Connecticut 56

Syracuse 31

With its blowout loss to Connecticut to close the 2009 season, Doug Marrone forecasted what 2010 would become for the Syracuse football team.

The SU head coach, for once, wasn’t engrossed in the moment of what happened on the field. The staggering loss to the Huskies wasn’t the preferred topic of conversation.

Yes, he needed to answer questions about the 56 points Syracuse gave up, the most points for an SU opponent since 2001. But it was all about foundation as Marrone concluded a 4-8 year in his first season.

It was about what would come next.

‘We’ve been through a lot of adversity,’ Marrone said after the game in East Hartford, Conn. ‘And hopefully we won’t go through a lot of that in our future, that’s not what our goal is.’

The future, despite what Marrone and several SU players said following the game, looked bleak. Once again, Syracuse (4-8, 1-6 Big East) failed to muster two wins in Big East play. It would finish near the bottom in conference. And another tri-state team embarrassed the Orange to end the season, thanks to the Huskies’ 196 yards on the ground from Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon.

Dixon and Todman, though, didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. It was all about the Greg Pauluses and Lavar Lobdells now that Syracuse’s season was over. It was time to thank them, even though the Orange was blasted by a former SU alumnus in UConn head coach Randy Edsall.

The one-year experiment that was a graduate student at quarterback was over. Paulus concluded his 12-game SU career with a loss on the field. But to Marrone, the former Duke point guard was the ultimate winner. And with the endless praise from his head coach also came SU-best numbers.

Paulus finished the year with the program’s single-season record for completions with 193. He also set the SU season record with a 67.7 completion percentage, capped off by a 296-yard, two-touchdown performance against UConn (6-5, 2-4).

Paulus, like Marrone, didn’t care about the past.

‘As far as a standpoint of ‘are we satisfied and completely happy with the wins and results’ — no,’ Paulus said. ‘But we’ve set the foundation, the culture we’d like all the teams to have ahead of us.’

With the word ‘foundation’ surfacing for the head coach and quarterback who piloted the team to start a new era, SU’s tone was set. On the field, the Orange’s would-be returnees for the 2010 campaign showed flashes, as well. Especially two receivers at the end of 16 of Paulus’ 24 pass completions.

Marcus Sales and Alec Lemon had career games in front of the 40,000 at Rentschler Field. Lemon went for a surprising 140 yards on the day, hauling in his first touchdown of his career. And Sales went for 89 yards. In all, two quarterbacks — including the Orange’s future starter in Ryan Nassib — and 10 receivers got in on the action.

Nassib’s 64-yard, one-touchdown performance was another solid, yet abbreviated, audition for his future job. And Delone Carter went over 100 yards for the third time in four games. In the process, he established himself as SU’s premier offensive weapon heading into 2010.

Still, the truth was that the Huskies pulled away for a 25-point win. It may have been the low point in another losing season.

And like any team limping to the finish line, the Orange took solace in next year. The only difference for Marrone and SU linebacker Doug Hogue was that next year, they promised, would be different.

It would be the year of building on what was SU football in 2009. It all ended with optimism forced from a devastating loss in East Hartford.

‘We’re Syracuse,’ Hogue said. ‘We always play hard, and going into next year, this game will probably be inspirational for us to work even harder, and we’re going to come back next year better than we were before.’

— Compiled by Asst. Sports Editor Tony Olivero, aolivero@syr.edu

Published on November 18, 2010 at 12:00 pm