A group of Syracuse players stood in their respective corners of the press room after the game Saturday, excitedly answering questions about a victory for a change.

Suddenly, a loud bellow pierced the air from the side of the room.

‘Ahhhhhh!! Now what?!’ the voice shouted.

It was Curtis Brinkley, the Orange’s senior tailback, bursting in through a side door with a gigantic grin on his face. Finally, he had a reason to be proud not only of his individual performance, but of the team’s effort and ultimate result.

Brinkley rushed for a career-high 166 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries in Syracuse’s surprising 28-21 win over Louisville on Saturday, continuing his stellar season and increasing his total to 899 yards. After amassing only 53 yards in the first half, Brinkley exploded and, as he has been all year, was the one reliable player on an otherwise inconsistent offensive unit.

The game also marked the fifth-consecutive contest Brinkley rushed for at least 100 yards, making him the first player in Syracuse history to accomplish that feat in a single season.

‘Obviously,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said, ‘Curtis put on a show out there.’

Did he ever. Brinkley first made his mark late in the first quarter, when on a 1st-and-goal from the two, he took the handoff and rushed straight up the middle into a dogpile in front of the goal line. Instead of plowing through, Brinkley leaped from about four yards out, flying over the mass of bodies with the ball extended. He landed unharmed in the end zone for his fifth touchdown of the season to tie the game at seven.

It was an impressive but potentially dangerous technique – one Robinson would prefer not to see again.

‘He extended that ball out, and it’s very, very risky,’ Robinson said at his Sunday press conference. ‘It takes just a bare touch to knock that ball out. …You have to be careful there, really careful.’

Robinson likely did not have another complaint with his star tailback after that. Brinkley took 18 of his 33 carries in the second half and gained 113 of Syracuse’s 166 total yards in the game’s final 30 minutes.

He probably did his best work in the fourth quarter, when the team needed him most. With the Orange up a touchdown, Brinkley took a handoff on his own 33-yard line and bounced right, beating the entire Louisville defense and exploding down the sideline. By the time he was forced out, he was on the Cardinals’ 22 and had gained 45 yards. The drive ended with a touchdown reception by fullback Tony Fiammetta to put Syracuse up, 28-14. It proved to be the deciding score.

‘His long run, he had run earlier to the other side and really missed the hole,’ Robinson said. ‘The team talked on the sideline, and when he ran that big breakout run, he fit right where he needed to be. He has a much better understanding of how to find his line holes. It takes time.’

Saturday was just another chapter of what has been a terrific season for Brinkley. What started as a three-back race for the position has become a one-man show. But no matter how well he played, the team kept coming up short, until now. That’s why Brinkley couldn’t help but yell in the press room afterward.

It was vindication.

‘You know, coming into the game we was the underdog,’ Brinkley said with a laugh. ‘People were doubting us. The papers, people saying you were going to get blown out. I had to let the scream out and say what now … what now?’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on November 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm