ORLANDO, Fla.— Eric Dungey scrambled right but he couldn’t escape the rush. He flipped his back to the line of scrimmage, normally a cardinal sin of a quarterback. Not for Dungey. As he came out of his spin-o-rama, with two defenders dragging him down, he flicked a pass to Moe Neal.

What looked like more than a 15-yard loss, turned into a 42-yard reception that set up the final touchdown of Syracuse’s 34-18 win over West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl.

“When it comes to Eric Dungey, the tall tales are true,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said. “The stories are true. You know, we’re going to be telling them for a very long time and after ten or 15 years, people are going to be calling bologna cheese.”

On Friday in Camping World Stadium, the senior quarterback left with a curtain call reminiscent of his four-year act. He was the quarterback who turned the ball over deep in his own territory. He ran on plays far from the first down marker and took sacks that could’ve been throwaways. For one of the most prolific playmakers to play for Syracuse, it has always been a sacrifice of unspeakable errors to relish in unthinkable accomplishments.

Dungey, the Camping World Bowl most valuable player, led Syracuse to four straight scoring drives to start the second half. He threw a textbook back shoulder fade to Trishton Jackson for a touchdown on a 3rd-and-11 and finished with 303 yards passing, one touchdown and two interceptions. As he triumphantly walked off the field one final time, Syracuse’s all-time leading passer looked every bit the part of the program hero that led the Orange to its winningest season since 2001.

“I mean, that’s one way to go out, I’d say,” Dungey said. “And I think the senior class, they deserve it. We have been through a lot.”

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In 2015, a Terrell Hunt injury sprung him into a starting role. He spent the next three seasons providing sparks with rushing and passing yard totals combining to 7,711 yards. Still, he took his lumps, throwing 21 interceptions and missing the final three games of each season due to injury.

In many ways, Dungey’s 2018 campaign, which ended with him holding or tied for 20 school records, was a microcosm of his career. He started the year with dominant rushing performances, skidded through a turnover-plagued stretch and had his job security questioned only to finish the season playing in Syracuse’s first bowl appearance since 2013.

“He means so much to this university, he means so much to us,” senior linebacker Ryan Guthrie said. “He’ll go down in the history books here…(he’s) the best competitor I’ve ever been around in my life. You see him take blows out there. You see him pop right back up.”

In his last hoorah on Friday night, Dungey threw the passes he’ll be remembered for. On the team’s first scoring drive, he stepped up in the pocket to evade the first rusher. With a substantial step forward bringing momentum, he slung the ball around 50 yards down near the goal line. Jamal Custis came back to the pass and caught it as he was tackled at the three yard-line.

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

For spurts those passes were the turnovers. The first interception came on a screen, in which a Mountaineers’ rusher made contact with Dungey just after the snap. Dungey stiff-armed him, ran loose and hauled a pass to Custis on the sideline. But Custis wasn’t alone and what looked like a broken play from the start ended in an interception as a WVU defensive back sniffed out the screen.

In the second half, as Dungey seemed to do on a regular basis for the past four seasons, he played differently. He hit Sean Riley and Nykeim Johnson on crossing routes over the middle for chunk gains. A play-action fake led to a 26-yard tight end pop pass to Aaron Hackett. In all, he connected on throws of more than 15 yards with seven receivers. The most Dungey-like of them all being the pass to Neal which led to Orange’s final score.

“The guy is amazing and he has the heart of a lion,” Babers said.

Postgame, when the time came for the most obvious yet daunting question of the evening — to reflect on his career— Dungey couldn’t respond. How could he? It seemed unfathomable for the man who led the resurgence of Syracuse football to summarize the ups and downs of three 4-8 seasons and one 10-win season in a sentence. Instead, as he looked up and the memories and magnitude of the moment clearly raced through his mind, he cried.

“I’m going to get grief for crying, man,” Dungey said, “but I’ve been through a lot here.

“I’m just—all I can say, I’m very thankful.”

Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey fighting back emotions trying to put his four-year career in perspective. pic.twitter.com/Nszxv84SYr

— Josh Schafer (@Schafer_44) December 29, 2018

Published on December 29, 2018 at 12:25 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44