Despite the score, Etta-Tawo continued to shine.
Syracuse may have suffered a blowout 54-0 loss to Clemson on Saturday, but it wasn’t all frowns and downs for the Orange in Death Valley. Wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo continued his stellar season, breaking not one, but two Syracuse football records.
First, Etta-Tawo broke Marvin Harrison’s record for single-season receiving yards midway though the third quarter on a 17-yard pass from backup quarterback Austin Wilson. Harrison previously set the record in 1995 with 1,131 receiving yards.
Etta-Tawo entered the game ranked sixth nationally in receiving yards, with 1,074, and needing just 57 yards to break Harrison’s record.
Etta-Tawo, however, wasn’t done with Syracuse’s record books just yet. The graduate transfer wide receiver also broke Alec Lemon’s Syracuse single-season record for receptions after hauling in two passes from Wilson on the Orange’s final drive of the third quarter to bring his season total to 74 (which he would later increase to 75).
Lemon previously set the single-season record for receptions with 72 in 2012.
Etta-Tawo finished the game with nine receptions for 84 yards. With three more games left to play, Etta-Tawo still has time to add to his record-breaking season, but here’s how the Syracuse single-season receiving yards and receptions records stand as of now.
Single-season receiving yards:
- Amba Etta-Tawo: 1,158 yards (2016)*
- Marvin Harrison: 1,131 yards (1995)
- Alec Lemon: 1,070 yards (2012)
- Rob Moore: 1,064 yards (1989)
- Tommy Kane: 968 yards (1987)
Single-season receptions:
- Amba Etta-Tawo: 75 receptions (2016)*
- Alec Lemon: 72 receptions (2012)
- Alec Lemon: 68 receptions (2011)
- Marcus Sales: 63 receptions (2012)
- Kevin Johnson/Mike Williams: 60 receptions (1998 and 2007, respectively)
