MIAMI – Offensive tackle Adam Terry sat, legs spread and shoulders shrugged. Running back Walter Reyes lay sprawled on the turf, forlorn. The Syracuse players trudged off the field broken with their heads hanging.

For three quarters, the Syracuse football team led Miami, raising hopes of a shocking road win.

The Hurricanes, though, mounted a heartbreaking comeback, beating Syracuse, 17-10, before 48,130 at the Orange Bowl on Saturday.

Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni said, despite nearly beating the No. 14 team in the country, SU took the loss hard.

‘Not a lot of happy faces,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘They came down here in their hearts believing they could win. They played hard for 60 minutes, just came up short a couple plays. That’s all it is. It’s too bad.’

Said quarterback R.J. Anderson: ‘We’ve been practicing, and it’s been like two degrees. We come out here, and it’s like 80. We were out there, dudes were puking, throwing up, playing their hearts out. We just came up short. All we wanted was a chance to have the ball. We got it and couldn’t cash in.’

Miami (8-2, 4-1 Big East) handed Syracuse that chance at the end. Kellen Pruitt nicked a punt with 3:05 left in the game, giving Syracuse field position at Miami’s 45-yard line.

SU drove 25 yards in 1:59 before facing a fourth-and-eight at Miami’s 20-yard line. Rolling to his right, Anderson fell under heavy pressure, which forced him to throw in desperation. He overthrew wide receiver Johnnie Morant, who was double-teamed in the end zone.

Coaches hoped Anderson could roll to the right hash mark before throwing, but after Miami forced Anderson to make a decision early, the play failed.

‘He took a great shot at it, made a great effort,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘You hope that with Johnnie so tall, that becomes a jump ball a little bit, and now maybe he catches it or it’s pass interference. He just had to throw the ball so early. I was afraid Johnnie wasn’t gonna see him, because it came out of Robin’s hands so fast.’

Still, Syracuse (5-4, 2-3) created numerous opportunities to win before that. Anderson overthrew wide receiver Jared Jones with 49 seconds left in the first half after the junior receiver outran Miami’s secondary. Also, 5-foot-7 receiver Rashard Williams broke free in the end zone’s right corner on SU’s last play with UM pressuring Anderson.

‘It shouldn’t have come down to the last drive’ tight end Joe Donnelly said. ‘We could’ve scored 30 or more points on this team offensively and didn’t. This loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the offensive unit.’

In large part, Syracuse executed its game plan. Start with good field position, protect the ball and force turnovers.

Syracuse’s average starting field position was at its own 31-yard line. Anderson threw one pick, on a long pass with 40 seconds left before halftime, and SU caused three turnovers.

It failed to execute, though, in other areas.

Syracuse converted just 2 of 13 third downs because many third down plays were routes that ended three yards short of a first down. Reyes failed to carry the offense as SU coaches hoped. Anderson overthrew the one sure touchdown pass to Jones. And Syracuse drew too many penalties against a Miami team that played equally undisciplined.

The Orangemen fell apart late. After SU led, 10-7, entering the fourth quarter, Miami quickly scored a field goal and a touchdown, flashing the explosive offense that made it a national power and allowed the ‘Canes to win 41 of 42 games before its Nov. 2 loss, 28-7, to Virginia Tech.

The game comes as a change of pace from the last three years, when Miami outscored Syracuse, 133-7.

‘Well, you’d much rather be in this type of game,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘In a lot of ways, this game is kinda fun. It’s fun to play, it’s fun to be involved. It just would’ve been nice at this point for these kids to win this game.’

Still, players can’t get over how close they were.

‘I’m incredibly disappointed,’ Donnelly said. ‘It’s just one of those things where you were given so many opportunities. I’m very upset right now. We didn’t cash in. I said this whole trip is a missed opportunity. We went down here trying to get this game into the fourth quarter, and we didn’t pull it out.’

Published on November 16, 2003 at 12:00 pm