Recap: Dungey's Big Day Leads No. 19 Orange Past Boston College, 42-21

Saturday, November 24

Chestnut Hill, MA

12 PM

Syracuse University

9-3 , 6-2

Boston College

7-5 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Syracuse

Boston College

Recap: Dungey's Big Day Leads No. 19 Orange Past Boston College, 42-21

11/24/2018 3:30:00 PM | Football

Box Score Highlights Photo Gallery Dino Babers Press Conference Players Press Conference Postgame Notes Quotes

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Quarterback Eric Dungey accounted for 396 total yards of offense and was responsible for a career-high six touchdowns, as No. 19 Syracuse (9-3, 6-2 ACC) clinched second place in the ACC Atlantic Division with a 42-21 win over rival Boston College (7-5, 4-4 ACC) on Saturday, Nov. 24 at Alumni Stadium.

The win gave the Orange nine regular-season victories, program's most since the 2001 season. The triumph also extended Syracuse's conference winning streak to five games and marked the second time in head coach Dino Babers' three seasons that the Orange defeated the Eagles.

HOW IT WAS DECIDED
Dungey and the Syracuse offense was too much for Boston College to handle from the get-go. After Jake Burt's 3-yard TD reception from Anthony Brown gave Boston College the lead late in the first quarter, Dungey led Syracuse to 21 straight points and four first-half touchdowns overall.

He gashed the Eagles' defense with both his arm and his legs, running for three scores and throwing a 75-yard TD pass to receiver Sean Riley. Dungey's 18-yard TD run with 1:30 remaining in the half extended the Syracuse lead to 28-14 and proved to be the winning points.

Following a 29-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Ben Glines early in the second half that closed the gap to 28-21, Dungey threw two more touchdowns. He linked up with wideouts Jamal Custis and Taj Harris for scores in the third and fourth quarter, respectively, to seal the victory.

DUNGEY PUTS HIMSELF IN RARE COMPANY
One week after he was forced to leave the game against Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium with an injury, Dungey was back under center Saturday adding to a legacy only a handful of Syracuse and ACC players can match. He finished 21-of-34 passing for 362 yards and three touchdowns to become the second quarterback in team history with 9,000 career passing yards. He now has 9,037, trailing only Ryan Nassib's Syracuse mark of 9,190.

In addition, Dungey eclipsed 3,000 total yards for the season. He now has 3,297 yards combined running and passing, second only to Nassib's 3,891 as a senior in 2012. Overall, Dungey is responsible for three of the top four total offense campaigns in school history.

Dungey also passed Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton (10,640 yards) for fifth place on the ACC career total offense ledger with 11,008 yards in 38 games. In the rushing touchdowns department, Dungey tied Syracuse legend Floyd Little for second with 35 ground scores. Dungey also matched Georgia Tech's Joshua Nesbitt and North Carolina's Marquise Williams for the third-most rushing TDs by a quarterback in conference history.

Dungey's six total touchdowns (3 rushing, 3 passing) against the Eagles gives him 32 for the season, breaking Donovan McNabb's previous Orange standard of 30 set in 1998.

FORCING TURNOVERS
It's a timeless football adage: win the turnover battle, win the game. The Orange did just that Saturday, forcing four turnovers (2 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions) and finishing +3 in turnover margin against the Eagles. Three of Syracuse's takeaways came in the second half, including two on Boston College's last two possessions of the game.

Kickoff specialist and punter Sterling Hofrichter caused and recovered a fumble on a first-quarter kickoff. Rookie defensive back Trill Williams carded his second career interception in the third quarter. Linebacker Kielan Whitner pounced on a loose football following a sack by Alton Robinson, and safety Andre Cisco grabbed his team-leading seventh interception in the fourth quarter.

The caused turnovers led to 14 Syracuse points. The Orange now own a streak of 13 consecutive games with a takeaway dating back to the 2017 season finale against Boston College. It's the longest current streak in the ACC.

BABERS BITE
"I really did believe, and I really had faith that these guys [the 2018 seniors] were a little bit different. It didn't mean it was going to turn out the way it was supposed to turn out, but I really did believe in them," Babers said. "For them to be able to accomplish what they have – second place in the ACC Atlantic – and then having an opportunity to go do something that's very rare. To win 10 games is very, very rare, and it's special. We haven't done that yet, but we have an opportunity to do it, which is truly, truly amazing. Regardless of whether we achieve it or not, I'll always remember the 2018 class as being the class that did something that a lot of people didn't believe they could do."

OF NOTE

The win represented the Orange's second straight road conference victory. Before 2018, Syracuse had never won back-to-back road ACC games since joining the league in 2013.
The Orange have an interception in every game this season. The defense has forced 30 turnovers in 12 games this year.
Running back Dontae Strickland rushed for a career-high 129 yards on 20 carries.
Riley had a team-high five catches for a game-best 115 yards and a touchdown. It was his third 100-yard receiving effort of the season.
Kicker Andre Szmyt made six PATs boost his season total to 141 points, which ranks third on the ACC single-season scoring list behind Florida State kicker Roberto Aguayo's 157 points in 2013 and Pittsburgh running back James Conner's 156 in 2014.
Linebacker Ryan Guthrie matched his personal best with 12 tackles, his fifth double-digit tackle game of the season, and his third game with a minimum of 10 tackles in SU's last four contests.
Syracuse controlled time of possession 37:19 to 22:41.
Boston College rushed for 105 yards on 32 attempts (3.3 avg.), well below its season average of 196.7 yards per game coming into Saturday.

UP NEXT
The Orange are bowl eligible for the first time since 2013, snapping a four-year postseason drought. Syracuse will learn its bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 2.

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