WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Aside from Wake Forest’s first four drives, the Demon Deacons had a near-impossible time converting on third down.

The Syracuse (3-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) defense held WFU (2-5, 0-3) to 3-for-15 on third-down conversions. And with Wake Forest’s true freshman starting quarterback out of the game, SU constantly shortened Demon Deacon drives. It ensured the Orange’s halftime lead would never be threatened in SU’s 30-7 win Saturday afternoon and allowed Syracuse to cycle in less-experienced players late in the game.

“We was playing our type of football, ready to go, hard-nosed football,” SU defensive end Micah Robinson said.

Syracuse readily packed the box throughout the game. And that same blitz-first offense yielded results on every down — just most crucially on third.

SU had nine players in the box on third-and-5 on Wake Forest’s fourth drive of the game. Dyshawn Davis got to John Wolford first, just before the Demon Deacons’ quarterback threw the ball straight to SU defensive end Robert Welsh.

Welsh returned the interception for a touchdown. Syracuse led 17-7 with a little more than five minutes left in the half and Wake Forest had already made its last third-down conversion of the game.

“What a beautiful day to play football,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said. “… just to feel the growth process with these young men, it’s really a blast, it really is.”

On third-and-11 on the Demon Deacons’ eighth drive of the game, left-handed backup quarterback Tyler Cameron rolled to his left under yet another Orange blitz. Linebacker Zaire Franklin shoved him out of bounds at the WFU 38 for SU’s third sack of the game.

“Just a good victory under the circumstances of where we are with our personnel,” Shafer said, “so hopefully we can get a couple guys healed up this week before we go down to Death Valley.”

Published on October 18, 2014 at 8:08 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_