It wasn’t a knockout punch, but Louisville’s 10-9 victory over Syracuse Saturday started the referee’s count to 10. No matter how you look at it, the Orange’s crushing loss to the terrible Cardinals knocked SU to the mat by eliminating the squad from bowl contention.

So with two games left in the season, the referee has begun the numerical sequence to count the Orange out. And this is where we will see what this team is made of.

A lifeless effort the next two weeks against two beatable teams will show this team to be a fraud, a team that will go against everything head coach Doug Marrone is trying to stand for in this program. It will be as if Louisville’s little love tap of a blow was like Rocky hitting Ivan Drago with the left in ‘Rocky IV.’

If this team fights, though, we’ll see the true grit of this team. We’ll see a team that hasn’t quit on this season even with the goal lost. A team that has bought into Marrone’s philosophy and is fighting hard for its coach, even with no reward at the end of the season.

‘What the difference is in the wins and losses is how you come back and react to them,’ Marrone said. ‘And just like I told the team, come back and somebody bangs the locker in a show of frustration. We’re all frustrated, but this is adversity we have to deal with, and it’s something that’s caused by ourselves.

‘But how do we react and how do we come back from it is the key. Do we just put our tails between our legs and walk off, or do we be men and stand up and next week go out and try and win a football game, and learn from the mistakes we made and learn we have to execute to win games, and we have to score.’

The old saying goes a team learns more from losses than from wins. Whether you agree with that adage or not, we’re going to learn a lot about this football team in its next two games. Rutgers and Connecticut, albeit better football teams than the Orange, can be beat.

Saturday’s loss to Louisville was crushing. How could it not be? A blown extra point, a bizarre interception and Louisville’s offense showing life for only 1:50 of play sent the Orange to its fifth conference loss.

After such a loss, it would be easy to go through the motions the next two games. A devastating loss followed by two games that don’t matter isn’t exactly what coaches draw up for the end of the season. But this is where the character of a team is revealed. Down for the count, can this team stand tall?

‘You’re never going to see no quit in us,’ Delone Carter said of what this next game will mean for the squad. ‘And that we’re going to go out here and play for ourselves and play for our pride.’

Marrone has worked hard to turn this program around. He has eradicated the excess pieces and has not been afraid to suspend those that oppose his philosophy. He has given this team his all, week in and week out. Even through this tough time, he continues to believe in his team. The referee can’t even count to one once Marrone gets knocked down.

But this isn’t about Marrone. This is about the players. This rebuilding process is going to take time. There are going to be bruises and bumps.

So the Orange now faces its toughest test. It can lie on its back and pack it in until next year’s opener at Akron, or get up and fight for what Marrone wants this program to be. Show that this team has heart and can rebound from a devastating loss and wants to play spoilers for the next two weeks.

‘Every game is an opportunity to bring out some pride for the Syracuse Orange and support for the fans,’ center Jim McKenzie said, ‘and show that the program is on its way back up.’

We’ll know Saturday whether there are more players who view the rest of the season like McKenzie. By the end of one quarter, we should be aware of whether Syracuse is letting the referee count it out of the fight.

‘I just think that how you finish the year and how this team finishes the year, one, that should be able to build some momentum going into the future of this program,’ Marrone said. ‘And also for the players that are leaving this program that are not going to be with us, they have the chance to build the foundation back that they can be proud of.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on November 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm