Their head coach stayed calm. He’s new here. He wasn’t around for the embarrassing losses of seasons past. When Syracuse trotted into halftime trailing Division I-AA Maine, Doug Marrone didn’t unleash a verbal tirade.

‘Just relax, just relax,’ Marrone recalled telling his players in the locker room.

But for the players, this was cruel déj vu. This was Akron all over again. So running back Delone Carter spoke up.

‘Delone got it off his chest,’ safety Nico Scott said. ‘He said this would not be a repeat of last year, that this was a completely different team with a completely different attitude.’

And a new team showed up. After a first half full of backbreaking plays and defensive breakdowns, Syracuse came back to beat Division I-AA Maine, 41-24, Saturday night at the Carrier Dome in front of 35,632. Unlike last year’s embarrassing 42-28 loss to Akron, the lethargic play disappeared at halftime.

The win did come at a price. SU’s NFL-bound defensive tackle, Art Jones, left the game with an upper leg injury and did not return. Further details are unknown.

Now, ready or not, Big East play begins. Next week, Syracuse (2-2) will host South Florida (4-0), which stunned No. 18 Florida State, 17-7, earlier in the day.

‘We’re .500 now,’ Marrone said. ‘We haven’t won a lot of games here so I’m going to enjoy this win. Are there things we can correct? Absolutely.’

For a while, it looked like any momentum Syracuse had built in last week’s thrilling win over Northwestern had evaporated. After cutting SU’s lead to 7-3, Maine rolled the dice on a surprise onside kick and won. One play later, quarterback Warren Smith hit Landis Williams for a 56-yard touchdown. Later in the half, the trickery continued. At its own 26-yard line on fourth down, pseudo punter Mike Brusko threw to Desmond Randall for 35 yards.

On the sideline, Marrone stood motionless in awe. With his clipboard pinned against his hip, he watched the gutsy play unravel before his eyes. Five plays later, Williams caught a tipped ball for a touchdown. Maine – hardly the Big Ten-talent Syracuse has been playing – took a 17-10 lead. So when Syracuse trotted into halftime to the dull drizzle of lukewarm cheers, visions of its 42-28 loss to Akron a year ago resurfaced. That harsh, symbolic nightmare of the past returned.

‘It absolutely did,’ Carter said. ‘We went into halftime and had words for each other. We came out and showed that there’s no going back.’

So this time, uninspired football against an inferior opponent only lasted one half. After sleepwalking through two quarters, the Orange quickly buried Maine in the second.

Syracuse finally thwarted Maine’s game of keepaway with big plays on defense. Anthony Perkins’ third-down takedown of Smith and Doug Hogue’s interception abruptly downgraded upset alert from code red to code blue. Both plays sparked touchdowns.

Offensively, Paulus and Carter got into a groove. Carter rushed for three touchdowns in addition to the one he caught in the first half and Paulus completed 21-of-28 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. Eleven different receivers caught a pass. After getting more than doubled in time of possession in the first half, SU’s offense finally got rolling.

It just took one half of standing and waiting.

As Maine kept extending its drives in such numbing, amusement-park fashion, Paulus cruised up and down the sideline with a message. One week prior, he watched the Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins despite losing the time of possession battle, 45:07 to 14:53. The bizarre lesson stuck.

Paulus knew the offense needed to maximize its opportunities.

‘Whether we get the ball for five minutes, three minutes and we’re off the field for 10 minutes, we need to execute, get first downs and do our job,’ Paulus said. ‘I thought we did that in the second half a lot better than the first half.’

So, now the attention shifts. Big East begins. Some players saw South Florida’s stunning upset of No. 18 Florida State on television before the game. Didn’t dwell on it, but definitely noticed it.

Another first half like this probably won’t fly against South Florida. But for now, the Orange lives to see another day – it’s train-wreck past safely in the rearview mirror. For now, disaster was averted. Memories of Akron are suppressed once again.

‘It feels good, it’s something we needed going into the Big East with,’ Carter said. ‘It gives us more confidence. It makes us feel that we’re going into next week strong.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on September 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm