Kyle McCord threw for 346 yards and two touchdowns as Syracuse topped North Carolina State 24-17 on Saturday evening in Raleigh, N.C.
Jackson Meeks caught 11 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, while LeQuint Allen chipped in 91 rushing yards and a score for the Orange (5-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Justin Barron had eight tackles, an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery to headline the defensive effort for Syracuse.
NC State’s CJ Bailey finished 17-of-24 passing for 329 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a fumble. Noah Rogers caught four balls for 95 yards and a TD for the Wolfpack (3-4, 0-3), who have dropped three of their past four games.
Syracuse opened the scoring on Jayden Oh’s 32-yard field goal with 8:13 left in the first quarter. NC State answered with a long drive of its own, but Kanoah Vinesett’s 41-yard field-goal attempt was no good.
Oh missed a field-goal attempt of his own just about midway through the second quarter, but the Orange got the ball back about 2 1/2 minutes later when Kendrick Raphael fumbled and Barron recovered. On the ensuing drive, McCord hooked up with Umari Hatcher for a 28-yard score down the left side.
Yet, the Wolfpack responded quickly, as Bailey found Justin Joly for a 14-yard TD with 31 seconds remaining in the first half.
On the opening possession of the second half, Devin Grant drilled Bailey, who lost a fumble on the play. The Orange then drove 73 yards to the end zone, a march punctuated by Allen’s 4-yard TD run in which he was briefly stood up at the 1 before getting pushed into the end zone.
Now trailing 17-7, NC State drove inside the Syracuse 30 before Bailey was intercepted by Barron, who returned the pick 41 yards. That set up McCord’s 2-yard TD pass to Meeks on fourth-and-goal, making it 24-7.
The Wolfpack stayed close down the stretch thanks to two big plays. First, Bailey found Rogers for a 75-yard touchdown with about 9 1/2 minutes left. Then with 3:09 to play, Bailey connected with Hollywood Smothers for 72 yards, setting up Vinesett’s field goal that made it 24-17 with 1:32 remaining.
However, the Orange recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the win.
