There’s been a lot of chirping from upstate New York about the weaknesses of other Big East team’s non-conference schedules. Syracuse players have constantly referred to the ‘cupcakes’ the other squads in the Big East play.

So Saturday night, the bakers of the Culinary Institute of Syracuse donned their top hats for their first chance against a so-called pastry. And what creation did they whip up against Maine – something like a burnt marshmallow.

Syracuse’s 41-24 victory over the Black Bears had its bright moments, just as every marshmallow tastes somewhat good whether it’s burnt or not. Improving to 2-2 is one of them, as wins have come to Syracuse at a tortoise-like pace in recent years.

There was also the impressive showing by Greg Paulus, who built off last weekend’s effort to complete 21-of-28 passes for 270 yards and two scores.

Delone Carter plowed through the opposition, carrying multiple defenders into the end zone for his five-yard and nine-yard touchdown runs that helped Syracuse run away with this game late.

Even the defense, which was giving up free yardage like a non-profit organization in the first half, stepped up with key stops in the second half.

‘We knew we needed to change a few things and execute a little better,’ Paulus said. ‘We needed to make a few big plays and we did that during the second half.’

But like any burnt marshmallow, the biggest taste in your mouth after watching Syracuse’s victory is the charred portion of it all – how Syracuse could play so undisciplined and unfocused for such length against an inferior team. After all the jabs at other teams playing cupcakes, SU laid an egg Saturday night for the first 30 minutes.

It’s easy to discredit the first half and pretend it didn’t happen. That was in a galaxy far, far away. That was just one half. Look at the other 30 minutes where SU outscored Maine 28-7. But that mentality is wrong.

And since Syracuse doesn’t have the DeLorean at its expense, that first half counts as much as the second half does. There’s no way to hit the reset button and erase the plays that led to Maine taking a 17-13 lead into the half.

There are plenty of places to start. How about the two fake punts that resulted in first downs for the Black Bears? It’s hard enough to convert a fake punt for a first down in Madden. Yet somehow Syracuse allowed Maine to pull the feat off twice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

If a fake punt isn’t bad enough, how about the onside kick that helped set up Maine’s 10-7 lead in the second quarter. By the time Maine jumped on the ball, Syracuse hadn’t known what had hit them.

How can you explain such lapses? The players didn’t seem to have a reason other than tipping their caps to Maine, but there’s more to the story. Good teams might allow one lapse in a game, but three times? That’s unacceptable.

And there’s also the statistics.

Maine took a 17-13 lead into the half with 256 yards of offense and 11 first downs. It had the ball for nearly three more minutes despite being flagged for 17 penalties. In total, Maine’s offense – not to be confused with that of the 2007 New England Patriots – put up 430 yards.

‘I don’t know what the problem was,’ Wide receiver Marcus Sales said. ‘This is what we probably needed so we don’t come out and misjudge people by their record or what conference they are in.’

After the game, players and coaches seemed to be more focused on the positive aspects of the victory and less concerned with the sloppy play that dominated the first 30 minutes.

‘I’m happy. We’re 2-2,’ head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘This team hasn’t been 2-2 or .500 since 2006 and I told the players, ‘Go ahead and enjoy it.”

But the reality is, considering the luck other Big East teams have had against their birthday treats, this victory isn’t worth partying over. Connecticut beat Rhode Island 52-10 Saturday, Cincinnati beat Southeast Missouri State 70-3 and USF blanked Charleston Southern 59-0 in its third game.

After hinting that it was heading in the right direction, Syracuse acted like it could just sleepwalk through Maine. An alarming thought when you think of the lack of winning in this program.

A game like this against South Florida next weekend, who knocked off then-No. 18 Florida State 17-7, will result in a loss. Frankly, if Syracuse allows any Big East team to go for 256 yards in the first half, it will probably not be winning many games.

After quipping all season about cupcakes like they belong on Iron Chef, Syracuse couldn’t handle their creamy creations the way it should have Saturday. Maybe SU will have better luck carving some bull meat this weekend.

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on September 28, 2009 at 12:00 pm