Weeks of anticipation ended in a letdown.

After Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone opted to close spring practice to ‘further the development of the program,’ Saturday’s final product offensively in the annual Spring

Game was disappointing at best and painful to watch at worst.

Promises of a more exciting offense with new features created a sense of anticipation that was stifled by a 9-0 game void of offensive touchdowns. John Anselmo’s team defeated the team coached by Rob Moore thanks to two outstanding defensive plays by Jay Bromley. His safety on Charley Loeb and strip sack of John Kinder, which teammate Brandon Sharpe returned for a touchdown, provided the only scoring in a game that featured two missed field goals and 15 total first downs.

‘Obviously we were disappointed that we didn’t score,’ said quarterback Ryan Nassib, who played for Team Anselmo. ‘But at the end of the day we scored enough.’

Anselmo acknowledged that his team got the better of the draw with Bromley and Sharpe, two likely starters once the regular season starts, on his defensive line. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Bromley broke through the offensive line to sack Loeb, who is Nassib’s backup, to open the scoring in the first quarter.

He shed his blocker again in the second quarter to chase down Kinder and stripped the ball. Sharpe, a 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end, scooped it up and ran 17 yards for the game’s only touchdown.

‘I was watching the ball as it rolled and I was like, ‘Please let somebody from my team pick it up,” Bromley said.

‘I just saw the ball rolling and I was like, ‘Thank you, Bromley,” Sharpe added.

That was all the scoring the sparse crowd inside the Carrier Dome would see.

Early on, the offense resembled last season’s limited play calling. Nassib’s first pass of the game was an out route to tight end Beckett Wales, whose role looked to be a mirror image of the one played by Nick Provo last year. His second pass, a slant to Marcus Sales, was a staple of the 2011 playbook as well.

The series ended as a three-and-out.

‘I just thought it was a good overall effort by the defense,’ Bromley said. ‘We tried to play the best we could. Defense, we really had a lot going for us.’

The flashiness promised by Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett at the end of last season is clearly a work in progress.

Nassib threw a quick pass out to Prince-Tyson Gulley in the flat on the right side, and the play was a designed throw back to Nassib. The defense pounced on Gulley, though, blowing up the play.

Later, the second-team offense ran the same play with more success as freshman Ashton Broyld threw back to Loeb for a moderate gain.

‘After last year we realized we need just a little more offensive performance,’ Nassib said. ‘We added a little wrinkle with the quarterback running and having the option of the quarterback run.’

The other bright spot from Saturday was the renewed connection from Nassib to Sales. After missing the 2011 season following an arrest for drug possession over the summer, Sales impressed in his first game-like action. He led all of SU’s receivers with 68 yards on two receptions.

Nassib finished the game 11-of-18 for 163 yards.

He took several shots deep to Sales, who caught passes of 30 and 38 yards on the same drive in the third quarter.

But the offense stalled and Ryan Lichtenstein missed a 31-yard field goal that clanged off the right upright and drew a smattering of laughs from the crowd.

‘Getting back to the speed of the game was the thing I wanted to focus on during spring ball,’ Sales said. ‘I think I was able to accomplish that, so I think it was a great spring.’

Marrone was questioned about whether he was pleased with his team’s play in what was a largely an unimpressive game. He said that after 13 great practices, Saturday was more about letting the players have fun than evaluating the team.

Said Marrone: ‘When I look at spring football, I don’t put it all in on one day. I look at it as far as the body of work.’

This and that

Justin Pugh and MaCauley Hill were two players who participated in the scrimmage at Rochester two weeks ago but didn’t play Saturday. … Lichtenstein missed both his field goal attempts from 31 and 28 yards. … Broyld broke a short pass for a 44-yard catch-and-run after lining up at the wide receiver position. … Steve Rene led all running backs with 22 yards rushing. … Jonathan Fisher and Riley Dixon combined to average 43.8 yards per punt.

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on April 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13