Outside of the Syracuse locker room, few gave the Orange a chance.

Louisville and stud quarterback Teddy Bridgewater rolled into Syracuse boasting an unbeaten record, the No. 11 rank in the nation and averages of 34 points and 430 yards per game.

“They’re not Goliath and we’re not David,” SU center Macky MacPherson said to reporters at the time, reciting what head coach Doug Marrone had told the Orange. “We’re Syracuse, we’ve lost some close games, lost some heartbreakers, we’ve beaten ourselves more than we feel like anyone else has beaten us.”

Slowly, the turnaround that Marrone had been orchestrating at Syracuse was reaching its highest point.

Syracuse stunned Louisville, 45-26, on Nov. 10, 2012 before a triumphant Carrier Dome crowd of 40,312 and plenty more watching on ABC.

On the Orange’s Senior Day and the class’ last game in the Dome, quarterback Ryan Nassib didn’t come close to matching Bridgewater’s numbers on the day, but commanded a well-balanced SU offense that outshone the Cardinals’ high-octane attack.

After two losing seasons in three years and a senior campaign that started 2-4, Nassib’s college career was turning around as it was winding down.

“That was exciting. It really was,” Nassib said in July. “We had a lot of good and bad memories in the Dome — more good than bad. But going out there with a bang like that against a top team, it was fun.”

After one quarter, the Orange and Cardinals were tied at 10, but SU pulled ahead in the next 15 minutes.

Nassib lofted a 13-yard touchdown pass to an open Alec Lemon with 11:57 left in the second quarter. And on SU’s next drive, Lemon hauled in a deep ball from Nassib at the 15-yard line, then cut to the middle of the field to elude one Louisville defensive back behind him and another in front.

He took it into the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown, which gave Syracuse a two-score lead. And to cap off the quarter, Prince-Tyson Gulley shot through an opening in the middle of the field, then rode the sideline all the way to the end zone.

The 55-yard burst put Syracuse ahead 31-13 before the halftime whistle.

“We thrive off of momentum,” MacPherson told reporters after the game. “We thrive off of getting that first down. We thrive on tempo, out-tempo-ing defenses, getting them tired and eventually hitting that big play.”

For good measure, running back Jerome Smith added a 35-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and Nassib tossed his final Carrier Dome touchdown to Lewellyn Coker from 3 yards out in the fourth.

Bridgewater padded his stats well — racking up 424 passing yards on three touchdowns and 36-of-49 passing — but never seriously threatened the Orange’s lead.

Adding insult to injury, Syracuse blocked a Louisville field goal in the third quarter and linebacker Dyshawn Davis picked off a Bridgewater pass that ended the quarterback’s day.

Then-Louisville head coach Charlie Strong said in his postgame press conference he was “very embarrassed” for his program.

“You know Scott Shafer and his defensive coordinator skills,” former SU defensive tackle Jay Bromley said in July. “We knew we had a job to do and we went out there and did it. We went out there and took it to one of the best teams in the nation at the time.”

Lemon hugged Nassib after the final snap and later hugged then-chancellor Nancy Cantor on the field amid the celebration.

After rejoicing among themselves, some Syracuse players turned to the crowd and called for fans to storm the field. Some did, and were promptly thrown against a wall by police officers.

But other players, like Lemon and safety Shamarko Thomas, went to the crowd.

They hopped up to the ledge between the field and the spectators and took in the moment with the fans, absorbing the beginning of the end of the Marrone Era.

Syracuse finished the 2012 season on a four-game winning streak and won the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

“We always knew we were good,” former SU linebacker Siriki Diabate and current graduate assistant told reporters after the game. “We always knew that once we played mistake-free and we don’t turn the ball over, we could beat any team in the country.

“And that’s just what we did today.”

Published on October 3, 2014 at 12:23 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb