When you’re an underdog against one of the best teams in the country, you need to take some risks. Syracuse did that during Saturday’s game against LSU by running a fake play that ended in its punter hurdling a Tigers defender.
The Orange lined up for a field goal towards the end of the second quarter, hoping to cut into LSU’s 7-3 lead. Syracuse did have a trick up its sleeve – instead of having its usual kicker line up for the field goal, starting punter Riley Dixon lined up at the position. The team’s holder tossed the ball to Dixon, who ran to his right and barely got a first down because he decided it would be cool to hurdle LSU’s Kevin Toliver. He did hit an LSU player while he was celebrating, but it was an accident, so there were no penalties or anything. And, he was right, it was cool.
The bad news for Orange fans is that the drive ended up being for naught, because the team’s regular kicker hit the post. The good news is that Dixon’s run gave fans hope that Syracuse will win a national title this season.
@SportsCenter CUSE IS WINNING IT ALL
— 𝓖𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷 𝓣𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓮𝓻 (@gteeter55) September 26, 2015
Syracuse is 3-0 and gave LSU trouble through the first half, so while it does seem like a bit of a stretch to say that the Orange will win their first national title since 1959, anything is possible as long as their punter keeps jumping over people.