EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut — Syracuse (2-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) held on to beat Connecticut (2-2, 0-1 American Athletic), 31-24, at Rentschler Field on Saturday.

The Huskies came within two yards of tying the Orange at 24 points with about six minutes left in the game, but the SU defense stopped two straight runs, including a leap by UConn quarterback Bryant Shirreffs that landed at the 1 yard line.

UConn also scored a touchdown with 33 seconds left in the game to pull within a score again, but couldn’t recover the ensuing onside kick.

Here are three reactions from the game.

One-man show

Before five minutes had elapsed in the game, Amba Etta-Tawo already had five catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first Syracuse receiver in history to record at least 100 receiving yards in the first four games of a season.

He finished the game with 12 catches for 270 yards and two touchdowns and became the first player in Syracuse history with multiple games of 200+ receiving yards. Etta-Tawo also broke the school record for yards in a game, which had stood since 1985.

On SU’s first drive, Etta-Tawo burned Connecticut All-AAC cornerback Jamar Summers, who bit on a play fake. Eric Dungey underthrew the pass, but Etta-Tawo slowed up to adjust. He cut across the middle of the field behind a block by Ervin Philips for the score.

On the second drive, Etta-Tawo beat Summers again on the bump and run up the seam. The Huskies cornerback had no safety help as the safety shaded toward Philips.

The Huskies left Summers on an island with Etta-Tawo through the remainder of the first quarter. On two plays in a row, Etta-Tawo ran past Summers without being touched. Dungey underthrew the first one and on the second, Summers recovered to swat the pass away.

UConn adjusted in the second half to play several yards off Etta-Tawo on the line of scrimmage, giving him shorter passes of fewer than 10 yards instead of the deep ones down the sideline.

But when the Orange faced 3rd-and-7 from its own 4-yard line, Dungey heaved another pass high that Etta-Tawo ripped out of the air for a 59-yard gain.

Starting strong

For the second week in row, Syracuse was able to take a significant lead in the opening quarter. Last game, it was a 17-0 lead against South Florida. On Saturday, it was a 14-0 advantage over the Huskies in the first five minutes.

SU’s first drive took just 51 seconds and spanned 75 yards in four plays. The second Orange drive was a bit longer at 1:22. SU went 59 yards in five plays behind another long Etta-Tawo catch.

Unlike in the South Florida game, the Orange didn’t give up 28 unanswered points in the second quarter, but SU’s offense did stall. Syracuse mustered only a field goal for the rest of the half. It came as time expired in the second quarter.

Its first second-half touchdown was scored by way of a 22-yard interception return by Cordell Hudson. The offense did get into UConn’s red zone once, but Cole Murphy missed a 33-yard field goal.

The Orange offense didn’t score a second-half touchdown until 2:13 left in the game — one that put the game somewhat out of reach.

Ball hog

Connecticut receiver Noel Thomas had a field day with the Orange defense. His stat line finished as 14 catches for 111 yards — the most catches ever by any SU opponent.

As Thomas went, so did the Huskies offense. In the first quarter, he had one catch for eight yards and Connecticut had only 68 yards as a team and no points.

But when UConn went on its 14-point comeback in the second quarter to tie the game with 34 seconds left in the half, Thomas caught seven more passes for 69 more yards, including a 16-yard catch on third down of a touchdown drive.

No other Connecticut player had more than two receptions until its final drive. The SU defense didn’t adjust much as Thomas consistently found holes in various spots of the Cover 2, lining up outside, in the slot and on either side of the line of scrimmage.

Published on September 24, 2016 at 4:29 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus