Syracuse walked into Pittsburgh needing something cleaner, sharper, and far more stable than what it had shown in the first two weeks. Instead, Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium turned into another slog, one that exposed the same cracks in a 27-13 loss to Pitt: shaky quarterback play, a run game that never found a rhythm, and a penalty problem that kept digging the Orange deeper.
The final score only told part of the story. Pitt grabbed control early with a 17-0 lead, and even after Syracuse trimmed that to 17-10 by halftime, the Orange never really seized the moment.
They managed just three points after the break. Steve Angeli, who entered the night needing a clean response after last week’s three-interception outing against Cal, was benched in the fourth quarter after finishing 13-for-25 for 161 yards and two interceptions.
Kicker Tripp Woody also lost his job for the night, replaced by freshman Shay Barker as the struggles continued.
Angeli’s night started with the kind of quick-game approach that made sense for a quarterback trying to settle in. He leaned on short throws to his running backs early, and for a brief stretch it looked like Syracuse might find a groove. But the Orange’s first drive stalled when Angeli missed Darius Johnson on fourth down in Pitt territory, and the bigger throws never really came together when SU needed them most.
He did help Syracuse claw back late in the first half. Angeli connected with Umari Hatcher for gains of 34 yards down the left sideline and 24 more over the middle on the next snap, giving the Orange a burst of life.
That drive ended with Woody’s missed field goal, but Ahmad Miller scored on the next possession, and Angeli’s work helped make it a one-score game at the break. He was 11-for-19 for 155 yards at halftime, a line that looked serviceable enough.
Then the second half unraveled. Syracuse leaned harder on its backs for a while, but when Angeli was asked to throw again, the damage came fast.
Two straight possessions ended with interceptions - one intended for Cole Weaver and picked off by Raion Strader, the next thrown into double coverage and snagged by Braylan Lovelace. Angeli managed only six passing yards after halftime before Odom entered with eight minutes left in the fourth.
The Orange also couldn’t establish anything consistent on the ground, even with Tylik Hill officially available after his quad injury against Cal. Hill never appeared, leaving Syracuse with its usual group of Ju’Juan Johnson, Shavane Anderson Jr. and Miller.
Anderson got the first crack, but his opening five carries produced zero yards. Johnson and Anderson each had some useful moments as receivers on screens, but the offense kept losing ground whenever it looked ready to build something.
Syracuse’s third series featured Johnson more heavily once the Orange reached the red zone, but that possession still ended in frustration, with his two carries producing just four yards. Later, with first-and-goal at the one-yard line, Miller needed four rushes and seven plays to score from two yards out. By halftime, Syracuse had only 58 rushing yards at 2.9 yards per carry, and Hatcher - a wide receiver - was the team’s leading rusher.
Miller provided a better spark after the break. On one series, he and Anderson combined for 48 yards, with Miller finding room to accelerate through open lanes. He finished with 78 yards, but by then the Orange had already let too many chances slip away.
Penalties made sure the damage started early. Syracuse entered the game already carrying a heavy flag count, with 12 penalties against UNH and 15 against Cal, and Thursday’s first half was even messier.
A 15-yard catch by Noah Meyers was wiped out by a facemask call. An Antoine Deslauriers personal foul helped set up Pitt’s first touchdown.
Then came a kickoff penalty that pushed Syracuse back to the seven-yard line, essentially kneecapping a response before it could begin.
The flags kept coming. Demetres Samuel Jr. was called for pass interference on a play that had looked like a stop, and Brown was hit with unsportsmanlike conduct on the same sequence, giving Pitt another touchdown.
By early in the second quarter, Syracuse had more penalty yards than offensive yards - 81 on seven penalties compared with 59 on offense. Even when the Orange briefly settled down, Chris Peal was flagged for pass interference on a key third down late in the half.
Syracuse did clean things up after halftime and finished with nine penalties for 90 yards, all of them coming before the break. But the early damage had already stacked up, and the Orange spent the rest of the night trying to recover from it.
Pitt, meanwhile, controlled the game on the ground even without Ja’Kyrian Turner, who was ruled out for the second straight week. Turner had rushed for 745 yards last year, but the Panthers didn’t need him on Thursday. They rolled up 245 rushing yards anyway, and Syracuse never found an answer.
Justin Cook opened the floodgates with a 23-yard run for a first down in the first quarter. La’Vell Wright followed with a two-yard touchdown, and Damon Ferguson Jr. broke free for a 32-yard score to make it 14-0. Pitt soon pushed the lead to 17-0 with more chunk runs from Wright and quarterback Mason Heintschel, and the Panthers had 114 rushing yards and 7.1 yards per carry by halftime.
There was no real correction after the break. Pitt opened the second half with four straight runs for 76 yards, capped by Heintschel’s juke and touchdown run. Syracuse did manage some stops later, but the Panthers still finished with more than 200 rushing yards, and the Orange never got close enough to make the closing stretch matter.
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