SU’s Painful Bowl Birth

In 2008 and 2009, the Syracuse University football team had a combined total of seven wins (three in ’08 and four in ’09). The three years before that were even worse, as the Orangemen managed just seven wins from 2005-2007 (one in ’05, four in ’06 and two in ’07). So if you had told an SU football fan in August that the Orange would finish this season with seven wins and a bowl berth, the fan would have asked one of two things: Are you crazy? Or, what have you been smoking?

But the Orange did finish this season with seven victories for its first winning season since 2001. And SU will indeed play in its first bowl game since 2004; the team is expected to announce its bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 5.

Yet, when the season ended on Saturday, Nov. 27, at the Carrier Dome, there was no joy in Orangeville; just disappointment over another clunker in front of the home crowd. The Orange failed to hold a 7-6 third-quarter lead and lost to the Boston College Eagles 16-7 before 42,191 fans at home. After a 6-2 start, SU lost three of its last four games, and its final four games at the Dome.

“Our goal was to make a bowl game and once we got to that {on Nov. 13 by winning at Rutgers}, we wanted so much more,” SU senior safety Max Suter said. “The Louisville game, the Connecticut game {both losses at home}, we wanted a lot more and we knew we could’ve got it so it’s tough to swallow. We’re in a bowl game and we’re happy about that, but we definitely could have won more games.”

Saturday’s game was the final Dome appearance for Suter and 20 other Orange seniors, who, if they’ve been at SU for five years, had lost 35 of their 48 games before this season. “Obviously it is disappointing,” said SU second-year coach Doug Marrone. “It’s more disappointing for me that we weren’t able to go out and send this group of seniors out the right way.”

The Orange (7-5, 4-3 in the Big East Conference) failed to beat its old Big East foe BC because SU’s offense continued to sputter, its special teams made countless mistakes, and its defense couldn’t stop Eagles running back Andre Williams.

Williams, a 6-foot, 216-pound true freshman, made his first college start because BC star running back Montel Harris was out with a knee injury. Williams, who had rushed for 210 yards on 24 carries the entire season, torched SU for 185 yards on 42 carries and he scored BC’s only touchdown on a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter as the Eagles regained the lead, 13-7.

On BC’s first two drives of the second half, the Eagles ran 26 plays for 131 yards and ate up more than 13 minutes of the clock. In those two drives, Williams carried 19 times for 102 yards and the touchdown that capped a 10-play, 78-yard drive. “I didn’t know how much we were going to run, but we had to show we had a running game because I don’t know if Syracuse was expecting it,” Williams said.

The Eagles (7-5, 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) entered the game averaging 126.7 rushing yards per outing. But thanks to Williams and a hulking offensive line that pushed around the SU defenders, the Eagles collected 205 of their 315 offensive yards on the ground and held a 13-minute edge in time of possession. “I have to give a lot of credit to Andre and our offensive line,” said BC freshman quarterback Chase Rettig. “We ran the ball a lot and they had to know it was coming.”

Meanwhile, SU’s offense couldn’t stay on the field long enough to give its defense a rest. Aside from an 80-yard touchdown drive to start the second half, the Orange managed only 158 yards on its other eight possessions. SU scored just 26 points in its last three games, and running back Antwon Bailey’s 5-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring drive was the Orange’s first touchdown in 10 quarters.

“What has gone on offensively, it is frustrating because the players understand what to do, we go ahead and execute in practice but we haven’t had it carry over on the football field,” Marrone noted.

On Monday, Nov. 22, two days after SU’s 23-6 loss to Connecticut, the Orange announced that longtime assistant coach Bob Casullo was leaving the program because he and Marrone decided to “part ways.” Secondary coach John Anselmo inherited Casullo’s special teams job, but the move did not have any short-term benefits.

In fact, SU was whistled for three penalties on kicks totaling 35 yards; Rob Long shanked a 22-yard punt; kick returner Prince-Tyson Gulley coughed up the ball on a kickoff and recovered at SU’s 5-yard line; and returner Mike Holmes picked up a punt at about the 1-yard line instead of letting it bounce into the end zone for a touchback.

“Special teams play a big role in field position, and we just did not get the job done today,” said SU wide receiver and special teams player Dorian Graham.

The good news for SU’s players, coaches and fans is that the Orangemen still have one more game to play. While there’s still some jockeying going on for bowl bids, the best bet for Syracuse is the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 30 at Yankee Stadium against a team from the Big 12 Conference.

So while SU’s finish didn’t match its start, the Orange’s 2010 season still has to be considered a rousing success. And with its first bowl berth in six years, SU has one more chance to wipe out that bad taste from its last two games.

Noted senior nose tackle Bud Tribbey, “7-5 is not the greatest foundation but we did achieve our goal of being eligible for a bowl game. It is a good foundation for next year and we hope that future teams can build off of this and do a better job than what we did this year. Winning this bowl game would be big. It gives us another opportunity as seniors to still go out as winners and we just have to be sure to take advantage of it.”

Extra Points: Redshirt senior running back Delone Carter gained 30 yards on six carries before leaving Saturday’s game midway through the second quarter with an undisclosed injury. Carter’s 1,035 rushing yards this season ranks 10th on SU’s single-season list and his career total of 2,906 yards is fourth behind Joe Morris (4,299), Walter Reyes (3,424) and Larry Csonka (2,934).

SU junior quarterback Ryan Nassib completed 15-of-24 passes for 147 yards against the Eagles as he moved into second place on SU’s single-season completion list with 189. He also ranks eighth on the single-season list with 2,095 passing yards.