Terrel Hunt faked the handoff to Jerome Smith and plunged forward into the end zone.

Syracuse finally scored. Someone finally scored.

After 36 minutes of scoreless, grotesque football, the Orange broke the drought. The 99-minute scoreless spell, dating back to Oct. 12 against North Carolina State, was history. SU was on the board and the momentum had shifted. Syracuse (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) took control in the second half, blanking Wake Forest (4-5, 2-4) 13-0 at the Carrier Dome on Saturday in front of 38,550.

SU started playing watchable football again after struggling mightily in the first half. Hunt, Brisly Estime and Jarrod West sparked the Orange to victory.

“Really, it was just being hungry,” Hunt said. “We knew where we belonged and we knew what we had to do.”

In the first half, the parents and students in attendance witnessed a punters’ duel. Wake Forest’s Alex Kinal and Syracuse’s Riley Dixon simply took turns. Each had four after the first quarter and seven at halftime.

Kickoff, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt.

That’s how the 14 drives went. Neither team crossed midfield in the game’s first 10 and a half minutes.

Through the first quarter, the Orange amassed three passing yards. The Demon Deacons totaled a whopping four rushing yards.

“It was ugly,” Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer said.

But in the second half, everything changed. For Syracuse, at least.

Jerome Smith carried the ball six times for 33 yards to lead the Orange out of the break.

Then West caught a pass from Hunt and spun his way toward the end zone, diving forward and attempting to reach the ball across the plane. West celebrated, but the call was overturned.

After a false start by Beckett Wales, though, Hunt faked a handoff to Smith and dove into the end zone, finally removing the offense from 99 minutes of atrocity and embarrassment.

Hunt read the play and used his athleticism, just as Donovan McNabb had told him to do when the two spoke earlier in the week. It was an option play, and Hunt faked the defender with a bubble pass and dove into the end zone.

“Terrel’s really emerged as a leader for this offense,” left guard Rob Trudo said. “That’s what we need.”

After one punt by each team, freshman defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson changed the complexion of the game entirely with an interception at Wake Forest’s 25-yard line.

On the next play, offensive coordinator George McDonald called for some Halloween weekend trickery. West, on a reverse, threw to a wide-open Estime for a touchdown.

“(West) kind of did a crow hop, he looked like a shortstop on a baseball field,” Shafer said, “but he threw a strike down the field and we got the little guy a touchdown.”

Shafer said the offense practiced that play all week. He tried three players, but it was “interception, interception, duck.” It was horrible, Shafer said. He wanted to remove the play, but McDonald knew it could be perfected, so they kept working on it again and again.

West said he never completed the pass in practice. The Wake Forest defense bit on the reverse, which meant Estime was wide open in the end zone. Estime was so open, West said, that he could have kicked the ball to him.

Estime, who led all Syracuse receivers with nine receptions for 62 yards, jetted across the back of the end zone and jumped into teammate Ashton Broyld’s arms.

“I don’t know if I would have had the intestinal fortitude to make that call,” Shafer said, “but Coach McDonald did, and those two cats did a good job making the play.”

The damage was done. The offense had done its job and responded from a woeful first half.

It was only a matter of which offensive unit could muster up any sort of offense. Syracuse did first and altered the entire course of its season. A bowl is still realistically attainable.

Shafer thanked the fans for their continued support. He said they stuck with the team even after the mass destruction two weeks ago.

“It’s a hard-nosed town,” Shafer said. “I love this frickin’ town.”

Published on November 2, 2013 at 4:05 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass