Curtis Brinkley couldn’t hide his aggravation. The senior starting tailback wanted the ball with the game tied at 24 early in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh. He wanted to help the Orange regroup after losing the lead it had held most of Saturday’s 34-24 defeat.

Instead, Brinkley stood on the sidelines as never-before-used freshman Antwon Bailey carried twice and the Orange went three-and-out. The Panthers would score on the ensuing position to take the lead for good.

‘It was very frustrating,’ Brinkley said. ‘I wanted to be in the game. But at the end of the day it was a coach’s decision, and the coach decided to put somebody else in. But I was frustrated about that.’

He had good reason to be frustrated. Brinkley had sliced through the Pitt defense in the first half, racking up 97 yards on 10 carries. He figured to get more in the second half -Delone Carter sat out the second straight game with a pulled hamstring, and Doug Hogue was limited in the second half by a foot injury.

But Brinkley only received six carries in the second half and watched as Bailey became SU’s featured back for a brief period in the fourth quarter.

‘Curtis Brinkley needed a blow so we put (Bailey) in,’ Robinson said after the game.

Not so, Brinkley said.

‘I wasn’t tired,’ Brinkley said. ‘My momentum carried me throughout the whole game. My adrenaline was rushing since the first play.’

Bailey, a freshman from Landover, Md., carried twice for five yards. On third down, quarterback Cameron Dantley was stopped for no gain on a broken play, and Syracuse punted the ball away. Pitt drove downfield and tacked on a field the next drive to make it 27-24.

Brinkley was back on the field the next drive, carrying twice for 12 yards. (He finished with 119 yards on 16 carries.) But that drive halted when Pittsburgh pounced on a Dantley fumble.

That turnover ended up being a back-breaker for Syracuse – Pitt scored eight plays later to make it 34-24. But Brinkley kept coming back to the possession before that when he wasn’t in the game.

‘If it were up to me, I would have played more,’ Brinkley said. ‘But like I said, the coach’s wanted someone else out there, and all I could do was listen to them and respect their decision.’

Holmes to the house

Sophomore cornerback Mike Holmes gave Syracuse a shot of momentum before the Orange offense even touched the ball. After a Pittsburgh field goal, Holmes took the ensuing kickoff and bolted up the left sideline 90 yards for a touchdown.

‘We came in the game knowing that we need a big showing out of the kickoff returners,’ Holmes said.

It was Syracuse’s first kick return for a touchdown since safety Max Suter’s 93-yard return against Louisville last year.

Holmes also set a Syracuse single-game record with 207 kick return yards – one shy of the Big East record set by former Miami running back Najeh Davenport against SU on Nov. 28, 1998.

Chew’s circus catch

Freshman wide receiver Van Chew provided perhaps SU’s biggest highlight against the Panthers, making a spectacular 36-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter.

On 3rd-and-2, Chew ran a go route up the left sideline. Dantley lofted the ball toward the endzone and Chew, despite the tight coverage on him, leaped, contorted his body, and somehow came down with the ball inbounds. That gave SU a 24-13 lead.

‘I was running the goal route, so in my mind I knew I just had to get past the defender,’ Chew said. ‘I saw the ball in the air and just jumped up and caught it.’

Chew’s grab was the second of his brief career, and his first touchdown reception. Sophomore wideout Donte Davis also snagged his first touchdown, a 27-yard strike in the first quarter.

Double duty for Merkerson

Da’Mon Merkerson’s return to wide receiver didn’t go too smoothly. The sophomore cornerback, who played wideout last season, dropped a pass right in his midsection in the first quarter. The catch would have given Syracuse a first down.

Merkerson, who caught eight passes for 101 yards last year, didn’t have any catches in his return to receiver against Pitt. He did line up on offense on several occasions.

‘They said they wanted to see me at receiver again to see if it would help them out,’ Merkerson said. ‘I’m always willing to do what I can to help the team.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on September 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm