PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Mitch Browning, Syracuse’s offensive coordinator, stared down at a stat sheet following a 35-17 loss to Rutgers Saturday, and offensive futility stared back at him.

Just 35 passing yards.

Just 51 yards rushing after Doug Hogue’s 82-yard first quarter dash.

A 15-minute deficit in time of possession. Other numbers not found on the score sheet – six three-and-out possessions and a season-high five sacks allowed – were just as disheartening.

A few moments later, Browning offered something of an answer. He pointed up front, to his own unit, the offensive line. What caused the problems? ‘Probably our inability to control the line of scrimmage,’ Browning said.

The Syracuse offensive line took a step backward Saturday, resembling the 2007 unit they had worked so hard to forget, the one fraught with too few openings for running backs and too many openings for pass-rushing defenders.

Browning resurrected the unit in the offseason. He switched the blocking system and simplified the schemes. The line has responded. Curtis Brinkley is on the verge of a 1,000 yard season. The SU blockers had given up 14 sacks coming into this game, down from 54 the previous year.

All was well. Until Saturday.

That progress was wiped away in the Rutgers Stadium drizzle. The line’s consistent problems allowed Rutgers to control the ball and come back from an early 14-0 deficit. Syracuse accumulated only seven first downs. The Scarlet Knight defense confused the SU offense, rushed the passer and clogged holes all day long. Defensive end Jamaal Westerman wreaked havoc for the Scarlet Knights, finishing with two sacks. Rutgers had eight tackles for a loss, costing the Orange 45 total yards.

‘They stemmed around and did different things that really we hadn’t seen as much of,’ Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘It created some situations where we had to be on top of it that we weren’t.’

Quarterback Cameron Dantley audibled on Hogue’s touchdown run, spotting an oncoming safety blitz. Hogue hit daylight and was gone. After that, the Syracuse running game disappeared just as fast. Brinkley didn’t have the daylight he had grown accustomed to, the gaps he needs to jumpstart the offense. He didn’t have many chances, either. Syracuse had only one first down in the first half, and that came on a Dantley scramble as time wound down.

And even when they had an opportunity, the offense couldn’t deliver. On a key 3rd-and-1 in the second quarter, safety Courtney Greene and linebacker Ryan D’Imperio burst into the backfield and wrestled Brinkley down for a loss.

Another three-and-out.

‘Rutgers was doing a great job executing their gameplan on defense,’ Brinkley said. ‘Like I said earlier, we never got a chance to get into a rhythm like that.’

With the running game stagnant, the passing game had no answer. Dantley was hassled early and often. He finished with 19 yards, on 3-for-12 passing. The Scarlet Knights sacked him four times.

‘Obviously, there’s going to be times where all of a sudden, it looks like the running game isn’t rolling,’ Robinson said. ‘We have to be able to throw the football. I didn’t feel like we did a real good job of that today.’

A shot from linebacker Kevin Malast and defensive tackle Pete Tverdov knocked Dantley out of the game late in the third quarter. Dantley sprained his right ankle on the play. Former starter Andrew Robinson replaced him, with little noticeable difference. Robinson wracked up a grand total of 16 yards on 2-for-7 passing.

New quarterback. Same problems. ‘We were struggling on offense, there’s no doubt that,’ Andrew Robinson said. ‘When Cam was in, we were struggling. When I was in, we were struggling.’

The line has a week to re-tool. Anything to help them forget this week’s debacle.

‘We didn’t have much success executing,’ Browning said. ‘Sure didn’t have much of a gameplan, I guess.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on November 9, 2008 at 12:00 pm