For once, Syracuse’s offense would have time to find a rhythm. SU’s defense – in the top third in the country – would surely hold its own Saturday against a weak Cincinnati offense and its struggling redshirt freshman quarterback, Dustin Grutza.

Wrong. At least not until the second half.

The two halves of Syracuse’s 22-16 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday bore almost no resemblance for the SU defense. The Bearcats went over, around and through the Orange in the first half, running and passing at will in scoring two touchdowns. In the second half, though, holes disappeared and the Cincinnati offense was shut out.

Cincinnati linebacker Kevin McCullough’s 17-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter provided the Bearcats’ only second-half points.

‘They had our number for a little bit there,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘They were audibling and checking different things and we had to do some adjusting. But our players did a great job hanging in there. We tightened it up and kind of got a pulse of what they were doing.’

What Cincinnati was doing from the outset was firing a variety of quick passes to its wide receivers. A popular choice was a flanker screen to Earnest Jackson, who netted gains of 7, 12 and 15 yards on first half plays.

But when the Bearcats returned to the play twice in the third quarter, cornerback Steve Gregory nailed Jackson immediately. The Cincinnati wideout dropped the ball once and lost a yard after catching the other. SU made similar adjustments on many other plays designed to quickly get the ball into the hands of Cincinnati’s playmakers.

‘They had every play in the book it seemed like,’ SU linebacker Kelvin Smith said. ‘They had guys pulling and the offensive line was really coming out and trying to get a hand on us. They had some good schemes. We just had to settle down and get ourselves together.’

That took some time. Cincinnati drove 80 yards on each of its first two possessions – the second possession took 17 plays – to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 14-7 lead. By the time the half ended with the Bearcats leading, 14-13, Cincinnati had rolled up 251 yards and 18 first downs. Grutza’s numbers – 13-of-20 for 145 yards – illustrated his methodical manner of moving downfield.

SU did stop Cincinnati twice on its second scoring drive, but free safety Anthony Smith drew a personal foul penalty for running into the punter and Grutza ran for a first down off a fake field goal attempt.

Robinson prepared the defense for a fake when Cincinnati called timeout before the play. Even with its defense doubling as its field goal unit, SU still couldn’t stop the fourth-and-2 play from the SU 33-yard line.

‘They ran a little different scheme than they showed on film,’ Anthony Smith said. ‘A couple guys just didn’t fill the holes right, so they got a quick one off us.’

Cincinnati threatened again on its next possession, driving another 67 yards before Kevin Lowell badly missed a 37-yard field goal short. SU struggled to bring down Cincinnati’s bevy of big running backs on the drive.

‘That seems to be a little bit of a tendency on the defense,’ defensive end Ryan LaCasse said. ‘In the first half, we don’t tackle very well and in the second half we’re more settled into the game and guys are making better tackles.’

Cincinnati only crossed into Syracuse territory once in the second half – and that was the SU 49-yard line. Grutza only completed three passes for five yards the whole half. Playing conservatively with the lead, the Bearcats had just one first down in the fourth quarter.

The one knock on SU’s defense for the whole game was its inability to force a turnover for the second time this season. LaCasse said Cincinnati’s scheme of quick passes meant stripping the ball was SU’s best chance to create a turnover.

Still, holding an opponent’s offense scoreless for the final 47 minutes of a game is hard for any defense to beat.

‘We just didn’t come out with the intensity that we normally do,’ strong safety Dowayne Davis said. ‘We just picked it up in the second half. We were trying to make plays instead of doing what we had to.’

Published on October 30, 2005 at 12:00 pm