Diamond Ferri was the first person out of the tunnel for the Syracuse football team, dancing spinning and pirouetting his way onto the field.

Three and a half hours later, Ferri, SU’s starting strong safety, looked defeated – mostly because he was.

This was Syracuse’s horrifying introduction to its 2004 season. Once filled with promise, hopes – even talks of a Heisman Trophy candidate – SU now returns home embarrassed.

Embarrassed of youth.

Embarrassed of turnovers.

Embarrassed of being physically dominated and picked apart in nearly every facet of the game.

‘We have some work to do,’ Ferri said. ‘I don’t ever want to be embarrassed like this again. Ever. It’s just awful.’

Purdue pounded Syracuse, 51-0, before 56,827 at Ross-Ade Field in West Lafayette, Ind., and millions more on national TV on ABC.

All the enthusiasm, optimism and hopefulness of a new season vacuumed out in the form of one of SU’s most lopsided defeats ever.

‘I’ve never been a part of something like this,’ safety Anthony Smith said. ‘I’ve never lost this badly.’

And, certainly, it was bad.

SU’s defense allowed 334 yards passing, 237 yards rushing and seven touchdowns.

Two of those scores came on 10-second drives. On the first play of Purdue’s third possession, Boilermakers quarterback Kyle Orton lofted a pass to freshman Brian Hare, and the receiver outran SU’s defense for a 14-0 lead.

A similar situation played out with 6:19 left in the third quarter. Receiver Taylor Stubblefield ran a crossing pattern. Sixty-seven yards downfield, Stubblefield put Purdue up 27-0.

‘We just gave up too many big plays,’ Smith said. ‘We didn’t execute as planned. That 75-yard pass (to Hare), we just had blown coverage.’

Smith said one problem was Purdue’s multiple formations. Although SU had seen those formations before, coach Paul Pasqualoni said Purdue used different men in different spots.

That confused SU, and the defenders couldn’t switch or make checks in time to line up.

‘They did that all day,’ Smith said. ‘They snapped before we could get set.’

Early, though, the Boilermakers used the run. Purdue jumped on the board with 4:01 left in the first quarter. Jerod Void capped off a 37-yard drive with a 1-yard charge into the end zone.

Then Orton tore up SU. The Heisman Trophy candidate completed 16 of 30 passes for 287 yards, threw four touchdowns and no interceptions.

And SU could hardly reach Purdue territory.

Freshman quarterback Joe Fields, though, did all he could. But without an effective running game, almost none of what SU did worked.

That included quarterback draws, drop-back passes, quick outs, anything. The closest SU came to scoring – with 30 seconds left and a second-and-goal at the Purdue 2 – resulted in a Fields sack. On an option right, tackle Brandon Villarreal broke through the line and nearly reached Fields before the ball did; nobody blocked him.

The resulting 5-yard loss forced SU to try a pass play on third-and-goal. After that failed, SU botched a field goal snap, and Jared Jones threw an interception improvising a play.

If the game is any indication for the rest of the season, SU is in trouble. The Orange talked about a new season, as it had each of the past two years. But if this is the new season, SU may want to return to last.

‘It’s a tough way to open it up,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I’m sure (the fans) are as disappointed as we are. Here’s the thing. We reorganized the Big East, and we added teams (to the schedule). OK? So we had Purdue. So we took on a big challenge.

‘We’re all big boys. We came out here. We knew we were in for a quality opponent out here today, and we came out here and didn’t play as well.’

Published on September 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm