Syracuse spooked by North Carolina, Orange complete just four passes in 27-10 defeat

SYRACUSE, NY – On Halloween night, Syracuse football turned to true freshman quarterback Joseph Filardi in an effort to snap a four-game losing streak. The experiment, however, was in vain as the Orange offense could not get going in a 27-10 defeat to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Syracuse's four total passing completions tied for the lowest number of completions in a game for the Orange since 2002.

Syracuse held a 10-6 halftime lead with a defensive touchdown by Syracuse linebacker Anwar Sparrow being the sole difference after neither offense could find production in the first 30 minutes of play. In the second half, the Tar Heels offense woke up and ripped off 21 unanswered points to claim North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick's first conference win.

Filardi finished with 39 yards (4-18) passing and added eight yards on the ground. North Carolina amassed 278 more total yards than Syracuse, with an average of 6.9 yards per play to 2.9. Syracuse running back Yasin Wilis lead the Orange on the ground with 15 rushes for 61 yards.

"Stop all this, 'We just went winning every year,' said Syracuse head coach Fran Brown during the postgame press conference. "I just want to make sure we're going to get this going and we're going to keep building it. It's going to be done the right way. And as we do start to win, we're going to be able to sustain it."

In the first half, defense was the story of the game. North Carolina forced back-to-back three-and-outs on Syracuse's first two possessions. Meanwhile, the Orange came up with a vital goal-line stand on the Tar Heels' second drive of the game. Syracuse surrendered only a field goal following a 4th-and-goal false start by the North Carolina offense that resulted in coach Belichick opting not to go for it after originally keeping the offense on the field.

On the Tar Heels' third drive of the half, Syracuse linebacker Devin Grant laid a strong hit in the middle of the field on North Carolina's Shamar Easter who had made just his first catch of the season. Syracuse's Anwar Sparrow scooped up the fumble and returned it 51 yards to the end zone for the touchdown to get the Orange on the board and give them the 7-3 lead.

Filardi orchestrated their most promising drive of the game in the second quarter — 13 plays, 51 yards — following a third North Carolina punt, but the Tar Heels defense held strong in the red zone and forced a Orange field goal that made the game 10-3. With the Syracuse offense averaging merely 2.5 yards per play up to this point, a touchdown lead was an astonishment.

North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez put together a drive of his own for the Tar Heels — 8 plays, 67 yards — near the end of the half, yet the Syracuse defense was able to stall the Tar Heels once again and conceded a second field goal to go into the half with a 10-6 advantage.

The Tar Heels out-gained the Orange though the air with 86 passing yards to 25, as well as on the ground with 122 rushing yards to 46. Even with a lone single passing completion from Filardi (1-11) after 30 minutes of play, Syracuse's scoop-and-score touchdown managed to keep the Orange in front by four going into the second half.

Following a Syracuse punt on the first possession of the third quarter, Lopez threw a screen pass to North Carolina running back Demon June on the first play of the drive, and June did all of the rest. After making two Syracuse defenders miss and stiff arming another, June took off down the right sideline for 72-yard touchdown to give the Tar Heels the 13-10 lead.

Looking for a spark from the offense, head coach Fran Brown made a quarterback change on the second possession of the half and subbed in Luke Carney, Syracuse's other freshman signal caller. Running back Yasin Willis barreled for two first down runs at the start of the drive, and Carney scrambled for another 18 yards to get Syracuse in scoring range, however the North Carolina defense sacked Carney twice to push the Orange out of field goal range and forced a punt.

On the ensuing series for North Carolina that started on their own-20, the Tar Heels engineered a 12-play, 80-yard drive which concluded with June bouncing off multiple defenders for a 5-yard touchdown. With his second score on back-to-back possessions, June increased North Carolina's advantage 20-10.

Coach Brown opted to go back to Filardi at quarterback going into the fourth quarter, but the drive was short-lived after North Carolina defensive lineman Melkart Abou Jaoude was able to punch the ball out of Filardi's hands on the fourth play of the series and North Carolina's defensive lineman Smith Vilbert jumped on the fumble just before the ball went out of bounds.

With great field possession off of the fumble recovery, Lopez found North Carolina wide receiver Jordan Shipp open in the back of the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown, ballooning Syracuse's deficit to 17. The Syracuse defense, which was fully "bend don't break" and the story of the game in the first half, looked to be simply out of gas in the second after yielding three consecutive Tar Heel touchdowns.

"I want to win guys, I want to win by all means necessary," said coach Brown. "And last year, we were able to go do that. But I had 12 guys leave and go to the NFL. So when 12 dudes go play in the National Football League, naturally there wasn't 12 waiting to go to the league next year."

With the defeat, Syracuse extends their losing streak to five with a 3-6 overall record and a 1-5 mark in ACC play. North Carolina, meanwhile, moved to 3-5 overall and claimed their first ACC victory. Friday's game was just the eighth all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Tar Heels extending their series lead 5-3 after winning the last matchup in Chapel Hill in 2023.

"I have a lot of respect for the way my guys have fought all year long, especially after a couple tough losses," said coach Belichick. "Things didn't go great at the beginning of the game, but then they just kept battling. We emptied out the tank tonight, and we'll go back to fill it up this week."

After Friday's game, Syracuse will have consecutive road games against No. 10 Miami on November 8 and No. 12 Notre Dame on November 22 before returning home to close out the regular season against longtime rival Boston College. The game next Saturday against the Hurricanes will be at 3:30 p.m. EST.