With his hands clasping the podium, Derrell Smith’s stern demeanor suddenly lit up. Zero yards rushing? He had no idea.

‘Oh, wow!’ said Smith, with a wide grin slapped across his face. ‘The thing is, I told coach (Scott) Shafer I want to get a negative rushing yard game. We’ll see. Hopefully we do. But zero? That’s good.’

With the help of five sacks, Syracuse stymied Akron to a goose egg on the ground. Zips running back DeVoe Torrence only mustered 17 yards on eight carries, as the Orange released the hounds on freshman quarterback Patrick Nicely all game. After Saturday, SU’s run defense now ranks sixth in the nation – a complete 180 from last year’s unit that finished 101st.

Sparking the turnaround is Smith. The junior middle linebacker had nine solo tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. He now ranks third in program history with six forced fumbles. Shafer, the Orange’s defensive coordinator, showed no mercy, freely blitzing Smith and others throughout the game. Nicely was pressured almost every time he dropped back.

This was the plan. Smith said the defense perfected its blitzes all week.

‘Coach said he was going to be aggressive in his play-calling,’ said Smith, who hobbled off the field with cramps in the fourth quarter. ‘Obviously, it worked. Zero yards rushing. Wow, that’s crazy.’

The knockout punch came with three minutes left. Max Suter smacked Nicely on a blitz to force a fumble. Doug Hogue recovered the ball, slamming the door on a last-ditch comeback attempt.

Head coach Doug Marrone knows the roots of this defensive improvement – fundamentals.

‘They’ve done a very good job at stopping the run, but the thing I’m excited about is how much we’ve improved our tackling from the spring, when we first got out there with them as coaches, until now,’ Marrone said. ‘We are a much, much improved tackling team.’

Reshuffled line paves way

One sack was all it took for Josh White to settle down.

Eight plays into the game, his lookout block got Ryan Nassib sacked for an 11-yard loss. Teammates came to him on the sideline, offered words of encouragement and he was fine.

‘After the sack, a lot of dudes picked me up and said, ‘Josh, you got it. Relax. You got it,” White said.

Akron didn’t have a single sack the rest of the game. After shaking up its offensive line over the bye week, the Orange reaped the rewards Saturday. White took over at left tackle, Adam Rosner and Andrew Tiller manned the guard spots, Ryan Bartholomew replaced an injured Jim McKenzie at center and Jonathan Meldrum remained at right tackle.

As a result, SU’s quarterbacks were rarely pressured, and Delone Carter (170 yards, three touchdowns) had a career day. The reshuffled line’s instant chemistry even took White by surprise.

‘We were really unsure about ourselves at first. Honestly, we were,’ White said. ‘But we came together. We just meshed.’

Syracuse’s zone-blocking scheme got into a rhythm for the first time all season. Rather than having assigned players to block, the linemen are required to clear out specific areas.

Blocking on the edge, White played a critical role. Carter was able to stretch runs to the sideline and turn up-field all game.

‘This week, we opened up our outside plays,’ White said. ‘It’s always zone. We run a lot of zone. Open up, take the end and take whatever comes to you. So there’s no set responsibility.’

On the down side, shotgun snaps were a journey for Bartholomew. He sailed several over the quarterbacks’ heads. Luckily for SU, only one errant snap resulted in a turnover.

‘A couple got away, but he’ll be fine,’ Paulus said. ‘He’s going to bounce back.’

This and That

With Mike Williams suspended, Marcus Sales stepped up with six receptions for 61 yards. …Ryan Nassib’s only pass attempt slipped through Cody Catalina’s hands for what could have been a 45-yard touchdown. …After missing a 39-yard field goal, Ryan Lichtenstein was yanked in favor of Jake Smith for SU’s next extra point. Smith finished the game at kicker. …Syracuse and Akron combined to go 3-of-20 on third down.

thdunne@gmail.com

Published on October 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm