Dyshawn Davis scooped up Ryan Norton’s onside kick with 17 seconds left and had nothing but turf in front of him.

The senior outside linebacker ran a little over 50 yards with the recovery, his legs pumping more and more volume into the Carrier Dome crowd with every step and his teammates mobbing him after he crossed the goal line.

But three referees at midfield had been waving the play dead from the time Davis touched the ball. That ended the false-alarm celebration and forced AJ Long to throw a Hail Mary two plays later, which all but kissed the Dome’s ceiling before it was hugged by North Carolina State’s Josh Jones at the 8-yard line to seal the game.

Syracuse’s (3-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) offense was inept for all but 6:45 of game time Saturday afternoon and that was its ultimate downfall in a 24-17 loss to the Wolfpack (5-4, 1-4) in front of 40,787 fans. And aside from the glaring fact that the Orange attack squandered another solid performance by its workhorse defense, the loss leaves SU three wins short of bowl eligibility with three games to play.

An untimely pick-six from Long’s hand to Pharoah McKever’s chest wasn’t the decisive blow on the scoreboard, but it sucked the temporary life out of the Syracuse offense and helped shape a season that has so far been defined by missed chance, after missed chance, after missed chance.

“I made mistakes down the stretch that I can’t make if we want to win,” said Long, a true freshman. “I can’t fumble with four minutes left. I got to put more air under the ball on the last play. There’s too many mistakes that I’m making that cost us this game.”

N.C. State jumped out to a 9-0 lead with three Niklas Sade field goals before the 8:06 mark of the second quarter, and Syracuse’s offense continually stalled as it tried and failed to run the ball.

But for two possessions — one to end the first half and the other to start the second — Syracuse’s offense buried its first-half ineptitude and looked like it could win a football game.

SU offensive coordinator Tim Lester said that the sharp offensive turnaround was sparked by more aggressive play calling and it led to a 15-yard touchdown to Ben Lewis and a 25-yard score to Steve Ishmael, which was the third time Long and Ishmael have collected for a touchdown this season.

“We were trying to establish the ground game and it wasn’t working,” Lester said. “So we just opened it up a little bit and threw it more and that helps us move it.”

Those drives accounted for 22 plays, 171 yards, 14 points and the first offensive touchdown the Orange had scored in more than two full contests of game time.

But SU went three-and-out before punting on its next drive and Long made the game’s biggest mistake a possession later.

N.C. State dropped McKever into coverage and Long threw the ball right into his arms. The defensive end took it 82 yards to the end zone, stepping over Long on the goal line as he stumbled to the ground and flailed his arms at a last-ditch tackle attempt.

Long fumbled, N.C. State’s Jacoby Brissett found running back Shadrach Thornton for an 18-yard score and Cole Murphy hit a 50-yard field goal at the tail end of the fourth. Then a thinned crowd fooled itself into thinking that the Orange caught a season-changing break on the onside kick.

It was jubilant, confused and then defeated. It cheered for a touchdown, booed the actual call and then headed to the exits when Long’s interception left a lone second on the clock. There was no reward for sticking around.

“Let’s just focus on the positives that we can and not worry about the things we can’t control,” Shafer said. “The thing we always talk about is controlling things in your life that you can control.”

What Syracuse can control is whether it will be eligible to play in the postseason. It’s just run out of mistakes to make.

Published on November 1, 2014 at 6:38 pm

Contact Jesse: [email protected] | @dougherty_jesse