Syracuse defeated Virginia Tech in an overtime thriller 38-31.

SU trailed 21-3 in the third quarter but eventually found the footing offensively with 28 points in the second half.

In overtime the Orange took the ball first and two LeQuint Allen Jr rushes was all it took to score. A fumble recovered by Fadil Diggs sealed the deal giving the Orange a rather improbable win. Syracuse is now bowl eligible for the third consecutive year.

Here are the major storylines from the win.

Trailing 21-3, the offense, and especially the passing game, looked lifeless. Then, out of nowhere Justus Ross-Simmons caught a curl route, slipped away from his man and ran down the sideline for a 55 yard touchdown.

It was Ross-Simmons’ first catch of the year after he had been dealing with an injury. Ross-Simmons had even considered red-shirting this year after his injury sidelined him for longer than expected, head coach Fran Brown had other ideas for the junior wideout.

“He came and told me ‘Coach, I think I want to redshirt’ and I said ‘Redshirt my butt, you’re about to play this week. You're going to take off,’” Brown said.

Ross-Simmons totalled four catches and two crucial touchdowns to help Syracuse come from behind. Brown says he’s not even 100 percent healthy yet so it will be interesting to watch what the Rochester-native can bring to a team that has been mostly receiver-by-committee this year.

LeQuint Allen Jr, hailed by Brown as the best player on this team, went for 148 all purpose yards, three touchdowns on 21 carries and five catches. Allen was the lone bright spot for the Syracuse offensive in the first half.

“He can catch, play safety, he can play outside linebacker, he can play running back and receiver,” Brown said. “So he could do everything. I'm just thankful to have him on our team. It's his passion. It's how he plays the game. He does it the right way, and he puts people along.”

In overtime, or as Brown called it “LeQuint time,” it only took two carries for Allen Jr to find the endzone giving the Orange the winning score. Syracuse wouldn’t have won this time without Allen Jr.

After a more than poor performance last Thursday against Pitt, the offensive game plan emphasized short and easy throws for Kyle McCord.

His first four passes were: to the flat, deep, screen and screen.

McCord almost entirely avoided throwing the deep and his only deep shots were missed short or intercepted. The offense against Virginia Tech prioritized underneath and intermediate passes for McCord who finished with 24/35 with 280 yards.

The strategy was effective as these shorter throws had a good completion percentage and did not cause any turnovers. They also combatted blitzes from the Hokies.

Two of the longest passing plays came as a result of a quick throw combined with cover zero which freed up Ross-Simmons and Pena for 55 and 41 yarders respectively.

“I knew that we could get it going eventually, and Justus [Ross-Simmons] obviously had that big play, breaking the tackle. They went zero coverage and he broke the tackle and got a big score. I felt like that play really just took the top off of the defense for the rest of the day,” Kyle McCord said.

With Kyron Drones out, Virginia Tech turned to Collin Schlee at quarterback, a transfer from UCLA. Schlee had yet to complete this year but he looked very comfortable in the offense.

Schlee was especially effective in designed quarterback runs and option plays which the Hokies ran a lot. Last year, Schlee had 425 rushing yards at UCLA as he was deployed a lot as a runner even though he only started two games.

Today, Schlee went for 54 yards but had a lot of yards negated due to sacks as he was a threat in almost all of his carries.

This is a concerning pattern for Syracuse as they’ve surrendered a lot of rushing yards to quarterbacks in this year especially against UNLV and Stanford.

The Orange have conceded almost 300 rushing yards to qb’s this year which could be problematic with games such as Boston College and Miami on the horizon.

In Brown’s eighth game as head coach, his favorite acronym D.A.R.T (discipline, accountability, relentless, toughness) was on full display.

“I think D.A.R.T, you know what our core values are, guys just really stuck to it and just challenged each other, constantly pushing,” Brown said. “We just had to continue to push, continue to fight, just make sure that there's no quitting.”

A play that ended up being insignificant to the score was important to Brown and really lit the fire going into halftime. As the clock expired in the first half, Syracuse squandered a 47 yard run. The play didn’t matter since the clock hit triple zero and the runner was short of the endzone, but it meant a lot to Brown.

“You know, what truly pissed me off was at the end of the first half, we allowed that kid to run and almost scored. And I know like that was quitting and that was the first time I saw guys just think it was okay. And that's what made me challenge everybody and challenge myself too,” Brown said.

Every single element of D.A.R.T was on display in the win.

Discipline, Accountability. After an unsportsmanlike penalty on Allen Jr, Brown pulled aside for a play to give him a pep talk. Allen Jr responded with 25 yards and a touchdown on that drive.

Relentlessness. After trailing 21-3, Syracuse scored 21 unanswered points to take the lead. A big redzone stop limited the deficit to seven and the Orange then tied the game in the final minute with a 14 play, 75 yard drive.

“I think being down 21 to three really gives you no option but to keep fighting. And I think that's exactly what we did. And like I said earlier, there's no panic, there's no tension on the sideline,” McCord said.

Toughness. Wax and Ross-Simmons both had clutch performances for the Orange after both not being 100 healthy.

D.A.R.T was also on display in less subtle ways as Brown rocked a “D.A.R.T” hat on the sideline and McCord took his press conference in a “D.A.R.T” shirt. D.A.R.T isn’t just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle that has captured this team and is a reason for their success.

“It was about what we were doing as men off the field, how we were living, how we were going to class, how we're handling our day to day business. Because I think that is all a direct correlation of what you're going to do on the football field,” Brown said.

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