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[QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2396981, member: 289"]
This season I will once again be charting Syracuse’s games in terms of “winning plays”. I look at the results of each play and decide which team got the minimum they wanted out of the play. Rather than making instinctive judgments, I use a formula:

-              On first down, the offensive team wants to get at least a third of the way to a new first down: they will have two more plays before they might have to surrender the ball and if they gain that same amount of yards on each of those two plays, they’ll get the first down. If they don’t make it a third of the way to a new first down, the defense won the play.
-              On second down, the offense wants to get at least halfway to a new first down by the same logic.
-              On third and fourth down, they want to get the first down.
-              Penalties, if added onto a play by the referees, are added on to the results above. If the offense gains 5 yards on first down but there was holding and they lost yardage instead, the defense won the play. If a running back made a 20 yard run on first and ten and the holding was 15 yards downfield, turning it into a 5 yard gain, that’s still a win for the offense. If the defense is penalized and it’s tacked on, again the net result is what is evaluated. The penalties I’ve listed negated the play entirely and are a “loss” for the penalized team and thus a win for their opponent. .
-              If a penalty was not tacked onto a play, it’s a lost play for the team being penalized. I'll count them separate from the other plays from scrimmage because I don't know if the intended play before the penalty would have been a run or a pass - so i wouldn't know where to put it in the chart below.
-              A turnover is, obviously, a win for the team that wound up with the ball.
-              On a kick-off a touchback brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Teams still seem to be trying to kick the ball into the end zone and avoid a runback if they can, so any kick-off that results in the receiving team starting between their goal line and their 25 is a win for the kicking team. Beyond that, the receiving team wins.
-              On a punt, a touchback takes the ball out of the 20. So any punt that results in the other team taking over from their goal line to their 20 is a win for the punting team. If the next change in field position is at least 40 yards, the punting tam has also won the play.
-              A successful place kick is, obviously, a win for the kicking team.
-              Any play that results in a touchdown is, obviously, a win for that team that scores it.
-              A “victory play” where a team accepts a loss just to let the clock run out, is a win for the offensive team.

I will indicate in parenthesis how many yards there were to go to get a new first down, (if other than 10), unless it was for no gain or negative yardage. If it was a touchdown, (“TD)” a scramble/sack (“S”) a victory play (“V”) or involved a penalty (P). I’ll treat a scramble or a sack as a passing play as the Cuse.com play by play now tells you when it’s either of those two. .  1R means first down running plays. 1P means first down passing plays, etc.

THE BOSTON COLLEGE GAME

When Syracuse had the ball:

KO:         BC 27, BC 23, BC 31
Total:     Syracuse 1 Boston College 2
P:            44 to BC 27, 40 to BC 21, 29 to BC 20, 36 to BC 5, 39 to BC 15
Total:     Syracuse 5 Boston College 0
FG:         No Good from 50
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 1
XP:         Good, Good
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 0
Kicking plays total:           Syracuse 8 Boston College 3

1r:           5, 13, 0, 3, 3, 7, 2, 8, 28, 2, 15, 3, 13, 6, -2, 6
Total:     Syracuse 9 Boston College 7
1p:          3, 37TD, 3, 44, 17TD, INT, 11, 9, 8, 18, I, 7, 4
Total:     Syracuse 9 Boston College 4
First Down Total:              Syracuse 18 Boston College 11
2r:           1(2), 1(5), 4(7), 3(7), 4(2), 10(2), -2
Total:     Syracuse 3 Boston College 4
2p:          I, I, FUM-TD, 12(8), 14(1), I, 22, I, I, -2, 17(4)
Total:     Syracuse 4 Boston College 7
Second Down Total:        Syracuse 7 Boston College 11
3r:           9(4), -3, 10(4), 1(2)
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 2
3p:          3(6), 24, I, 8(7), -9(s), 6(7), I, I
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 6
Third Down Total:            Syracuse 4 Boston College 8
4r:           3, 0, FUM
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 3
4p:          none
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 0
Fourth Down Total:         Syracuse 0 Boston College 3

Total on running plays: Syracuse 14 Boston College 16
Total on passing plays:   Syracuse 15 Boston College 17
Total on plays from scrimmage:                 Syracuse 29 Boston College 33

Penalties not tacked on to plays: -5    Syracuse 0 Boston Colleges 1

Game total when Syracuse had the ball:                Syracuse 37 Boston College 37

Comments: We had four explosive plays and score don one of them. We finally got a defensive turnover: the first since the LSU game. Then we gave it right back to them with an interception. We’d been 15-1 on fourth down runs. We were 0-3 in this game, including Chris Elmore getting pancaked.

When Boston College had the ball

KO:         SU 21, SU 35, SU 8, SU 25, SU 25, SU 25, SU 41
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 5
P:            32 to SU 8
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 1
FG:         none
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 0
XP:         Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good
Total:     Syracuse 0 Boston College 6
Kicking plays total:           Syracuse 2 Boston College 12

1r:           4, -7, 22TD, 4, -1, 5, 3, 3, 64TD, 3, FUM, 3, 5, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1TD, 18, 2, 3, 34, 9, 3, 5, -2, 2, -5, 3
Total:     Syracuse 18 Boston College 11
1p:          I, 7
Total:     Syracuse 1 Boston College 1
First Down Total:              Syracuse 19 Boston College 12
2r:           0, 1(6), 4(6), 5(11), 4(5), 3(7), 8(7), 3(5), 5(7), 3(1), 6(5), 6(8), 6(15), 1(7)
Total:     Syracuse 6 Boston College 8
2p:          -8(P), 5(25), 50(3), 13(7), 22(13), 17(8), 8(9), 19, 18(8), I, 46TD, 26(12)
Total:     Syracuse 3 Boston College 9
Second Down Total:        Syracuse 9 Boston College 17
3r:           8TD, 15(1), 0, 2(1), 0, 4(2), 1, 3
Total:     Syracuse 4 Boston College 4
3p:          20, 13, 15(20), 8(6), I, 22(8)
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 4
Third Down Total:            Syracuse 6 Boston College 8
4r:           0, -3
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 0
4p:          8(5), I, -7(S)
Total:     Syracuse 2 Boston College 1
Fourth Down Total:         Syracuse 4 Boston College 1

Total on running plays: Syracuse 30 Boston College 23
Total on passing plays:   Syracuse 8 Boston College 15
Total on plays from scrimmage:                 Syracuse 38 Boston College 38

Penalties not tacked on to plays: none   Syracuse 0 Boston College 0

Game total when Boston College had the ball:   Syracuse 40 Boston College 50

Overall Game Total:        Syracuse 77 Boston College 87

Comments: I know it looked like the Eagles were flying past our defenders on every play but we actually did a pretty job defending against them, especially on first down runs. Once again the problem was explosive plays: 9 of them for 3 of their scores. That and the fact that our famous third and fourth down defense continued its late-season absence: they converted 10 times.

This was a -10 game, (we won 77 plays and lost 87). Here are the closest games to that margin we’ve had since I began keeping track of this back in 2011:
2011 Syracuse 74 Louisville 83 = -9                                            We lost 10-27
2012 Syracuse 105 Northwestern 116 = -11                           We lost 41-42
2012 Syracuse 82 Minnesota 95 = -13                                      We lost 10-17
2014 Syracuse 91 Villanova 103 = -12                                        We won 27-26 in OT
2014 Syracuse 92 N C State 101 = -9                                          We lost 17-24
2015 Syracuse 84 Central Michigan 91 = -7                             We won 30-27 in OT
2016 Syracuse 91 Connecticut 99 = -8                                      We won 31-24
2016 Syracuse 98 Notre Dame 111 = -13                                 We lost 33-50
2016 Syracuse 107 Pittsburgh 118 = -11                                   We lost 61-76

We can win games like this but it’s hard to do.
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