CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — From the jump, Saturday night didn’t have the makings of the statement win Syracuse so badly needed. The Orange had lost nine straight Atlantic Coast Conference games, faced a Virginia squad that had lost just one of its last 10 home games and SU rolled off the bus at Scott Stadium not knowing who’d start at quarterback.
It’d either be Amari Odom, SU’s hero against UConn, who dealt with an injury throughout the week, or Malachi Nelson, the third-stringer who hadn’t started a Power Four game in his career.
Either way, Syracuse needed a spark. Otherwise, its campaign would begin with three straight conference losses. In other words, a death sentence if the Orange wanted anything more than a low-level bowl appearance this season…