MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Like Bill Murray in ‘Groundhog Day,’ quarterback R.J. Anderson can’t escape.

Each week he wakes up, straps on his helmet and walks on the field. And each week, the same 60 minutes of football, the same laundry list of turnovers and offensive inadequacies replays itself.

‘It’s like a nightmare,’ Anderson said. ‘I know I’m going to wake up one of these days.’

But judging by the Syracuse football team’s 34-7 loss to West Virginia on Saturday in front of 45,088 at Mountaineer Stadium, the season may end before that day comes. Because Saturday, the same turnovers (three fumbles and an interception) and offensive ineptitude (a dropped touchdown pass) buried the Orangemen before the Mountaineers’ mascot fired his musket to signal the end of the first half.

Even if Anderson does wake up, it almost certainly won’t be at a bowl game. To qualify, Syracuse (1-6, 0-3 Big East) would have to win the remainder of its games, the last three of which are against conference powers Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami.

In fact, the once unfathomable prospect of finishing with less than four wins now seems all too possible. Even if Syracuse wins its next two contests against Rutgers — perhaps no longer a certain victory given the Orangemen’s loss to Temple last weekend — and Central Florida, SU will finish 3-9 if it falls to the Hokies, Eagles and Hurricanes.

‘I hate this feeling,’ Anderson said. ‘I hate having to go home and wait another week. Other sports, you get to go two or three days later. We can’t play again ‘til next week.

‘It’s tough to sleep. Then I have to read the paper. Everywhere you go, you hear about how you lost the game.’

At least this time, people won’t be talking about a missed extra point near the end of regulation, like against Temple. This week, Syracuse bowed out of the game much earlier.

The Orangemen turned the ball over twice in the first quarter. The first came on SU’s second possession of the game, when Anderson whipped a third-and-9 pass behind receiver David Tyree. The ball deflected off Tyree’s fingertips and into the arms of West Virginia (5-2, 2-0) free safety Jahmile Addae.

Later in the first, with Syracuse trailing, 10-0, running back Damien Rhodes coughed up the ball on his own 29-yard line.

‘It’s like slitting our own throats at that point,’ Syracuse offensive coordinator George DeLeone said. ‘The turnovers put tremendous pressure on the defense.’

So did two second-quarter fumbles, including another from Rhodes.

‘We’ve just got to concentrate,’ Rhodes said. ‘One of (the fumbles), I just slipped. You can’t do anything about slipping. On the other one, I’ve just got to do a better job of catching the ball.’

Wide receiver Johnnie Morant may be saying the same thing. With eight seconds left in the first half, he dropped a would-be, 30-yard touchdown pass. Collin Barber missed a 47-yard field goal as time expired, and the half ended with Syracuse down, 20-0.

Anderson finished 6-of-17 passing for 71 yards and an interception. All of that came in the first half because he turned the game over to backup Troy Nunes in the third quarter after suffering an injury to his left shoulder.

‘We’ve got to make plays,’ Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘We can’t rely on the bounce of the ball. But the ball certainly hasn’t bounced our way.’

The defense, though, did its best to help the ball along. Although the Syracuse defense surrendered 108 yards on 28 carries to West Virginia running back Avon Cobourne, it held the Orangemen in the game early.

On Anderson’s interception and Rhodes’ first fumble, the SU offense handed WVU the ball inside Syracuse territory. But both times the defense held the Mountaineers to field goals.

‘It’s frustrating,’ linebacker Clifton Smith said, ‘but playing defense, you’ve got to figure things like that are going to happen.’

For Syracuse, they’re happening each week, as the same nightmarish scenario continues to unfold.

‘I know I can’t (believe this is happening),’ offensive lineman Erik Kaloyanides said. ‘I know no one can. This is Syracuse University. I know no one has ever expected this to happen.’

Published on October 20, 2002 at 12:00 pm