It was a game that reflected most of the storylines from the 2009 season. Delone Carter played well for Syracuse, the passing game struggled and the defense wore down by the end of the game.

The result, a 37-10 road loss to No. 14 Pittsburgh, left the team unsatisfied.

‘That’s fine, but it really doesn’t matter to me unless I win,’ Carter said after the game, according to an article published by The Daily Orange on Nov. 9, 2009. ‘All the yards and all that, it really doesn’t mean anything to me unless I get ‘W.”

But in reality, he had been the only one who really did execute. Carter’s 143 yards rushing would prove to be his second highest total of the 2009 season and one of his four 100-yard games. Add in his one reception for 22 yards, he accounted for 58 percent of his team’s total yards.

Though Carter was carrying the load, including a career-best 58-yard run, the rest of the offense was anemic. Quarterbacks Greg Paulus and Ryan Nassib combined to complete just 50 percent of their passes. They threw for a total of 141 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions.

‘They do a good job with their pass rush,’ Paulus said. ‘Defensively, they made some good plays in the secondary. Whether that’s knocking the ball away to get an interception, they do a good job of pressuring and being fundamentally sound.’

Looking back, this would be only the second game all season in which fans would get to see Nassib, the quarterback of the future, for an extended period of time.

And he did nothing to impress.

He attempted a season-high 16 passes, but completed just five for a total of 21 yards. SU traveled with just 55 scholarship players, which made it nearly impossible to beat one of the Big East’s bests.

‘Obviously, we don’t have a lot of depth on our football team,’ head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘But again, that’s a problem we have now, and I don’t see this as a problem at all for the future of this program.’

Syracuse played without wide receiver Mike Williams, who was leading the team in every receiving category. The Orange was also without running back Antwon Bailey, defensive end Torrey Ball and guard Andrew Tiller, who were suspended.

Tight end Cody Catalina and Max Suter sustained injuries in the first half and couldn’t return.

‘We had some injuries occur,’ Marrone said. ‘Those injuries forced us to come out of some of our packages, which limited us somewhat on offense and defense.’

And that is when the Panthers capitalized: the second half. Twenty-four of the team’s 37 points came after halftime, due in large part to three players having at least 55 yards rushing. Freshman Dion Lewis led the way with 110 yards and a touchdown by himself. In all, Pittsburgh gouged a defense that was giving up fewer than 90 rushing yards per game for 247 yards on the ground.

‘I think we did a good job of keeping our feet on the ground, knowing the importance of this conference game putting us 5-0, coming out and not taking nothing for granted,’ Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said. ‘We got it going in the second half.’

— Compiled by Asst. Copy Editor Michael Cohen

Published on October 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13