Perhaps the performance wasn’t as dominating as it appeared. Perhaps that stat – 44 yards rushing on 39 carries – is skewed. Perhaps Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh only ranked as an average game for the Syracuse football team’s defensive line, even though the line allowed its lowest rushing total this year.

Sure, Syracuse allowed 1.1 yards a carry. But Pitt is a passing team. Its starting running back, Brandon Miree, is suffering from a stress fracture to his right heel. A fumble by punter Andy Lee cost Pitt 15 rushing yards on its opening possession.

Syracuse’s fine statistical showing appears to be, at least in part, the result of some luck.

‘We did an all right job,’ SU defensive end Josh Thomas said. ‘We got good pressure on (Rutherford). And when they ran, we stopped them.’

If only it was that simple. Undoubtedly, the stats agree with Thomas. But Pitt intended to throw. It’s difficult to say how well SU truly did considering all the intangibles. Did SU’s run game stop Pitt like the stats say? Or were Syracuse’s front seven the beneficiaries of a one-dimensional offense?

‘It was a combination of both,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘Pitt tried to run the ball a little more. They’re more 50-50. They don’t call as many rushing plays as other teams. And the guys up front played well.’

Pasqualoni seemed pleased with the results. After all, Syracuse came off a week in which it limited BC running back Derrick Knight – who had entered the game ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in rushing – to 51 yards on 19 carries and followed it up by limiting the Panthers to less than 100 yards rushing, the fourth time SU had done so to an opponent this season.

The Syracuse rush defense appears to have grown since early this year, when the Orangemen allowed 165 and 185 yards on the ground to North Carolina and Louisville, respectively.

It was easy to lose sight of that Saturday. Viewers likely overlooked how the front seven stopped the run, too immersed in Rutherford picking apart the secondary.

Few linemen missed tackles, something that plagued the Orangemen when they faced Virginia Tech running back Kevin Jones in a 51-7 loss Sept. 27. Linebackers Rich Scanlon, Kellen Pruitt and Kelvin Smith – who combined for 27 tackles – kept pressure on Pitt running back Jawan Walker all game, save for one 22-yard run.

Defensive tackle Louis Gachelin recorded his third sack this season by taking down Rutherford in the second quarter. Thomas broke through the line and floored Rutherford, a running quarterback, twice for sacks, giving him three on the year as well.

‘Sacking the quarterback is like throwing a touchdown,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘You know, you can never have too many touchdown passes. Well, you can never have too many sacks on the quarterback, either.’

Syracuse employed an unusual scheme against Pitt. Rather than double-team Fitzgerald, a Heisman candidate, Pasqualoni decided to guard him man-to-man for much of the game. As a result, SU stacked more men in the box to pressure Rutherford but opened itself up to long passes. That may also have led to lower rushing totals than normal.

‘There were times when we singled the coverage up and got burned,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘But when you try to put more pressure on the quarterback, you can’t keep as many people in coverage.’

Smith said stopping the rush is SU’s No. 1 priority each week. After seven weeks, the Orangemen are now showing they can consistently stop an opposition’s run game.

‘Defensively, at times, we slowed them down,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘They really couldn’t run the ball on us. They didn’t run the ball on us. The D-line did a good job.’

Published on October 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm