Syracuse Suffers Heartbreaking Loss to Wake Forest in Overtime

The Orange led for most of the night until late in the fourth quarter as its upset bid falls short.

Mike McAllister | Oct 9, 2021

Syracuse Suffers Heartbreaking Loss to Wake Forest in Overtime /

A.T. Perry made a tremendous catch in overtime as #19 Wake Forest ripped the heart out of Syracuse with a 40-37 win. With the loss, the Orange drops to 3-3 (0-2) on the season. Wake Forest improves to 6-0 (4-0).

Syracuse controlled much of the action, even leading 21-10 midway through the second quarter. But a decision to accept a penalty on third down when declining would have set up a 51 yard field goal came back to haunt Syracuse. Wake Forest would convert on 3rd and 23, and score a touchdown to trim the halftime lead to 21-17. Wake took a lead midway through the third quarter on a Sam Hartman 69 yard strike to A.T. Perry, but it was short lived.

On Syracuse's next possession, Sean Tucker capped a five play, 75 yard drive with a 14 yard touchdown run to give the Orange a 27-26 lead. Syracuse had two possessions after that looking to extend the lead, but was unsuccessful. Andre Szmyt missed a 45 yard field goal midway through the fourth that set up Wake's game winning drive.

Syracuse was unable to put together a game tying drive after Cooper Lutz fumbled to seemingly seal the deal. The Orange defense forced a three and out to give Syracuse one more shot. The offense had to go 94 yards in about two minutes with only one timeout. Behind the legs of Garrett Shrader, Syracuse was able to do just that capped by a 28 yard pass to Sean Tucker to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Syracuse got a first down on its first play in overtime, but stalled there and settled for a field goal. Wake was able to punch it in on a touchdown pass from Hartman to Perry to earn the win.

Sean Tucker rushed 153 yards and two scores. He also had three catches for 29 yards and another score. It was the fifth straight game Tucker eclipsed 100 yards on the ground. Garrett Shrader ran for 178 yards and a score. Syracuse ran for 354 yards as a team. Wake, however, threw for 330. Syracuse had 514 yards of total offense.

Perry had three receiving touchdowns for Wake Forest on his only three catches of the game. Sam Hartman threw for 330 yards on 19-32 passing and three scores.

Next up for the Orange is Friday night matchup with Clemson in the Dome. That game kicks off at 7:00 p.m.

Published Oct 9, 2021

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.