1-2 PunchThe running back question mark may have an answer.Curtis Brinkley and Delone Carter split the duties evenly Saturday. Expect that to continue. Brinkley started his third straight game and finished with 69 yards on 18 carries. Carter played a lot of the second and fourth quarters, running for 63 yards on 19 rushes. Paul Chiara carried only once for three yards.The only setback was the lack of a long play. Brinkley’s high was a 16-yard carry and Carter an eight-yard rush. But they helped Syracuse rush for 202 yards overall on 44 carries and gave the Orange an advantage in time of possession for the second straight week (30:37).’That was a good tandem today, those two guys worked well together,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘But I thought Curtis ran really tough and did some good things and Delone did some good things. It’s getting there, I think it’s improving, what we have to do is build on it week to week.’Coaches clearly recognize versatility in Carter. The true freshman was used in many short-yardage running situations and on third-down passing scenarios.’I understand a little bit more than I did in the first couple of games,’ Carter said. ‘It’s time for me to be more patient. In the beginning I was just kind of taking off, but you got to read a lot of things and you’ve got to let a lot of things develop.’

Mackin’ itIt had been 44 years since a Mackey scored a touchdown for Syracuse. Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown against George Washington on Nov. 17, 1962.On Saturday, his nephew Jerry scored the first defensive touchdown of the Greg Robinson era. Mackey scooped up a fumble caused by Jameel McClain and ran 15 yards for the score to give Syracuse a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter.’That’s the one that got us going as a defense,’ Mackey said. ‘We talked about it at halftime. We wanted to just tear them up because we felt we haven’t played our football.’ John suffers from dementia-the slow regression of the brain, of which Alzheimer’s is one type-and asked who that Mackey was on the field last week when he attended the Iowa game.’Hopefully, in the future, if he can just get a split second to know what’s going on around him, that would be a blessing from the Lord to know he’s got a nephew out there playing,’ Mackey said.

Apple turnoverMackey’s fumble recovery was the second turnover caused by the Syracuse defense Saturday. In a marked contrast to last season, the Orange won the turnover battle for the third straight game.In the first half, safety A.J. Brown picked off a deep pass on third-and-forever (30). Perry Patterson’s fourth-quarter interception gave Syracuse a plus-1 on the day and plus-6 for the season.’We got a special defense-and that goes back to Coach Robinson,’ linebacker Kelvin Smith said. ‘He’s a good coach, he knows what he’s talking about, he can (adjust) on the fly. He’s knows this stuff, he’s been doing it for years.’

Holy roller?

Perry Patterson’s fumble in the first quarter bounced so directly to receiver Taj Smith it looked planned.But the quarterback didn’t even know he lost the ball until he looked up and saw Smith running for what went down as a 48-yard run to give Syracuse an early 7-0 lead.’I told myself coming into the season I wasn’t going to make plays like that,’ Patterson said. ‘I just found myself trying to do a little too much. I didn’t realize I had the first down. Taj did a great job of just playing-Coach is always stressing you got to play until the whistle.’

This and thatMax Meisel continued to return punts in Bruce Williams’ absence. The 5-foot-4 junior walk-on had a career-long 16-yard return. …Brendan Carney suffered through a surprisingly miserable day. The senior shanked three punts and finished with just a 35-yard average on six attempts. …Some of the largest cheers of the day came in between the first and second quarters when the Illinois men’s basketball team was introduced. The Illini lost the national title game to North Carolina in 2005.

– Ethan Ramsey, sports editor

Published on September 16, 2006 at 12:00 pm