Bruce Williams felt conflicted. The Syracuse senior safety and team captain tried to exult in the Orange defense’s best outing of the season against West Virginia. Syracuse bottled up the Mountaineers hyper-speed spread attack for long portions of Saturday’s contest.

But with any joy came the cold realization that Williams wasn’t a part of the unit’s success. Williams didn’t see a single snap on defense in the Orange’s 17-6 loss to West Virginia Saturday. Not one. The sideline perch was a strange one for Williams, who had manned SU’s free safety spot the previous three games.

‘I was happy during the game to see what my teammates were doing, and I was happy to see us take them down to the wire, but yeah, I was disappointed.’ Williams said. ‘I still think about it, to know I didn’t even play a snap on defense. … It’s still hard.’

Then again, Saturday merely provided another twist in what has been a wayward season for Williams. He spent all spring and summer entrenched at free safety. But on the eve of the season, he shuffled over to wide receiver to boost a depleted unit. Two games later, he shifted back to free safety in time for Syracuse’s blowout loss to Penn State.

Saturday, Williams was relegated to the sidelines, a casualty of head coach Greg Robinson’s decision to switch to a 4-2-5 formation against West Virginia’s spread attack. Cornerback Mike Holmes slotted into Williams’ safety spot. Little-used sophomore safety Max Suter also started.

Syracuse practiced the formation in the two weeks leading to its trip to Morgantown, W.Va. Even so, Williams was surprised to spend so much time sideline-bound.

‘When it first happened, (Robinson) told me he was just going to let some players learn the system, learn the playbook,’ Williams said. ‘I guess they got used to it, and coach liked what he was seeing and didn’t shuffle me in.’

Without Williams, the fleeter Orange defense had its best game of the season. Excluding Noel Devine’s back-breaking, 92-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, Syracuse allowed 177 yards. Syracuse came into the contest allowing 36.4 points per game.Williams’ contributions were limited to special teams. He made a tackle in punt coverage and returned a punt 12 yards in the third quarter.

But return duty provided little consolation to Williams, who is hardly having an ideal senior season. He managed one catch in two games at wide receiver before moving back to safety. He ranks third among SU defensive backs in tackles despite starting three games.

He was supposed to be the stalwart of the Syracuse secondary. Its leader.

‘It was hard for me, being a captain and being a senior to not play against West Virginia,’ Williams said. ‘I’d never had the chance to play West Virginia, and that hurts.’

But will the safety get a chance to play against South Florida, which also features a spread attack? Robinson wasn’t tipping his hand. ‘I think we’re going to play who we need to play to do our best against South Florida,’ the head coach said.

Williams didn’t sound optimistic.

‘I’m not sure what’s going on right now,’ he said. ‘Hopefully I’ll be involved in some sort of package to play but right now, as far as I know, I think it’s going to be the same.’

Sheeran, Battles on the mend

Robinson said he’s hopeful a pair of injured players, wide receiver Dan Sheeran and linebacker Chad Battles, will be ready to return for Syracuse’s matchup with Louisville on Nov. 1.

Both players suffered injuries in summer camp and haven’t played this year. Sheeran, a sophomore is rehabbing from a broken leg, while the redshirt freshman Battles has been ailed by a foot injury.

In less positive news, Robinson said redshirt freshman linebacker Ryan Gillum will likely miss the rest of the season after undergoing foot surgery. ‘They had to do some real work in his foot,’ Robinson said. ‘The rehab is long.’

Where’s Delone?

So begins another week of speculation about the health of tailback Delone Carter. The sophomore did not travel to West Virginia on Saturday, missing his third straight game with a pulled hamstring.

Robinson had pronounced Carter ready to play against the Mountaineers last week, but the tailback’s hamstring flared up in practice Thursday.

‘I’m reluctant to say anything now,’ Robinson said. ‘Sunday he went out and ran, but we didn’t have full speed practice. Hopefully we’ll have him back.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on October 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm