MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Doug Marrone envisioned his offensive game plan as a chessboard. He would block man-on-man, stacking extra pawns at the offensive line. And Syracuse would run rampant in Marrone’s ‘Big’ formation against West Virginia’s vaunted No. 4 run defense all game.

‘It was a chess match,’ Marrone said.

Checkmate.

Marrone’s plan for SU to attack West Virginia’s 3-3-5 defense with its ‘Big’ two-tight end, two-back formation was practiced to perfection in the Orange’s 19-14 upset. It also helped to manage the game just as Marrone intended. The offensive success put on a show for the rest of the Big East against the supposed brick-wall WVU defense.

It was a show that starred running back Delone Carter for 18 minutes. For the remaining 42, it showcased the entire Syracuse offense and Marrone’s NFL-bred knack to devise in the face of an opponent’s strength.

‘Our philosophy is to win running the football,’ Marrone said. ‘And you have to, because if you get into a passing game against (West Virginia), we would have been in trouble. … So we put ourselves in manageable situations throughout the game.’

Thanks to the changeup in SU’s loaded-line formation Saturday, the Orange attacked WVU with the time-churning, ground-heavy attack. It accounted for 183 yards in the game and 72 percent of SU’s offensive plays.

In the first half, it was about throttling the Mountaineers for 19 points. In the second, it was about keeping the SU defense fresh and preserving that lead over the course of a half with nine consecutive punts.

But it wasn’t Carter’s show, as the starting running back went down with a bruised right hip at the start of the second quarter — the same side of his dislocated hip that kept him out of the 2007 season. After he left the game with 12 minutes left in the second quarter, having set the tempo with 77 yards rushing on just nine attempts — including a 46-yard sprint — Antwon Bailey would have to carry out Marrone’s plan.

Carter had ripped the air out of Mountaineer Field. Now Bailey had to keep the silence.

‘(Carter) came up to me at halftime, and he said he had something going on with him, and he wanted me out there 100 percent rather than him out there the way he was,’ Bailey said. ‘He said it was my show.’

The game started by going to Carter, Carter, Carter on first through third downs, with Ryan Nassib handing the senior the ball to bull through the WVU defense. In the second quarter, it just as quickly became Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. The 5-foot-8 running back picked up right where Carter left off, rushing for 94 yards on just 19 carries. In the process, he enabled SU to keep with the ‘Big’ formation for the rest of the game. SU rushed the ball 28 times to just 11 Nassib passes after Carter was injured.

With West Virginia adjusting to SU’s game plan by stacking more bodies in gaps, the Orange responded with its own change of pace. But it was change of pace that would remain within the ground-heavy game plan. Just when the Mountaineer faithful and the WVU defense were sure it was Bailey exclusively, freshman Prince-Tyson Gulley entered the fray. Gulley, who could barely swallow days ago with swollen tonsils, rushed for 19 yards with a long of 11 in the second half.

Gulley was the last part of a show stamped with the ‘run the ball down your throat’ mentality for which SU tight end Jose Cruz said the offense fully prepared.

‘Everyone went man for man,’ Cruz said. ‘We picked up blocks, and there were pieces on the outside of the defense, and we hit them. They tried to bring different looks in the second half, and we picked them up.’

By the end, SU had run intelligently with the formation, as it became more of a clock-burner than a point-provider. The SU backs were kept out of the end zone in the last half. But the game was one managed by the SU offense throughout.

And because of its ‘Big’ formation, Nassib was able to end the game surrounded by an even bigger one: the victory formation.

‘Game plan is great,’ Nassib said. ‘And the rest is history.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on October 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm