CINCINNATI — Everything seemed to fall into place for Syracuse in its 31-7 win over Cincinnati Saturday.

There was Ryan Bartholomew in the end zone pouncing on an Adam Harris fumble for a touchdown to give SU a 14-0 lead it wouldn’t relinquish. And there was Derrell Smith’s interception of Chazz Anderson at the game’s most important moment in the third quarter, with the Bearcats down 17-7 but driving deep into SU territory.

‘It was shocking,’ Smith said. ‘It came right to my hands.’

With Anderson’s errant pass and Cincinnati’s first-half fumbles, the win may well have been handed to Syracuse by UC and its replacement quarterback Anderson. From the outset, beginning when the Big East’s best statistical quarterback in Zach Collaros failed to take the field, everything went SU’s way. And it all seemed to stem from Anderson, including the interception.

Just like Syracuse did at the most crucial points in the game, Smith took the interception and ran to the win. Sixty yards on the way to an SU blowout.

Smith could only muster two words for Anderson after the game. Those words reflected the gift of a play for the linebacker. It also reflected the entire game for SU, as Anderson and the rest of the Bearcats had a hand in each of the Orange’s timely big plays.

‘Thank you,’ Smith said.

Syracuse capitalized on the Bearcats’ miscues, much like it has in its surprising three road wins to open Big East play — something it hadn’t done since 2001 — in the win Saturday in front of 32,072 at Nippert Stadium.

It was another pedestrian win for a team that has all of a sudden become the Big East’s road warriors. The Orange (6-2, 3-1 Big East) has won four away games for the first time since 1996.

The win was cemented in three quarters of play during which the Orange made sure to capitalize on every gawk-worthy gaffe Cincinnati (3-5, 1-2 Big East) committed. The Bearcats turned the ball over three times in the game, and the Orange tallied 17 points off them. Anderson accounted for two, fumbling the ball once to Smith in the second quarter before throwing the pass right to him in the third quarter.

But it really started with the initial gift-wrapped game-changer before either team took the field. The gift was handed to the SU defense when Collaros couldn’t play due to a lingering injury to his left knee. From there, SU ran away with every Bearcat blunder that sprung up in a clutch situation.

On Saturday, the replacement wasn’t good enough. During the moments that mattered, the Bearcats’ usual starters weren’t much better. Thanks to two first-half fumbles, the Orange held possession for more than 17 minutes of the first 22 minutes of play. The 17 minutes yielded a quick 17 points for the Orange.

The 17 points came with a strong performance from SU quarterback Ryan Nassib to start the game — completely different from the performance of Anderson. A week after arguably his worst performance of the season against West Virginia, Nassib wasn’t the reason why SU won the game, going 16-of-26 for only 125 yards and two touchdowns. But he resembled consistency and patience, as well as a concrete starting point. Something that was the last thing Cincinnati had with its quarterback position, as Anderson threw for just eight yards in the first quarter.

‘We took an approach where we really didn’t know who was going to be the quarterback,’ Smith said.

Ultimately, Collaros couldn’t go. Because of it, Anderson gave the SU offense time off his blunders. And Nassib ran the offense with that time, completing his first seven passes.

For Nassib and SU, it was just going with what was there — like they have all season. It came in the form of pocket-created patience for Nassib that yielded third-down conversions to tight end Nick Provo and wide receiver Alec Lemon.

‘I think today we did awesome,’ Nassib said. ‘When we got the ball in the red zone, we scored touchdowns today.’

And on the one play in which the Orange almost had an Anderson-like goal-line blunder — when Harris fumbled the ball in the end zone — Syracuse made sure to secure the win.

The center of it all, Bartholomew ensured that SU took care of its would-be gaffe.

‘I was just blocking, blocking the play, and then I just see the ball,’ Bartholomew said. ‘And I know the whistle is going to blow, and I just see the ball, and it’s just like any play. You just fall on the ball.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on October 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm