To Doug Marrone, the numbers game finally caught up with the Syracuse football team. After losing so many players from the program this season, the lack of available bodies for the Orange made a difference in special teams and ended up being a turning point in Saturday’s 10-9 loss to Louisville.

‘I’m going to go back to the same point. We don’t have a lot of players on this team,’ said Marrone, the Syracuse head coach. ‘That’s not going to be a problem in the future. When you have depth issues, it’s going to affect special teams before it affects anything else.’

The failures the Syracuse special teams doomed the Orange Saturday in its loss to Louisville at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. SU could not convert on an extra point that made the difference in Louisville’s one-point win, and the Orange’s failure to contain Trent Guy on punts helped set-up Louisville’s go-ahead score.

Syracuse took a 9-3 lead on Delone Carter’s five-yard touchdown run with 12:58 left in the game, but couldn’t add the extra point.

A few plays before, an injury removed long snapper Dalton Phillips from the game and forced in senior backup Max Leo. On the snap, which Marrone called ‘good,’ punter Rob Long couldn’t grip the ball, and the Orange never got the kick off.

Though the extra point didn’t seem to matter while Syracuse protected its six-point lead, when Louisville tied the game with 1:24 left, the extra point failure prevented the Orange from possibly playing for overtime.

‘I think it’s one of those things you don’t take for granted,’ Marrone said. ‘I think we do in sports. When you kick the winning field goal, everyone gives credit to the kicker, but at the same time the snapper and the holder go through the same anxiety. It was just a missed play.’

On the defensive side of the ball, the punt unit couldn’t stop Louisville returner Trent Guy. He had a 94-yard touchdown called back earlier in the game, but the Orange chose to punt to him with less than four minutes remaining in the game. SU couldn’t contain him, and his 44-yard return to the Syracuse 45-yard line with 3:14 left ignited Louisville’s dormant offense. Four plays later, the Cardinals notched the winning tally.

Marrone said it came down to execution, and the Orange’s players simply did not do their job. For defensive tackle Anthony Perkins, he could only watch with despair as Guy blazed down the field with the punt.

‘One of the toughest plays was the punt because I really wished I could go out there and help out,’ Perkins said. ‘That’s the one thing I’m going to work on in the offseason. As a defensive lineman when you watch special teams play that goes for a good gain, it kind of kills you because you wish you were out there to help.’

CARTER HELPS BUT HURTS THE ORANGE

Delone Carter’s three-yard run on a pitch right that gave Syracuse a 9-3 lead seemed to absolve his blocking blunder in the first quarter that led to a fumble. When Louisville took a 10-9 lead later, though, Carter couldn’t help but lament over his failed block.

Carter ran for 129 yards and a touchdown in Syracuse’s 10-9 loss to Louisville, but his failure to block a linebacker in the first quarter with the ball inside the Louisville 30 prevented the Orange from getting any momentum – or points – early on.

‘I have a responsibility for the (defensive) end and Sam linebacker, and he came wide, and I didn’t get wide enough for him,’ Carter said. ‘I felt like that’s my play, and I needed to make that, and I needed to execute, but I’m going to go out here and make up for it the rest of the game.’

With Syracuse driving on its first possession of the game, quarterback Greg Paulus audibled to a pass play on a 2nd-and-4 at the Louisville 28. When he dropped back, Louisville’s Chris Campa came off the edge. Carter was Paulus’ last line of defense. He whiffed on his block, which was more of a dive than a block, and couldn’t stop Campa from sacking Paulus and forcing a fumble that Louisville recovered.

He made up for his blunder, though, with a three-yard scamper for the Orange’s only touchdown of the day. It marked his second consecutive 100-yard game and the third of the season.

‘I felt like we did a great job of (rushing the ball), but when we got down (to the red zone) just something went wrong,’ Carter said. ‘I’ve stopped pressing, and I started letting things up and I stopped trying to do much and taking what God’s given me and trying to make something out of it.’

THIS AND THAT

Van Chew made his first career start at wide receiver. …Bud Tribbey started in place of injured Art Jones. …Shamarko Thomas filled in for Max Suter at strong safety. …Phillip Thomas made his first career start at cornerback in place of Kevyn Scott and had his first career interception. …Doug Hogue’s two sacks were a career high. …Rob Long had a career-high 63-yard punt. …The last team to not score against Syracuse in the first half was Buffalo in 2005. …Louisville had the fewest total yards (151) of any team playing the Orange this year.

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on November 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm