Syracuse picked off a pair of Fernando Mendoza passes and completely stifled California’s offense while mounting a surprising ground attack to lift the Orange to a decisive 33-25 win on Saturday.
Kyle McCord, who leads the nation in completions, was 29 for 46 for 323 yards. LeQuint Allen ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns while Jackson Kennedy converted all four attempted field goals to remain perfect on the season.
“To start fast and get them early, that was big, and I think both sides of the ball did that,” McCord said. “The defense created some takeaways, and then the offense putting up 27 first-half points was big.”
Syracuse led by as many as three scores after Mendoza threw two early interceptions.
“The sideline said ‘Ball’, and I looked — and I high-pointed it,” said Davien Kerr, who had the second Syracuse pick.
Spearheaded by McCord, the Orange boast one of the best passing offenses in the country but stayed on the ground to disarm Cal’s defensive line, running for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the first half after amassing just 39 total rushing yards against Boston College a week ago.
“We haven’t done anything good on defense,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said as his team entered the locker room at half.
Despite a 75-yard run to the end zone by Jaivian Thomas in the second quarter and Mendoza touchdown to Jonathan Brady with a minute left, Cal was flimsy on offense. The Bears managed only two red zone attempts against the Orange and have struggled from inside the 20 all season, completing 21 of 40 red zone pass attempts.
“Mendoza, he’s very crafty,” said Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. “He’s got a strong arm and a quick trigger finger, so we knew we had to switch the picture up a lot for him.”
McCord and the Orange did not surrender a turnover despite Cal leading the country in interceptions with 54.
California: Mendoza, the steady pulse of Cal’s offense, looked uncharacteristically frantic under center. After throwing for a season-high 385 yards to earn the Bears their sole ACC win last weekend, Mendoza threw two picks and only mustered 8 total minutes of offense for California in the first half, which doesn’t bode well for a Bears team that has key offensive components like Jaydn Ott limited with injuries.
Syracuse: The Orange rallied for arguably their most complete performance all season, with the oft-injured offensive line finally contributing an impressive showing. McCord helped keep the offense at a healthy tempo, aided by a career-best 11 receptions from receiver Trebor Pena.
Syracuse: The Orange will take on UConn on Saturday in a non-conference matchup at home.
California: The Bears will host Stanford on Saturday in their first Big Game matchup as ACC foes.
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. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
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