Syracuse needed one half to erase an 8-game losing streak, and New Hampshire was the one who paid for it.
Steve Angeli hadn't started a game since tearing his Achilles in Week 4 of last season, and Syracuse hadn't won one since that same September. Both problems ended at the JMA Wireless Dome. Angeli went 20-of-29 for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns in his first live look in nearly a year, and the Orange never let New Hampshire threaten, breaking a skid that had stretched back 8 games.
−Backup QB room largely untested if Angeli goes down again
New Hampshire arrived already 0-1, having dropped its opener 28-14 to fellow FCS side Albany, and the Wildcats' backfield never got a chance to make this one interesting. Junior Brooks Bentley took over the New Hampshire offense this year, and running back Myles Thomason came in as one of the more productive backs at the FCS level, but neither found any room against a Syracuse defense that had the size and depth advantage from snap one.
Syracuse built a 41-point halftime lead and just kept pouring it on. Running backs Tylik Hill and Shavane Anderson Jr. combined for 4 touchdowns and 192 yards, giving the Orange a two-way punch to go with Angeli's quick rust-shaking through the air. By the time the Wildcats got their only points, a fourth-quarter field goal, the game had long stopped being a game.
None of this tells Syracuse much about October, and it shouldn't. This was Angeli's first meaningful snap since the injury and the roster's first shot at proving last year's collapse was circumstance, not identity. New Hampshire, meanwhile, heads back to Durham 0-2 with real questions about a defense that's now given up 94 combined points in its first 2 games against an Albany squad and an FBS one.
