PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Syracuse players methodically walked off the field for one final time this season on Saturday not looking like they had just lost by 31 points – the largest margin in head coach Greg Robinson’s career. Their heads were up and gaits were standard. They walked off like they had too many times this season and last season and the four seasons of this senior class – with a loss.

The season is over, officially in the record books. That record is 4-8. The eighth loss came on Saturday, after SU fell to Rutgers, 38-7, in front of 43,791 at Rutgers Stadium – the second-largest crowd in stadium history.

Syracuse’s offense barely scored. Its defense couldn’t stop the Scarlet Knights. It was a fitting way to end a season when the offense hasn’t done much scoring and the defense hasn’t done much stopping.

The hard part is after arguably SU’s best performance of the season – a 20-14 win over Connecticut on Nov. 18 – the Rutgers game was arguably the worst of the season.

‘It’s hard for me to really figure this out or say I saw this coming,’ Robinson said. ‘No, I didn’t see it to be like that. I suspect when I go back and watch the film I’ll see a number of things I did like. But I felt early in the game we had a penalty on the first third down and give them a chance, and then all of the sudden they put a drive together.’

The play Robinson is referencing was one of those ‘the game could be different if ….’ plays. Rutgers was backed up into a 3rd-and-6 on its own 16-yard line just two minutes into the game and the Orange called for a blitz. Cornerback Tanard Jackson came around the edge unblocked and jumped on Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel, dragging him to the ground.

The problem was he dragged Teel’s head – an illegal contact penalty. The result was 15 yards and a first down. It was SU’s lone hope for momentum.

‘They like to protect the quarterback’s head and I got a piece of his head when I came in,’ Jackson said. ‘That’s the first third-down of the game. That’s what our defenses thrives on, creating more opportunities for our offense, and we weren’t able to do that.’

Rutgers finished the drive six plays later with a Ray Rice touchdown. The Scarlet Knights picked off a Perry Patterson pass on SU’s ensuing drive and returned it to SU’s 38-yard line. On Rutgers’ next play, Teel dropped back and hit Kenny Britt deep for a touchdown. Just eight minutes into the game, SU was down by two touchdowns.

The bleeding had just started. Rutgers went on to score 17 more unanswered points and any Syracuse game plan was nullified as it tried to salvage respectability.

‘When you see points on the board, it puts a lot of pressure on you,’ Patterson said. ‘That’s something that we needed to do better this year, putting the pressure on the other team. When we did that, we’ve been able to stick into the game into the fourth quarter.’

Patterson’s final game was forgettable – he threw 7-for-16 for just 49 yards with an interception and a fumble. It was an overall poor day statistically for the Orange, who didn’t have a receiver record more than two catches.

Freshman receiver Mike Williams did not play because he missed practice earlier this week. Running back Curtis Brinkley was able to muster 51 yards on 12 carries, but SU had to leave its running game after the early deficit. It also allowed Rutgers’ two-headed backfield – Rice (107) and Brian Leonard (106) – to both eclipse 100 yards.

Syracuse did the football equivalent of throwing in the towel with 11:49 remaining in the fourth quarter when it officially relieved Patterson with Andrew Robinson.

The freshman, who has previously appeared in four games this season but had yet to complete a pass, marched the Orange downfield. Most of it was him actually marching – Robinson rushed three times in his first six plays. On the eighth play, he completed his first pass – a 4-yard pass to himself after he caught a deflected throw and scampered to Rutgers’ 31-yard line.

Two plays later, Robinson completed his first touchdown pass on a 14-yard pass to J.J. Nesheiwat.

‘During that drive, it’s a lot of fun,’ Andrew Robinson said. ‘Once you get off the field, you realize it’s the seniors’ last game and you want to do better for them.’

That’s simply the type of season it was for the Orange. While SU’s four wins are four times as many as last season, it was discouraging for Greg Robinson that SU ended the season with such a hopeless loss.

‘I hate that the season is over,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘I think if we could have gotten started better (today), it might have helped us.’

Published on November 27, 2006 at 12:00 pm