EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut — On second down, four yards from his own end zone, Zaire Franklin spoke with each of the four Orange defensive linemen. After the defense allowed just two yards on the carry, he started clapping and directing traffic before the third down play.

This time, no gain. Connecticut called timeout, facing a fourth-and-goal and needing two yards and an extra point to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

Huskies quarterback Bryant Shirreffs rolled to his right on a designed run. He tried leaping into the end zone but Franklin ripped him to the ground at the 1-yard line. Franklin high-stepped back to the SU 10-yard line after leading the SU defense to its biggest stop of the season.

“Basically, (Zaire) was just telling us to nut up,” defensive back Cordell Hudson said. “That drive was going to determine the outcome of the game.

“That might have been the best play I’ve been a part of since I started playing football.”

Syracuse (2-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) was headed down an unfortunate yet familiar path. For the second straight week, SU looked ready to blow its first-quarter lead. But the Orange flipped the script with its defense, making key plays and even scoring a touchdown in a 31-24 win over Connecticut (2-2, 0-1 American Athletic) on Saturday at Rentschler Field.

The Orange offense, which scored 14 first-quarter points behind two long Amba Etta-Tawo touchdowns, continued to stall in the third quarter. It gained just 31 yards and was on the field for only a little over four and a half minutes.

“You can’t have tempo if you’re not getting first downs,” head coach Dino Babers said at the half.

But the defense bailed out the offense and made the major play for the Orange late in that third quarter. On third-and-8 from his own 8, Connecticut quarterback Bryant Shirreffs had his pass down the left sideline deflected by the outstretched left arm of a diving Franklin. The ball stayed in the air long enough for Hudson to catch it and then run it back for a seven-point lead.

The return touchdown was the first SU has scored outside a first quarter since Eric Dungey’s running score in the third quarter against Louisville.

“To come out and get a pick-six and take it to the house, (that) really changed the game for us,” Babers said.

Tony D. Curtis | Staff Photographer

Although SU took the lead on that play, it also meant that a defense that had already been on the field for 29:43 to that point was coming back out again with no rest.

But the defense forced another punt to start the quarter. SU had the ball back, and a score could have reversed the downward slide of the offense and alleviated the pressure from the defense.

SU marched down the field to the UConn 16-yard line, but Cole Murphy missed a 33-yard field goal. It was his second missed field goal of the game. The Orange defense was tasked again with preventing deja vu.

The Orange thought it had held its ground when the Huskies field goal unit came out on fourth-and-3 from the SU 25-yard line to attempt a field goal. But it ended up being a fake pass that set up first and goal from eight yards out.

After allowing Connecticut to advance eight yards, the SU defense found the stop it desperately needed. After Franklin’s stop, the Orange offense drove 99 yards and scored a touchdown to seal the game.

It seemed like the Orange offense would have to keep SU afloat with the defense’s injuries. But it was the defense that made the two biggest plays of the day for Syracuse.

“The linebacker made a good play and I didn’t,” Shirreffs said. “It came back to haunt us.

“It cost us the game.”

Published on September 24, 2016 at 7:01 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer