STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – He held the bitterness back, biting his lip at every turn. Yes, this was Penn State, an overwhelming 29-point favorite. Yes, this was Happy Valley, a nightmare for any opponent. Syracuse was supposed to lose.

But not this way. That’s what stung Alec Lemon. Gripping his Subway bag a tad tighter, the freshman wide receiver shook his head and fought the frustration back.

‘We’re hurting ourselves, we’re beating ourselves,’ Lemon said. ‘It’s self-inflicted.’

This was probably the best team it’ll face all season, but Syracuse pointed the finger squarely back at itself after Saturday’s 28-7 loss here at Beaver Stadium. Dropped passes, turnovers, misreads – a bevy of missed opportunities. The offense never found a rhythm against Penn State.

Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone did not want to engage in a firefight with Penn State (2-0). Considering the Nittany Lions powerful arsenal of offensive weapons, inviting a shootout would have been a death sentence. So Marrone kept it simple. He wanted to keep the game dull, keep Penn State’s offense off the field and hope to steal a win at the end.

Instead, miscues marred Syracuse (0-2).

‘The plan had merit to it,’ Marrone said. ‘The plan could have worked easily. We had to make more plays.’

Momentum swayed in SU’s direction early. Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Syracuse’s defense stoned Penn State on four straight plays at the goal line to get the ball back. Coaches flooded onto the field in celebration as players stormed off it. Andrew Lewis and Bud Tribbey leapt into the air for a chest bump. A raucous crowd of 106,387 fell silent.

But consequently, SU tripped into the wrong end of a field position battle. Any offensive rhythm was stunted by two straight drives that began at the 2-yard line. After exchanging punts, Penn State made the score 14-0 on an Evan Royster touchdown run.

Syracuse didn’t use poor field position as a cop-out.

‘We practice for those situations,’ Lemon said. ‘It’s on us. We need to get out of those situations.’

From there, Syracuse’s offense continually shot itself in the foot. Quarterback Greg Paulus had two interceptions and missed multiple open receivers on second reads. Along Syracuse’s best drive of the game in the third quarter, trailing 21-0, Lemon dropped a deep pass. Soon after, on fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Mike Williams had a slant pass ricochet off his chest in the end zone.

‘That was on me,’ Williams said afterward. ‘That’s just focus.’

The red zone was mostly forbidden territory. Outside of a late touchdown pass to Donte Davis, Syracuse had six drives of five plays or less. The offense’s scoreless streak stretched to five quarters. And Syracuse rang up only 200 yards of total offense.

One reason for the breakdowns may have been a developing new quarterback system. Unlike last week when he was used plainly as a decoy in Syracuse’s ‘Stallion’ package, Ryan Nassib was often under center Saturday. Still, Marrone insisted the tag-in, tag-out approach didn’t spoil the offense’s timing.

Paulus shouldered the majority of the snaps, going 14-of-20 for 105 yards. Afterward, he admitted that he strayed from the pocket too often.

‘There were times I could have stepped up, and I got sacked, and I’ll take (the blame),’ Paulus said.

Way back in the spring, his brother saw this coming. Greg’s younger brother Mike, a quarterback at North Carolina, told him this was no ordinary September. Get through those three Big Ten games, he said. Get through those three, and you’ll be fine.

Two down, one to go. Saturday’s atmosphere was unlike anything Syracuse will face this year.

Beaver Stadium draws more than double the amount of fans the Carrier Dome does. It’s loud all game. At one point in the second half, the press box was shaking. Marrone prepped his players for every side effect of Happy Valley – the band, the ‘We Are…Penn State’ cheers, the lion roars over the speakers. Marrone strategically planned for his offense to drive away from the student section in the fourth quarter.

Every third down, a thumping drum droned out Paulus.

‘Today we played a team that’s better than us,’ said Marrone, pen ink blotched on his hand. ‘Penn State was a better football team than us today.’

One program is rebuilding. One’s been on top. Whereas Marrone had all of six weeks to reel in recruits, Joe Paterno has been tossing his line into a fishing hatchery for decades. In numbers alone, the Nittany Lions have 31 more players that Syracuse.

After the loss, excuses were muted. Opportunities presented themselves again and again Saturday. Each time, the Orange faltered.

‘We had a ton of missed opportunities,’ Lemon said.

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on September 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm