SU is now eliminated from bowl contention for the first time since 2011.
The Carrier Dome hasn’t been kind to the Syracuse Orange this season.
Hoping to keep its postseason hopes alive against Duke on Saturday, the Orange instead dropped its third straight game, 27-10, in front of 39,331 fans on Senior Day. SU will finish 1-5 at the Dome and out of the bowl picture.
After surrendering a second-half lead against N.C. State, SU must now win all of its remaining games to qualify for a bowl.
With less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Syracuse quarterback AJ Long was intercepted by N.C. State defensive end Pharoah McKever.
McKever, who played wide receiver last year before switching to the defense in 2014, returned the interception for an 82-yard touchdown that put the Wolfpack ahead for good.
“I really never ran that far in a long time, so when I got that ball my intention was to just go, go, go,” McKever said.
SU's defense forces four turnovers, but the offense fails to reach the end zone in a 10-point defeat.
Few people expected Syracuse to handle the pressure of a big-time road game, especially not the team’s first trip to “Death Valley” against the No. 21 Clemson Tigers.
Surrounded by fireworks, balloons and 80,031 screaming Tigers fans, the Orange walked into an electric Memorial Stadium. It was the largest crowd to witness a Syracuse football game since 2009, when the Orange played at Penn State (106,387).
But after a hard-fought 16-6 loss to the Tigers, the mood in the Orange locker room was extremely somber.
A pair of defensive touchdowns propels SU to its first conference victory.
More than 25,000 fans were sprinkled in the stands on a sunny afternoon at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, N.C., to see two Atlantic Coast Conference teams battle for their first conference victory this season.
Instead, they witnessed a Syracuse blowout.
The Orange (3-4) scored two defensive touchdowns and piled up 199 rushing yards to rout Wake Forest, 30-7.
Football players will alternate between all-blue, all-white or all-grey uniforms throughout next year.
Every day, SU head coach Scott Shafer said he’d walk down the hallway next to his office and see how the program, the players and the uniforms have changed over the years. And Wednesday at Destiny USA, Shafer and the team unveiled a new look the Orange will wear during the 2014-2015 season.
Coming off a bye week, the Orange made key defensive plays to thwart a late comeback by the Panthers
Syracuse was spearheaded by a strong defensive effort including a fumble recovery turned 52-yard touchdown by sophomore Dyshawn Davis to defeat Pittsburgh 14-13 in its Big East opener.