PITTSBURGH – Greg Williams glided down the back of the end zone, pumping his left fist in relief. The rout was on and upset alert was off. With his interception return for a touchdown, the Pittsburgh cornerback completely rear-ended Syracuse’s momentum.

‘It was a normal screen like we’ve always done,’ quarterback Greg Paulus said. ‘They got a deflection on it and made a good play.’

Headlined by a pick-six before the half, Syracuse’s passing game struggled to adjust to life without Mike Williams in SU’s 37-10 loss to Pitt Saturday. The problem wasn’t universal, rather a pinch of everything. The Panthers’ front four hassled both Paulus and backup Ryan Nassib, receivers couldn’t get separation, the quarterbacks missed reads and the playcalling was safe.

It all added up to only 141 yards on 17-of-34 passing with three interceptions and six sacks.

Williams’ pick before halftime hurt the most.

Trailing, 6-3, with 1:30 left in the second quarter, Syracuse seemed primed for a sucker punch before halftime. But like previous games, hopes turned south on one pass. Paulus took the shotgun snap, fired a quick screen to Mike Jones, and the ball was tipped. Williams snared it and raced 51 yards to the house. Instead of SU taking a lead into the half, the game eroded into a blowout.

Still, head coach Doug Marrone and several players denied the notion of the pick’s demoralizing effect. Mainly because SU has been here before.

‘I think they’ve worked hard enough to know they can still get back into these games,’ Marrone said. ‘To say that we’ve had a lot of practice at things like that, it has happened to us before and we haven’t given up. So I didn’t feel that sense at all from the players.’

Added receiver Donte Davis, ‘We still had the mindset to go out there, attack and keep fighting hard.’

In any event, the play sharply redirected the course of the game. Williams’ pick was the swig of caffeine Pitt needed. And Syracuse’s passing game never recovered.

The lack of a big-play threat shrunk SU’s passing game to a collage of check-downs, slants and screens. Even when Pitt took a commanding lead in the second half, SU rarely pressed the ball downfield. Syracuse’s longest completion to a wide receiver went for 18 yards.

Paulus wasn’t at fault for the backbreaking pick. Neither was Nassib for his costly interception in the third quarter. After the Panthers extended their lead to 20-3 on the first drive of the second half, Nassib trotted out with the first-team offense. On the first play, he threw a post route on the money to Van Chew. The ball ricocheted into the air and Jarred Holley picked it off.

‘Van Chew had a chance to get it, the defender put his arm up, you’d like Van Chew to go up and grab that ball, but the defender makes a nice play and gets it out, tips it, and they have another player in place to get the interception,’ Marrone said. ‘We have to make those plays somehow.’

Often, the problems were rooted up front. Syracuse’s pocket collapsed throughout Saturday’s loss.

‘They do a good job with their pass rush,’ Paulus said. ‘Defensively, they made some good plays in the secondary. Whether that’s knocking the ball away to get an interception, they do a good job of pressuring and being fundamentally sound.’

Syracuse’s receivers didn’t do Paulus and Nassib many favors, either. On several key third downs, they cut their routes shy of the first-down marker. Two such instances stalled promising drives in the first half, when the score was still close. Faced with the ensuing 4th-and-shorts twice in the first half, Marrone opted to punt.

Throughout Big East play, Syracuse’s defense gave the offense countless chances to go for the jugular. To Davis, the key to running the table against Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut is simple.

‘We need to get more big plays, more explosive plays on offense and finish in the red zone,’ Davis said.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s possible to do so without Williams. The players believe so, anyway. When a reporter asked Nassib if Williams’ absence had anything to do with Syracuse’s lack of a vertical passing game, he didn’t think twice.

‘No.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on November 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm