

A timeout could’ve disrupted Clemson’s offensive rhythm while giving the defense a breather to unscramble. It would’ve given the offense more time.

On SU’s ensuing drive, after a negated play and a bone crushing sack to Dungey, Babers used timeout No. 1. There was :20 left. SU sank to 4th and 17. The clock stopped due to a third-down incompletion. There was :12 left. The entire game rested on that play. Babers stood pat and kept his offense on the field.

Even during the final drive, the absolute last ditch effort to pull off a miracle, when it was time to give everything, Babers sat on two timeouts.

“I had to see what was going on,” Babers said of his late timeout usage. “Whether they were trying to score a field goal, whether they were trying to score a touchdown. If I use those timeouts and then they go all the way down to the end and they score with one second left — I use two timeouts — you’d be asking me the other questions.”

By no means should Syracuse hang its head after Saturday’s performance. There is no shame whatsoever in the outcome, one that previous teams couldn’t have pulled off.

In losing by four points to the No. 3 team in the country on the road, Syracuse proved the margin between the Orange and the elite has narrowed.

The difference between a win and a loss was razor thin, but perhaps the biggest gap of all.

Andrew Graham is a senior staff writer at The Daily Orange where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at aegraham@syr.edu or @A_E_Graham.

Published on September 30, 2018 at 10:34 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham