For four quarters, the Syracuse football defense played consistent. It consistently allowed completions. It consistently failed to stop Louisville on third downs. And it consistently gave Louisville quarterback Stefan LeFors plenty of time in the pocket.

In the end, after allowing 451 yards and three touchdowns, Syracuse lost to Louisville, 30-20, on Saturday at the Carrier Dome in front of 38,550.

‘The big plays in the game came in their pass game,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘The vertical pass game in the first half, there were some big plays there.’

Indeed, Syracuse (1-1) failed to dispel the notion that last season, when Syracuse allowed an NCAA-worst 303.8 yards a game passing, is a memory, as so many players claimed in the preseason.

Still, SU maintains a turnaround is imminent.

‘All that hoopla (from last season) doesn’t concern me,’ strong safety Diamond Ferri said. ‘We have so much talent on this defense, and it’s gonna come out. It’s just gonna take two or three games for us to play how we want to play.’

For the second straight game, the defense spotted the opposition a 17-point lead. Last week, against North Carolina, SU fell behind 34-17. Saturday, Louisville (2-0) took a 27-10 in the third quarter.

Syracuse traded touchdowns and field goals with Louisville to open the game. But after Louisville took a 17-10 lead on a touchdown pass to D.J. Kamer, Syracuse couldn’t respond. With time running down in the half, quarterback R.J. Anderson and running back Walter Reyes mixed up signals, and SU fumbled the ball away at midfield.

‘I was looking upfield,’ Reyes said, ‘and didn’t have a good grip on it.’

‘You always talk about taking care of the ball,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘The fumble and turnover ratio are the No. 1 factors in football, there’s no question about that.’

Louisville kicker Nate Smith proceeded to knock in another field goal before the half ended to take a 20-10 lead.

Following LeFors’s 24-yard, third-quarter touchdown pass, which put the Cardinal’s up by 17, Syracuse scored on back-to-back drives to cut Louisville’s lead to seven. Safety Anthony Smith’s interception gave SU hope it would repeat the blueprint from its UNC win – fall behind early, then come back while keeping the opposition scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Instead, after Brandon Carney’s punt pinned the Cardinals on their own four-yard line, the Orangemen allowed a first-down pass on third-and-five followed by a 40-yard completion to receiver Broderick Clark with nine minutes left in the game.

‘The difference in the game was to hit the long one,’ Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. ‘We wanted to give the cornerback a different look after having beaten him for the first down.’

The drive culminated with a Smith field goal, pushing Louisville’s lead to 10 points.

‘It’s my responsibility to get this thing going,’ captain Rich Scanlon said of the defensive woes. ‘We can’t be doing this anymore.’

Because they were down 10, the Orangemen attempted a fourth-down conversion on their next possession, which failed because Andre Fontenette dropped an Anderson slant pass.

Louisville then killed the clock to end the game.

Syracuse allowed LeFors to complete his first six passes, which totaled 109 yards and one touchdown. On the touchdown, cornerback Steve Gregory out-ran the defender on an under-throw and couldn’t challenge the pass.

Syracuse’s defensive line failed to pressure LeFors, which allowed Louisville’s receivers to find openings downfield. It resulted in six passes of 20 or more yards.

The only play in which SU pressured LeFors, defensive tackle Christian Ferrara broke through the offensive line and swiped at LeFors. His pass, which fluttered like a balloon letting out air, was easily intercepted by Smith.

LeFors completed 16 of 25 passes for 266 yards and one interception.

With another poor outing by the secondary, questions remain as to whether this season’s unit will be as ineffective as it was last year.

‘Coming into the season, we knew they were gonna throw on us,’ Gregory said. ‘We’re young. And we’re only gonna go as far as the secondary takes us.’

Published on September 15, 2003 at 12:00 pm