OXFORD, Ohio – The 66 yards gained on the ground by Syracuse on Saturday were a season-high.

That’s how much of a struggle it has been to establish a running game. Finally, the whole situation has starting running back Curtis Brinkley beyond frustration.

‘The offensive line has to put (helmets) on people,’ Brinkley said. ‘I’m tired of saying, ‘Hey, look man, this is the situation,’ because it is what it is. People on the offensive line, receivers, running backs, we have to put faces on other people’s faces. Nothing’s going to happen with the running game if you got people in the backfield if they’re not blocking. It starts up front. We gotta get the job done.’

Brinkley rushed the ball 12 times for 36 yards in Syracuse’s 17-14 loss at Miami (Ohio). He now has a grand total of 183 yards on 71 carries, for a measly 2.6 yards per carry.

But as Brinkley suggested, it’s not all on him or the other tailbacks seeing action. The Orange has simply not been able to implement a successful running scheme, and it seems as though no one has any answers as to why.

‘Being a West Coast offense, we have to establish the run,’ quarterback Andrew Robinson said. ‘That’s something we have to do going forward and that’s something that didn’t happen today.’

‘Running the football is the most important thing,’ offensive lineman Carroll Madison said. ‘As offensive linemen, that’s what we want to do – run the ball. We gotta get it going. I don’t know what the problem is.’

Syracuse’s rush offense ranks 118th in the nation, and only Notre Dame trails SU. The Orange averages 40.6 rushing yards per game.

After watching the game tape, Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said Sunday he sees the running problems as a combination of both the line and the tailbacks.

‘There were some situations where I saw Curtis do a nice job at doing what he saw and getting out,’ Robinson said. ‘There have been times, too, where we haven’t felt what the line is getting done. I can’t tell you that it’s the line that’s breaking down because it isn’t that way all the time. Some of it is you have to feel it and work it.’

Or as Madison put it, maybe SU needs some introspection.

‘You just can’t pick and choose when you want to make plays,’ Madison said. ‘You gotta bring it every day.’

Second guessing

Robinson said there were a few in-game strategy decisions he went back and forth on. The most evident was a 4th-and-1 on the Miami 49-yard line in the fourth quarter, with Syracuse down 14-7. The head coach kept his offense on the field to go for it, but the unit couldn’t get the play off in time and needed to burn a timeout.

After the break, the punting unit emerged from the sidelines. Freshman punter Rob Long’s kick bounced through the endzone and the RedHawks drove nine plays for 79 yards, consuming just over five minutes of precious clock time. Trevor Cook booted a 19-yard field goal when the SU defense stopped Miami on a goalline stand.

But that field goal ended up being the difference on the scoreboard.

‘I went back and forth. I probably should have stuck with my gut the first time; I was going for it,’ Robinson said. ‘You know, shoulda, woulda, coulda. All of those things.

‘If we pinned them back there, I thought the defense could hold them off, and then you’d get good field position.’

Fields day

Safety Joe Fields collected the sixth and seventh interceptions of his two-year career in the Syracuse secondary. The first looked to be a momentum changer for the Orange.

On Miami’s first second-half drive, already leading SU 14-0, the RedHawks drove from their 29-yard line to the Syracuse 23. Threatening for another score, MU quarterback Mike Kokal rolled out of the pocket and looked to have a receiver open inside the 10-yard line. But Fields, who trailed the receiver, made up the gap in time to pick off the pass.

‘It was man-to-man coverage. Actually, it was a defense the coaches had just put in at halftime,’ Fields said. ‘The tight end came up, gave me a good move at the line. But I did a good job of catching back up with him. When he broke, I just got on the quarterback’s eyes, and he threw it and I undercut him.’

After the interception, Syracuse drove 76 yards in just five plays, capped by an Andrew Robinson 43-yard touchdown throw to Mike Williams for the Orange’s first score of the day.

Published on September 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm