Orangemen fall to Cardinals

With a chance to clinch a post-season birth for the first time since 2004 in front of the home town fans, the Syracuse Orangemen dropped the ball (literally). After a lackluster performance in the first half, Syracuse still managed to go into the locker room up 17-14 at the break.

Unfortunately the Orangemen's shut down second half defense did not arrive in the Carrier Dome with their luggage following an extremely successful road trip, and the Louisville Cardinals dropped the Syracuse Orangemen 28-20 in the Dome in front of 40,735 fans.

Louisville jumped out to a 7-0 lead following a Ryan Nassib fumble that the Cardinals recovered at the Syracuse 41 yard line. Two plays later Jeremy Wright ran untouched 28 yards into the end zone with 6:08 left in the first quarter.

Just fifty-eight seconds later Ryan Nassib found Alec Lemon for a 51 yard touchdown strike to even the game at 7-7. After a great kick-off return by Dorian Graham that set Syracuse up at their own 44 yard line, Carter rushed for 5 yards and then Nassib found his receiver wide open down the middle of the field. For a football team searching for their first bowl game appearance since 2004, it was a tremendous response to the early score and got the Orange faithful back into the game.

Louisville answered on their next drive for another touchdown with 1:39 left in the first quarter. For a Cardinal team playing without starting QB Adam Froman and star Running Back Bilal Powell, it was a very impressive first quarter.

On the other hand, Syracuse committed 6 penalties for 47 yards just in the first quarter and were getting torched in the secondary by a backup quarter back who had only three starts in his career at Louisville.

The Orangemen would find a way to tie the game again on a 70 yard 4:53 drive in the 2nd quarter. With Delone Carter and Antwon Bailey leading the way down field, Syracuse was set up 1st and goal from the 8 yard line. Delone Carter took a Ryan Nassib hand off and scampered into the end zone to tie the game 14-14 with 5:42 left in the 1st half. For all the missed tackles and penalties Syracuse endured, the score was still tied and Syracuse seemed like they were going to make a game of it.

Syracuse got their first break of the game with 2:18 seconds left in the half. Mikhail Marinovich came off the end and absolutely obliterated Justin Burke, who fumbled the ball. Chandler Jones recovered the loose ball for a Syracuse first down at the Louisville 17 yard line. The Cardinals defense would hold and force Ross Krautman onto the field who drilled a 23 yard field goal attempt to give the Orangemen a 17-14 lead which they would hold into the half. As bad as Syracuse was performing, and with all the penalties adding up, the Orangemen still found a way to grab a half time lead and give the faithful hope that a bowl birth might be clinched on this day.

The second half would open with an illegal procedure penalty when Rob Long's kick off went out of bounds. Louisville got the ball at their own 40 yard line, and proceeded to run the ball down the throats of the Orangemen defenders. One can hardly imagine what the outcome of this game would have been like if Bilal Powell had played given the poor tackling by the Orangemen. It probably would have been a blowout. Jeremy Wright capped off the drive with his second touchdown of the game, this time from 12 yards out just 4:26 into the second half to give Louisville a 21-17 lead.

On the following Syracuse drive wide receiver Alec Lemon committed possibly the biggest gaffe of the season. Wide open at the goal line was Alec Lemon when Ryan Nassib hit him right in the numbers. Instead of catching the ball and walking with ease over the goal line the ball bounced off his chest, through his hands, and possibly off his foot onto the turf. Two plays later Ross Krautman came on and hit a 42 yard field goal to cut Louisville's lead to 21-20. That would essentially be the ball game. Instead of Syracuse jumping back out in front 24-21, Louisville still had the lead and Syracuse would never recover.

Louisville's ensuing drive put the nail in the coffin. After literally running through tackles and defenders who looked nothing like the team that knocked off West Virginia and Cincinnati on the road the two weeks prior, the Cardinals were faced with a 4th and 5 from the Syracuse 33 yard line and were going for it to open the 4th quarter. In weeks past the Orangemen's defense might have stiffled the attempt, however Andrell Smith snuck in between countless defenders who chose not to pick him up in coverage and caught a 12 yard pass to keep the drive alive and keep Syracuse on their heels. On the very next play Josh Chichester caught a 21 yard touchdown pass from Justin Burke and Louisville was on top 28-20.

Syracuse would get two drives to attempt to tie the game late in the 4th quarter however their play calling failed to give the Orangemen the first downs they needed. Ryan Nassib was unable to throw to the sticks on two consecutive 3rd down attempts and Louisville's defense held on to give the Cardinals their first road win in Big East play since 2007! Their first road win in 12 tries came against a Syracuse team that was just one win away from clinching a bowl birth for the first time since 2004.

It seemed as if the Orangemen walked into the Carrier Dome thinking that simply showing up would be enough to win the game against a depleted Cardinals team. The Cardinals, on the other hand, marched into the dome ready for a dog fight and gutted out an impressive victory.

However, the most disappointing thing about this game was the turnout from the Syracuse student section. There were two entirely empty sections of student-reserved seating which is baffling considering the high stakes up for grabs on this day. To the fans inside the Carrier Dome and watching at home, it was unconscionable.

The loss drops Syracuse to 6-3, 3-2 in the Big East and still very much alive in their quest to qualify for a bowl game. With three games left on the season, Syracuse needs just one win to earn a trip to a post-season game. Louisville improves to 5-4 on the season and 2-2 in Big East play.

Next week Syracuse will travel to New Jersey to take on Rutgers University. The game will be televised on ESPNU and will kickoff at 3:30PM.

Game Notes:

• Walk on Dorian Graham was very impressive in his kick returning job, averaging 26.5 yards per return.
• Delone Carter rushed for 107 yards on 21 carries and 1 TD. It was his 10th career 100 yard rushing game.
• Ryan Nassib finished with 155 passing yards on 19 of 32 passing attempts and 1 TD. He also lost one fumble.
• Alec Lemon finished with 5 catches for 73 yards and 1 TD to lead the receivers.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

What Went Wrong Saturday???

Now that the shock and awe has worn off from this Saturday's absolute drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Panthers, Syracuse players and fans all want to know what exactly went wrong out there? How did it come to this? A 45-14 loss at home on Homecoming Weekend (by the way, doesn't 'Orange Central' sound more like a location and less like a week long series of events?) after a program rejuvenating win in Tampa at the University of South Florida?

First thing that automatically comes to mind when you win a huge game and then drop a home game the next week is that it was an "emotional letdown." We all remember when Syracuse defeated then #19 Louisville in 2007 on the road. What did the Orangemen do the next week? They lost on the road at Miami of Ohio, a school that had a SIX game home losing streak. Syracuse's emotions were maybe a little TOO high. Expectations were obviously way too high. And Las Vegas' expert opinions were clearly off because Syracuse was actually favored to win this game! All it took was one play from scrimmage for the Panthers to know that we were in for a long afternoon.

Another reason for the lopsided loss, turnovers. Pittsburgh didn't commit any. Syracuse had 4 of them. Ryan Nassib had just two interceptions through 5 games this season coming in, and he was picked off twice in this contest. The first interception came late in the 1st half when Syracuse was in Pitt territory. Down 28-7 with 1:20 left in the half Nassib threw up a lame duck ball into the middle of the field, something we haven't seen all year from him, and it was easily picked off to end the Syracuse drive at the 43 yard line. If Syracuse could have protected the ball and managed to find the end zone, 28-14 half time deficit isn't completely insurmountable. However the half would end 28-7.

In second half action, after exchanging punts Syracuse again drove down to the Pittsburgh 31 yard line. Instead of putting up points, Ryan Nassib threw so far behind his intended receiver, another bad pass we haven't seen Nassib throw all season, the ball was intercepted and returned for 80 yards and a touchdown. 35-7 Pittsburgh. If Syracuse's two drives don't get stopped with a turnover and if they were able to put points up on the board on the two drives, we may have found ourselves down just 7 points instead of 28 points. Syracuse MUST protect the ball, especially against desperate Big East teams!

Other turnovers that were serious drive killers were Alec Lemon's fumble at the Pittsburgh 31 yard line with 6:06 left in the 3rd quarter and the fumble credited to Ryan Nassib when Pittsburgh was clearly offsides on the snap. Although it was not called, Pitt pushed the center off the ball at the Syracuse 38 yard line with 9:33 left to play in the game and recovered the ball for a Pittsburgh first down. One play later it was 45-14 Pittsburgh.

A third reason for such a lopsided loss to Pitt was the lack of running game from Syracuse. The Orangemen's two dynamic runners who have helped lead the charge down field all season for the cuse, Delone Carter and Antwon Bailey, combined for just 62 rushing yards. Nassib contributed 14 of his own to give Syracuse only 76 on the day. Carter ran for a measly 37 yards and Bailey did no better with only 25 yards on the ground. Not a recipe for success.

Lastly, Syracuse's secondary was absolutely lost on Saturday. Tino Sunseri finished the day 17 of 24 passing attempts for 280 yards, 4 touchdowns, zero interceptions. The four TD passes were to four different receivers, and each of Syracuse's corners were tortured. Help over the top was slow, tackling was non-existent, and even our speed players were a step slower than Pitt was on this day.

The good news is that Syracuse won't be playing Pittsburgh again this season. The bad news is that the Orangemen will be traveling to Morgantown to take on #20 West Virginia this weekend. It will not be getting any easier for the Cuse any time soon.

If Syracuse can protect the ball and play smarter on defense, than they can at least keep the game respectable, unlike the outcome on Saturday. At the end of the day, the Cuse is still 4-2 on the season and 3 wins away from qualifying for a bowl game. I think Syracuse fans everywhere would have signed up for 4-2 at the start of the season and I'm sure many fans expected us to be right here. So let's not get too down on the program after one bad loss. Just pick up the pieces and regroup for Saturday.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com