Wake Forest sliced through Syracuse’s secondary. But it stood up when it mattered most.

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Interim head coach Nunzio Campanile told his team that Saturday was going to come down to the last 30 seconds of the game. A team embroiled in change, from the head coach to transfers, needed to cap off a tumultuous season with a win to improve to 6-6 and earn bowl eligibility.

They needed to do something the Orange haven’t done in the last eight seasons — win an Atlantic Coast Conference game late in November — after SU fired Dino Babers.

They needed to shut down a Wake Forest team they hadn’t beaten in three years, one that entered with the worst offense in the ACC and just one conference win. All game long, WF quarterback Michael Kern found open receivers and moved the offense down the field with chunk plays. Then with two minutes remaining, Kern was flushed to his right out of the pocket on a fourth-and-goal play from the 4-yard line.

A touchdown would have given the Demon Deacons their first lead of the game and put a wildcat, run-heavy offense with three timeouts, in a position to drive down the field and pull out a win.

Kern keyed in on his man at the goal line and chucked a low pass on the run. But defensive back Jason Simmons Jr. jumped the route and got his arms between the ball and the ground in enough time to notch the interception. A replay review confirmed the pick, and the Orange, who had been torched by Kern’s arm all game, finally made a stop when it mattered the most.

“Jason made a great play. I know he’s been waiting for that play. A lot of plays don’t come to him, but when they do … he’s going to make the play,” defensive back Alijah Clark said.

Saturday’s win was supposed to be another slog, two offenses ranked at the bottom of the ACC squaring off to see which technique would win out. Then, Syracuse found itself in a shootout, saved only by Garrett Shrader being able to pass, and a more open playbook. Kern finished with his best game at Wake Forest, going 17-for-24 for 261 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He helped the Demon Deacons keep their foot on the throttle and force the Orange into executing better than they have in conference play this year. In the end, Kern’s arm, the same reason Wake Forest (4-8, 1-7 ACC) was so close to winning, ended up harming it in the 35-31 loss to Syracuse (6-6, 2-6 ACC).

Isaiah Johnson said Syracuse knew WF was going to rely heavily on taking shots down field and opening up their call sheet with a heavy dose of run-pass option plays. Once Kern got the snap, he’d take two or three steps forward slowly with his eyes down field and chart out how the play was developing. If Syracuse was dropping back, he’d hand off to Justice Ellison or Tate Carney, who combined for 89 rushing yards and a touchdown. If one of the Orange’s defensive backs pressed too much or made a “false step” he’d find the open receiver.

SU wanted to counteract the approach with tight man defense and zero coverage, pressing the line of scrimmage so that Kern didn’t have as much time as he’s used to for the RPO to develop. But Johnson said playing that much man defense requires each defensive back to be perfect on every play. That’s nearly impossible to do, and some of the holes that opened up throughout the game were because of that.

On Wake Forest’s second drive of the game, Kern found a wide open Taylor Morin on the far sideline and connected with him for a 48-yard gain. Two plays later, Kern was so surprised at how open Wesley Grimes was over the middle that he began to shuffle his feet before darting a touchdown pass in. It took the offense just four plays spanning 1:39 to tie the game up after a 75-yard drive.

“I thought the quarterback played really well. I thought he made some big plays,” Campanile said. “We put you in tough spots for those DBs.”

Johnson said Syracuse prides itself on not letting teams get chunk plays. The Orange want to force teams into “methodically” driving down the field and chewing time off the clock. Today, he said, they gave up more chunk plays than they would have liked to. But while the secondary was busy trying to ensure that receivers like Morin, who ended with seven catches for 140 yards, weren’t getting behind them, the Demon Deacons were tossing in unguardable routes. Clark said that to counteract Syracuse playing zero coverage, Wake Forest was running mesh and rub routes to open up guys underneath.

On their drive that ultimately ended with a field goal in the second quarter, Kern hit Jahmal Banks and Morin on back-to-back passes with routes underneath the secondary. They tossed in post and curl routes that caused Syracuse’s secondary to sag off and allowed Kern to hit his receivers just past the first down markers. Clark said that playing more zone would have helped mitigate some of the wide open receivers. He said that in SU’s bowl game, having more defensive backs drop back in coverage and keep their eyes on the quarterback would “tighten up” the defense.

Syracuse has struggled against high-powered offenses this season like Florida State and North Carolina. But even teams like Purdue, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech that have struggled to put together strong offensive performances, the Orange allowed an average of nearly 30 points to. Saturday, a Wake Forest offense that scored more than 30 points twice this season got to 31 and kept pace with the best offensive day Syracuse has had in two months.

An inexperienced quarterback with limited weapons and playing time nearly sank the Orange’s chances at a bowl game. It took a scramble, a low throw and an interception to send them back to the postseason. But the secondary that caused the final turnover nearly led to another sub-.500 regular season.

“Definitely not the best performance by the secondary,” Simmons said. “We gave up more chunk plays than we would have liked. When it came down to it, we made enough plays to come out on top.”