Mike Williams had a simple message for quarterback Greg Paulus. ‘I told him if he sees the coverage, just throw it up and I would get it for him,’ Williams said. Paulus listened to his junior wide receiver, throwing two balls up for Williams to grab in the end zone during Saturday’s contest against South Florida. The result: two more touchdown receptions for Williams. In what is starting to become a common achievement for Williams, he caught a career-high 13 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns in Syracuse’s 34-20 loss to USF. Williams is now third in the NCAA in receiving yards with 623 and fifth with a 124.6 average per contest. ‘When I get one-on-one coverage, I’m going to try to exploit it,’ Williams said. ‘That’s what coach Spence called, he saw the one-on-one coverage, and we tried to go at it all day.’ In what was supposed to be a great cornerback-wide receiver matchup between Williams and Jerome Murphy, it instead turned into a one-sided show. Williams just could not be stopped. He found space on slant routes, broke free in the middle of the field for a 54-yard catch early and used his height on fades in the endzone. On his first score, he jumped above Quenton Washington and Ryan Eppes to haul in a lofted pass from Paulus to cut USF’s lead to 14-13 with 29 seconds in the first half. In the fourth quarter, he jumped up and reamed in another lobbed ball from Paulus above Murphy in the end zone to make it 34-20 with 10:02 left in the contest. On that catch, he was able to touch one of his feet in the endzone while falling out of bounds to notch the score. ‘Mike Williams had a tremendous game,’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘Mike went up there and got a ball, and that’s what we’re talking about when the ball goes into the air.

‘South Florida had a chance to get that one ball. Mike went up and grabbed that football. Mike has done a tremendous job and we need other players to step it up to help us out.’

MERKERSON SEES TIME AT CORNER

Da’ Mon Merkerson needed a switch. The junior wide receiver had not been utilized in any of Syracuse’s first four games this season as a wideout, so he decided to move to the other side of the ball. ‘I wasn’t really needed on offense and I felt that if I could contribute on defense, they’d let me switch,’ Merkerson said. ‘Coach made the decision.’ Merkerson played as a cornerback for the first time this season after playing as a corner last year. He replaced starter Nico Scott and finished the game with two tackles. Marrone said the plan was to insert the junior into the game because he said Merkerson has done such a good job in practice. Instead, the move seemed to correlate more with Scott being burned on an 85-yard touchdown route on the first play of the second half. Merkerson played in Scott’s spot for nearly the rest of the half. ‘I’ve been playing both positions for most of my life, so it’s just the feel of the game,’ Merkerson said. ‘I don’t look at it as if I’m on an island – receiver or corner. I just want to play. When I’m on the field, I just want to have fun. ‘It’s been a smooth transition. I like both sides of the ball. It’s about playing for me.’

THIS AND THAT

Syracuse’s seven turnovers matched its season total. …Williams has now caught a pass in 25 consecutive games. …Paulus’ 25 completions and 46 pass attempts set personal highs. …Kicker Ryan Lichtenstein is leading the Big East with a .900 field goal percentage. …Paulus’ five interceptions are tied for the most ever in a game by a Syracuse quarterback. Todd Norley also threw five against Penn State in 1982. …USF’s George Selvie had zero sacks and just two tackles against the Orange. mrehalt@syr.edu