EVANSTON, Ill. – A reporter asked Greg Robinson after the game Saturday if he ever considered benching his quarterback. After all, Syracuse’s successful running attack from the first half stalled, and Andrew Robinson could do nothing to keep Northwestern’s defense honest.

Greg Robinson immediately said he didn’t think about it, that he ‘didn’t have that feeling.’ Andrew Robinson was not why the Orange suffered a disappointing 30-10 opening-day loss to the Wildcats.

Greg Robinson was right. Andrew Robinson is not the most pressing concern about this team one game into the season. For that, just look at all the missed tackles and Syracuse’s inability (still) to stop the run.

But Andrew Robinson’s performance, this weekend, was so alarming because it took everyone by surprise. He was one of the last players expected to have a clunker. On a team that comes into the season with so many question marks, so many blatant and obvious holes, the quarterback was supposed to be a consistent presence.

‘I was off on a couple balls,’ Andrew Robinson said. ‘A little high here, a little low there, that kind of thing.’

That’s putting it mildly.

Let’s not skirt around the issue: Robinson was bad against Northwestern. Plain and simple. He looked helpless against a defense that allowed 243 passing yards per game last season. Robinson went 14-of-28 for a measly 103 yards (a pitiful 3.7 yards per pass attempt) and an interception returned for a touchdown that was the defining play of the game. Those numbers don’t include the intentional grounding penalty in his own endzone for a safety, so Robinson single-handedly gift-wrapped the Wildcats nine points.

Suddenly, the thought is there. Maybe one of the rare constants is no longer a constant. Too soon to say that, but the seed was planted Saturday. With all the other problems facing this program, the last thing Syracuse needs to worry about is the most important player on the field, especially when he demonstrated last year he has the potential to be a solid Division I quarterback.

‘There were times where he wasn’t as accurate as he’s been,’ Greg Robinson said.

The interception in particular was inexcusable. Donte Davis went outside, the throw was inside. With a good throw, no chance Brendan Smith picks it off. Instead, Smith jumped in front and had nobody in front of him on his way for the 26-yard touchdown.

Even worse was the timing of the miscue. Northwestern held a 16-10 lead at that point late in the third quarter, and the defensive score deflated a Syracuse team that still had a chance to pull an upset.

‘Donte ran the right route,’ Andrew Robinson said. ‘They had a blitz coming on that play, the safety was screaming down. I just misjudged the way the safety was rolling. I threw the ball inside, which was a bad ball. I put that interception completely on me.’

This should be a season Robinson progresses and improves. He put up respectable numbers last year despite Syracuse’s atrocious offensive line and anemic running attack. He threw for 423 yards and four touchdowns against Louisville and looked downright brilliant.

When he struggled, like he did against Iowa (79 yards) and Connecticut (59 yards), it was easy to attribute the poor outing to something else, not Robinson. No quarterback in the country had to make more throws under pressure and spent more time on his back.

Those excuses are gone.

The ground game is better. Delone Carter, Curtis Brinkley and Doug Hogue proved Saturday that Syracuse should be able to run the ball. Even the offensive line looks improved, if only a little, under new offensive coordinator Mitch Browning.

True, there were a couple drops. Lavar Lobdell in particular had at least two balls thrown his way he should have snagged. The whole wide receiving corps is inexperienced and simply not as talented as last year’s group with Taj Smith and Mike Williams.

Still, Syracuse needs a passing game. The Orange ran the ball well in the first half against Northwestern, but when the Wildcats crowded the box, Robinson could not make a big play to push the Wildcats off the line of scrimmage. His longest pass play was 18 yards.

Robinson doesn’t have to be great. He just needs to be good enough. On Saturday, he wasn’t even that.

‘I was kinda disappointed in the way I threw the ball today,’ Robinson said. ‘Some of the decisions I made weren’t that great. I’m going to take the film and learn from it and come back next week and play better.’

Let’s hope so.

Jared Diamond is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at jediamon@syr.edu.

Published on September 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm