PHILADELPHIA – The Syracuse football team should have seen the disaster coming from the opening kickoff. Diamond Ferri’s muff to open the game seemed harmless enough, considering he recovered the ball.

But that misplay started the trend of the day. On Saturday, the Orange had the drops, the fumbles and the missed tackles. Those blown plays equaled one giant disaster – SU’s second loss to Temple in three years.

SU fell to the Owls, 34-24, in front of 15,564 at Lincoln Financial Field. Sure, Temple embarrassed the Orange on the field. But forget the embarrassment. Syracuse will likely miss a bowl game for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. And once again, a late-season road loss puts SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni’s job in severe question.

‘To be honest with you, it’s just unacceptable,’ wide receiver Jared Jones said. ‘Unacceptable. If you’re a Syracuse athlete, I’m pretty sure you had a chance to go to Temple, but you chose to go to Syracuse.’

Prior to the game, SU players insisted there would be no repeat of Syracuse’s 2002 visit to Philadelphia – a 17-16 loss to the Owls. The Orange promised it wouldn’t blow a chance at a bowl bid, like it did last season in its 24-7 loss to Rutgers.

But the same result ensued. To become bowl eligible, Syracuse must win at Boston College on Nov. 27, and hope for an invitation.

Last season, the Orange ended the season bowl eligible at 6-6. Still, no bowl game offered Syracuse an invite. Even with a win over the Eagles, Syracuse may be faced with that possibility again.

After the game, even the players seemed convinced that the Orange’s game against BC would be its last of the season. Three Big East teams are already bowl eligible. Connecticut can become the fourth with a win over Buffalo next week.

Big East teams have just three bowl spots available outside the Bowl Championship Series, and this season, one of those spots will likely go to Notre Dame. That means two more available spots, and not many bowls are looking for teams with losses to Temple on their resume.

‘Would you take a (6-5) team that just lost to Temple?’ Fontenette said. ‘I wouldn’t. We don’t deserve it.’

Before SU worries about the bowl picture, it must consider what happened against Temple. The Orange had a golden opportunity and momentum. It had come off back-to-back emotional home wins against Connecticut and Pittsburgh. Those wins earned the Orange valuable tiebreakers in the Big East standings.

Enter Temple. The Owls have played punching bag for every team in the Big East – except, of course, for Syracuse.

It seemed so simple. All the Orange had to do was beat a team that hadn’t beaten a Division I-A opponent.

Instead, SU committed miscues from the start. Three times in the first half, SU drove into Temple’s red zone. Syracuse emerged with just three points. On the other side of the ball, the Orange defense turned Temple quarterback Walter Washington into a Michael Vick impersonator.

The 240-pound junior played a part in all four Temple scores, running for three and throwing for one. He repeatedly used his big frame to bounce off Syracuse defenders. Behind Washington, Temple led, 21-3, at halftime.

‘The defense wasn’t up for it at the beginning,’ safety Diamond Ferri said. ‘He’s a decent quarterback. He didn’t do anything that special. He’s a (240)-pound fullback playing quarterback.’

But Washington’s 185 rushing yards and 130 passing yards seemingly proved otherwise. Even when the defense managed to hold Washington, special teams gave him the ball back. Sophomore Marcus Clayton inexplicably dove to catch a punt and muffed it, setting up a second-quarter Temple touchdown.

In the third quarter, Syracuse had cut the lead to 21-10, and had Temple again facing a fourth down. This time, Jameel McClain barreled into Owls’ punter Jake Hendy, drawing a roughing-the-kicker penalty. Temple responded by driving down the field and adding a field goal.

On the next drive, Damien Rhodes – who rushed for 200 yards – scored his second touchdown of the game, cutting the lead to 24-17. But the Orange would get no closer, as Washington led Temple back down the field, scoring on a 4-yard run.

The loss proved even more frustrating when the Orange realized BC defeated West Virginia, 36-17. If SU had won, both Syracuse and the Eagles would’ve entered their meeting with one loss. West Virginia still has to go on the road to Pittsburgh. The SU-BC game could’ve been for a BCS bid.

But now the Orange will play only for winning record, and probably for Pasqualoni’s job. Once again, a late-season loss on the road appears to have doomed Syracuse.

‘We had a chance to win and be 4-1 in the conference,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We were hopeful BC could win, so it’s disappointing.

‘We worked hard to avoid exactly what happened. We were dreaming about being in another big game and it didn’t work out.’

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Published on November 13, 2004 at 12:00 pm