You are right, Doug Marrone. It was not ‘Here we go again.’ This Syracuse football team did not melt down against Maine for the entirety of its 38-14 win Saturday. It wasn’t Akron 2008, part deux. It did not become what could have been a loss worse than any of Greg Robinson’s 37.

And, boy, were there some bad ones.

The Orange roared back Saturday night –– albeit against a team that failed to score against Albany –– to the tune of 31 unanswered points against the Black Bears. In the second half, SU played the part of the BCS conference team bullying a second-division foe, playing in its biggest game of the year.

Yes, SU got the job done. And the win. But what the Orange did not show is the swagger the team has so openly spoken of thus far this season. That mentality of punching not Maine’s Warren Smith, but Jake Locker, in the mouth.

The first half Saturday couldn’t have been the furthest thing from it. The Orange coddled the Black Bears. Maine punched Syracuse in the mouth — again. Against the team that failed to score against Albany, the Orange outgained the Black Bears by only one yard in the first half (129-128).

Easy catches were dropped (hello, Alec Lemon). Coverage assignments were blown wide open (hello, Mike Holmes), only to have a Maine wide receiver do what wide receivers from Maine do: Drop surefire touchdown passes in the biggest moment of their careers (hello, Derek Session). Punt returns were muffed (hello, Steve Rene). And clear, immature penalties were committed (hello, Phillip Thomas). Many. All, against Maine.

SU did what it needed to do. But in a young season in which not a single Big East team is capitalizing on, seemingly, everyone else’s empty performances (hello, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Louisville), the Orange failed to capitalize on an opportunity to prove to the rest of the fledgling conference that it should be considered a contender.

‘I am disappointed with the way we played offensively,’ Marrone said. ‘I don’t think we looked like we were ready to take that field. That’s not how we have been in the last two games.’

Syracuse in no way, shape or form played with that swagger in a complete sense Saturday. They couldn’t have, and a 14-10 deficit to Maine with 35 seconds left in the first half is proof of that. SU looked like the Orange of the Robinson days. To SU fans, that first 29:25 felt exactly like ‘Here we go again.’

And simply because of that reason — because the Orange failed to show up in the first half of its home opener after 40 days of swag-talking since practices opened on Aug. 9 — the Orange can’t peddle that it has swagger moving forward at this point in the season.

After being blitzed by Jake Locker and Washington, SU followed it up by being blitzed by Warren Smith and Maine in the first half Saturday.

Sure, those 10 true freshmen are still getting their feet wet. Sure, Ryan Nassib set a school record with five touchdown passes. Sure, the entire offense had to adjust to game planning the passing attack without Aaron Weaver. Sure, the second half was exactly what Doug Marrone was expecting.

But the first half wasn’t. It was a 30-minute bear trap for the Orange. And in the middle of that bear trap in the second quarter, wrestling Maine offensive tackle Joseph Hook was SU defensive tackle Andrew Lewis. With his team down, Lewis was down as well, pinned to the Carrier Dome turf by Hook like an opponent of Iowa wrestling.

It wasn’t quite a punch in the mouth, but with the bear trap came a shove from Hook. All Lewis could do was flail his arm hopelessly in response. No jab. No cross. No hook.

It was ‘Here we go again.’ And with a little bit of that sentiment still lingering, that swagger can’t be taken seriously.

Said Marrone: ‘Are there things to clean up? Absolutely.’

Tony Olivero is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at aolivero@syr.edu.

Published on September 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm