Pittsburgh Panthers vs Syracuse Orange Match Player Stats On Nov 23, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 23, 2013

Pittsburgh 17, Syracuse 16: Isaac Bennett rushed for the go-ahead score and Tom Savage passed for 218 yards and a touchdown as the visiting Panthers edged the Orange.

Savage went 28-for-41 and hit Manasseh Garner with a touchdown pass for Pittsburgh (6-5, 3-4 ACC), which reached bowl eligibility. Tyler Boyd caught 10 passes for 82 yards and Garner finished with 61 yards on seven catches to lead the receiving corps.

Terrel Hunt completed 18-of-28 passes for 159 yards and a score for Syracuse (5-6, 3-4), which will get one more chance to gain bowl eligibility in its regular-season finale against Boston College next week. Jerome Smith ran for 88 yards and a score but a failed extra point haunted the Orange.

Syracuse jumped on top early when Smith took a draw play straight up the middle and broke for a 36-yard touchdown less than four minutes into the game, but the extra point was blocked. The Panthers got on the board with a 43-yard field goal early in the second and took a 10-6 lead on Savage’s 7-yard TD pass to Garner.

The Orange cut it to 10-9 at the half and took the lead back on Hunt’s 42-yard pass to Alvin Cornelius with 6:25 left in the third. Pittsburgh put together its longest drive of the day later in the third, marching 88 yards before Bennett’s 5-yard go-ahead score, and Syracuse had a last gasp fall short when Hunt failed to complete a fourth-and-8 pass on the Panthers' 36 with just over a minute remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Syracuse still has not allowed a 100-yard rusher. Bennett led Pittsburgh with 28 yards on 11 carries. … Boyd's 68 receptions are one shy of Larry Fitzgerald’s mark for the most by a freshman in school history. … Pittsburgh has taken eight of the last nine between the schools, which have met in every season since 1955.