While Pittsburgh was becoming exhausted, Syracuse was just getting warmer.
And they fired up the wayback machine again to warm up and focus almost entirely on the ground game to beat the Panthers 28-13 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
Orange quarterback Garrett Schrader, who missed Syracuse’s loss to Boston College last week due to injury, was the Orange’s primary signal-caller at Yankee Stadium.
Schrader tiptoed around the passing game, throwing for just 17 yards in the game. He primarily deployed run plays out of the Wildcat formation, reminiscent of the aggressive approach prevalent when the two teams met a century ago.
“We wanted to be physical,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said. “We wanted to go old school. We wanted to go back 100 years to when Syracuse won Game 1 against Pitt, 3-0, at Yankee Stadium.”
The rivalry between Syracuse and Pitt began in 1916 and this was the 79th meeting, with the Panthers leading the series 43-33-3.
The first half was a momentum battle, with Syracuse (5-5) finishing the first quarter with 113 total yards and Pittsburgh (2-8) with just 40 yards.
The Panthers got their run game back in the second quarter, totaling 139 yards to the Orange’s 35 at halftime, with the Panthers leading 13-7 going into the break.
Syracuse, which started both its first and second drives with touchdowns, took the lead early in the third quarter with Schröder’s 21-yard TD run.
Jayden Bellamy’s pick-six late in the period extended the lead to 21-13.
The Orange definitely took advantage of the Panthers’ turnovers, scoring on 3 of 4.
The Wildcats’ physical, run-oriented approach helped the Orange surpass their season-best rushing total by 100 yards, finishing with 382 yards.
Pitt’s eight losses of the season were coach Pat Narduzzi’s worst season in nine years with the Panthers.
On the day, Pitt had 209 passing yards, 60 rushing yards, and one touchdown from Konata Mampfield.
As for Babers, his team will look to add one more win this season to earn a second straight bowl berth.
He will be the first Syracuse coach in 20 years to attend back-to-back bowl games.
Schrader said there isn’t much of a difference between the Syracuse team that entered Yankee Stadium last December and the one that walked away with a win on Saturday.
“It’s really a similar situation,” Schrader said. “Last year, we hit a lot of guys. We had 19 surgeries. We have a lot of guys, two starting linemen and two receivers. We were in a bit of a dent last week.
“Right now, we’re doing whatever it takes to win.”
