EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – One by one, the group of Syracuse players received a slew of questions about next season in the postgame interview room following Saturday’s 56-31 loss to Connecticut.

They stood in front of the hoard of microphones, forced to talk about the future, despite the fact that this season just ended.

The details of Connecticut’s triumph weren’t important. Instead, this was a time to focus on year two of the Doug Marrone era.

‘You never want end the season with a loss. The whole goal of the season was to make it to a bowl game, and we fell a little bit short,’ senior wide receiver Lavar Lobdell said. ‘I’m very excited for the guys coming back next year, and I know they’re going to go and attack the offseason and get ready for next year.’

Syracuse ended its season in forgettable fashion, yielding the most points since 2001 in a blowout loss to the Huskies before front of 40,000 at Rentschler Field. The Orange (4-8, 1-6 Big East) never led in the game, but gained more yards on offense than UConn (6-5, 2-4), 489-377.

SU quarterback Greg Paulus set the single-season program record for completions (193) and completion percentage (67.7). Running back Delone Carter also became the ninth player in Syracuse history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season.

‘This team fought,’ Marrone said. ‘We get behind by two scores, we get behind by 18 and they kept coming back. I think we’ve been through a lot of adversity, and hopefully we won’t go through a lot of that in our future, that’s not what our goal is.’

It was easy to see which team looked like it was playing for bowl eligibility Saturday. UConn made the most of its opportunities and tore apart a Syracuse defense that looked far removed from the previous week’s 31-13 thrashing Rutgers.

On its first possession, Connecticut scored on a 4-yard run by Andre Dixon, one of his three touchdowns on the day. Fellow running back Jordan Todman also scored on a 37-yard touchdown run in the first half.

Nursing a 21-17 lead with just 1:08 to go in the first half, UConn marched 63 yards in five plays, highlighted by a 42-yard, one-hand grab by Marcus Easley on a pass from Zach Frazer that set-up a Dixon 1-yard run with six seconds left. There was also an 80-yard touchdown on a kickoff return by Mike Lang right after Syracuse sliced UConn’s lead to 7-3 in the first quarter.

UConn benefited from an apparent coaching blunder, when Marrone declined a chop block penalty deep in SU territory that would have pushed the Huskies out of field-goal range. The decision set up a 4th-and-5, which Connecticut converted. It scored a touchdown two plays later to bolster its lead to 35-17.

‘I feel as if we always play hard,’ linebacker Doug Hogue said. ‘We’re Syracuse, we always play hard and going into next year this game will probably be inspirational for us to work even harder, and we’ re going to come back next year better than we were before.’

The defense’s struggles overshadowed a great performance by the offense. Paulus played perhaps his best game, completing 24-of-32 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns. He found 10 different receivers and looked comfortable in the pocket.

Marcus Sales and Lemon looked like a potent receiving duo, for next year, making 16 catches for 229 yards and touchdown on Saturday. Carter was his usual self, busting out for 102 yards and a 10-yard score that cut UConn’s lead to 42-31 with 9:27 to go.

‘This is a team game and there’s been times when we’ve been carried by the defense and special teams,’ Paulus said. ‘You win and you lose together, and that’s what we’ve been doing.’

Only four words into his press conference, Marrone said this game was a disappointment. Then again, there have been plenty of disappointments this year.

There was no crying, no harping over what this season could have been. The rewards are supposed to be in the future. And the veterans now prepare to leave, hoping the foundation has been set.

‘I think we gave our best effort out there,’ Paulus said. ‘As far as a standpoint of: ‘Are we satisfied and completely happy with the wins and results?’ No. But we’ve set the foundation; the culture we’d like all the teams to have ahead of us.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm