After the hurt has fully dissipated, there will be a clear goal over the next four days for Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone: to get his team above .500.

And again, he is putting all of the attention and pressure on himself. He did so in just the second sentence of his press conference Monday.

‘Obviously, we’re disappointed going out to the West Coast and losing a game to Washington,’ Marrone said. ‘It starts with me.’

In his first time addressing the media since returning from Seattle following the Orange’s disappointing 41-20 loss to the Huskies Saturday, Marrone looked inward to start the week. He harped on some of the deepest intricacies regarding SU this season, following the loss, for the first three minutes of the presser, all unprompted as part of his opening statement.

Marrone discussed the Huskies man coverage, a specific red zone penalty, misdirection in the red zone and the fact that he said the Huskies were a ‘zero-pressure’ team in the red zone defensively. All of the details, one right after another.

But after those three minutes, the focus quickly shifted to Maine, the Orange’s opponent this Saturday in the team’s home opener.

And it shifted toward the hurt. Hurt Marrone didn’t want to endure in the first place, but he is glad his team wants to and is willing to endure.

It’s a sign. A good sign.

‘You’re damn right I’m worried if after we lose a game it doesn’t hurt,’ Marrone said. ‘But it hurt. And it hurt everyone when you know you could have done things to win the game. Then there comes a point where you have to learn what has gone on, cut out what everyone around you is going to say, face it and focus on your next opponent knowing that you control what you do.

‘That is an important message and one that has been delivered to our players. We expect them to come back, give us their best effort and get ready to win a game and go above .500.’

In the midst of the discussion regarding Maine, and to wrap it up with the final words at the end of the press conference, Marrone’s mindset trickled down to his almost identical usage of words. Twice, he said the Orange needed to ‘get over .500.’ After two weeks, ‘getting over .500’ equates to defeating a Maine program the Orange beat 41-24 last year.

But the head coach said his team is just as focused on the Black Bears as SU was leading up to Akron and Washington. Even if it’s a Black Bear team that has struggled mightily to start the season.

The most paramount of those struggles: failing to score once against Albany at home to start the season. The Black Bears lost an embarrassing 3-0 contest to an Albany team that lost eight defensive starters from a team that ranked fourth in the Northeastern Conference in team defense in 2009. On offense, Maine returns nine offensive starters. Still, that was only good enough for a 3-of-14 mark on third down against the Great Danes — and those zero points.

The Syracuse players, on the other hand, have four days to prepare to defeat the first of two subdivision opponents. Four days to get above .500.

Numbers are just that as of Monday: numbers. Practice for Maine hadn’t even started.

But hurt is always hurt. And a game is always a game. Maine isn’t a trap game. But don’t dare say that. The Orange hasn’t earned a trap game yet. Not in Marrone’s book, anyway.

‘Some people refer to these games as trap games,’ Marrone said. ‘You take them for granted.

‘We’re not even close to that stage.’

aolivero@syr.edu

—Asst. Sports Editor Brett LoGiurato contributed reporting to this article 

Published on September 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm