The Syracuse Orange entered back into the Dome for their second game of the Fran Brown Era, coming off of a victory over the visiting Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), 38-22.
Playing in what is called "Week 0", the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defeated the Florida State Seminoles in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) match-up overseas in Ireland, 24-21.
Georgia Tech would have their first home game of the 2024-25 season when they faced off against the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. This contest ended 35-12 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
Syracuse would begin their first ACC game of the season, and first-ever ACC game for Head Coach Fran Brown, with a score when senior Kyle McCord, in his first season at Syracuse since transferring from the Ohio State Buckeyes, found redshirt-junior wide receiver Trebor Pena went in motion from left to right, caught the ball, and got the pigskin over the goal-line for an 11-yard touchdown, making it 7-0 Orange at the 12:21 mark of the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets would respond, also scoring on their opening possession, when redshirt-junior linebacker Derek McDonald dove for the feet of redshirt-junior quarterback Haynes King who stayed up, saw an opening, and ran for a 21-yard score, tying the game at 7-7 at the 7:52 mark.
Syracuse's second possession of the day would end at the hand of true freshman defensive lineman Amontrae Bradford, literally, when he blocked junior kicker Brady Denaburg's 43-yard field-goal attempt.
Georgia Tech would take over at their own 26, in a drive where they would go three-and-out.
The third Orange possession would go into the second quarter, and would be kept alive by a 32-yard play over the middle from McCord to Pena on a 3rd-&-15 attempt.
McCord would go right back to Pena three plays later for another score, this also from 11 yards out, when he found Pena on the right side of the end zone. Pena leapt up to grab the ball that made it 14-7 Syracuse with 12:27 to go before halftime.
After Georgia Tech's second punt in a row, McCord would find redshirt-junior tight end Oronde Gadsden II, who got by redshirt-sophomore linebacker Kyle Efford, for a 20-yard pass that came to Gadsden's hands in the center of the end zone, putting the Orange ahead 21-7 with 6:19 left on the first-half clock.
King would begin the Yellow Jackets' next drive with a completion followed by two handoffs to true freshman running back Anthony Carrie. On the fourth play of this drive, King would fake a handoff and keep it himself, running 26 yards to the house, untouched, to bring the score to 21-14 Orange at the 4:39 mark.
Syracuse's first punt of the game came with 1:37 left in the first half.
That punt by redshirt-sophomore punter Jack Stonehouse was blocked, with redshirt-junior LB Jackson Hamilton picking the ball up, putting Georgia Tech on their own 41 to start their drive.
Yellow Jackets Head Coach Brent Key would go for it on 4th-&-4, and King would find sophomore wide receiver Eric Singleton, Jr., for a 14-yard gain to the Orange 28-yard line.
King would spike the ball, sending out redshirt-sophomore kicker Aidan Birr for a 45-yard attempt.
That field-goal try would fall outside of the right goalpost, leaving the score 21-14 Syracuse at the break.
Georgia Tech would punt the ball away on their opening drive, which went three-and-out.
Fran Brown would go for it on 4th-&-1 and Offensive Coordinator Jeff Nixon called for redshirt-freshman wide receiver Zeed Haynes to get the handoff from McCord, which he took 11 yards for this first down plus what would have been enough for another first down.
The Orange would end their first drive of the second half with Denaburg's first field goal of the day, a 33-yarder, that would make it 24-14 Syracuse at the 6:51 mark of the third quarter.
Syracuse's defense would follow by forcing Georgia Tech to punt for their second time in as many drives of the second half.
On 3rd-&-2, McCord would be like the kid on the playground that Fran Brown was talking about before the season, taking off for a 15-yard gain.
However, the Orange would end the drive with a punt after a pass by McCord went behind his receiver, followed by Gadsden not holding onto the ball when it was thrown his way.
On 4th-&-1 on the Yellow Jackets' following drive, Orange senior defensive end Fadil Diggs, a transfer from the Texas A&M Aggies, got to Carrie for a three-yard loss, resulting in Orange taking over at Yellow Jackets' 35 with 12:40 to go.
Syracuse would capitalize on this Georgia Tech turnover-on-downs, with McCord finding Gadsden for his second score of the game, this a 17-yard touchdown with 8:39 remaining, raising the Orange to a 31-14 advantage.
Redshirt-senior wide receiver Chase Lane would reel the ball in in the back of the end zone for a four-yard touchdown grab from King with 5:08 to go, getting the Yellow Jackets within 10 of the Orange, at 31-21.
Georgia Tech's onsides kick attempt allegedly touched Syracuse redshirt-junior tight end Dan Villari and was recovered by Georgia Tech after the ball went nine yards.
On this drive, redshirt-sophomore Zach Pyron had to come in at quarterback after King's helmet came off. Pyron, on 3rd-&-1, would keep the ball for a two-yard run that would give the Yellow Jackets a new set of downs at the Orange 23.
Three plays later, redshirt-junior running back Jamal Haynes would take a handoff 15 yards for his first score of the day, getting Georgia Tech within a field goal, 31-28, with 2:31 remaining.
On Syracuse's next drive, McCord would find Gadsden for a 13-yard gain on 3rd-&-10, getting the Orange out to their own 38 and giving them a fresh set of downs.
Junior running back LeQuint Allen, Jr., would take Syracuse from their own 42-yard line to Georgia Tech's 34-yard line on a 24-yard carry where he would slide to the ground in order to stay inbounds and secure the victory for the Orange.
Three kneel-downs for Syracuse would run the clock to all zeroes for the Orange to claim a victory, 31-28, over the Yellow Jackets, their first of the season of a ranked this season, with the Yellow Jackets coming into the game at 23rd nationally in the Associated Press poll.
King would end the game 29-for-39 (74.4%) for 266 yards, one passing touchdown, and no interceptions to go with 67 yards on the ground on six carries (11.2 yards per carry) and two rushing touchdowns.
McCord went 32-for-46 (69.6%) for 381 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Haynes took 11 carries for 35 yards (3.2 yards per carry) and one touchdown against the Orange.
Allen accumulated 83 yards on 15 carries (5.5 yards per carry) for Syracuse.
Singleton led all Yellow Jackets with 86 yards, coming on five catches.
Lane had the lone receiving touchdown for Georgia Tech.
Gadsden and Pena caught six passes apiece from McCord, with both ending the game getting into the end zone twice; the game concluded with Gadsden having 93 receiving yards and Pena having 88.
Sophomore free safety Taye Seymore ended atop all tacklers on both teams, with 10, and had the most solo for either team as well, with six.
Diggs and McDonald led the Orange with seven total tackles, each having four solo.
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