MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Curtis Brinkley should be savoring games like this. He is, after all, playing the best football of his collegiate career, a sort of redemption after four frustrating seasons crammed with injuries and setbacks.

But there wasn’t a hint of satisfaction about Brinkley Saturday, only anguish scribbled on the senior tailback’s face following Syracuse’s 17-6 loss here at West Virginia. His legs had carried him 144 yards – the fourth time in five games he’d eclipsed 100 rushing yards – and carried the Orange into striking distance late the fourth, five yards away from a potential game-winning touchdown.

Brinkley had carried eight times for 44 yards on that penultimate drive. He had willed Syracuse down the field. But as the SU tailback found out again Saturday, he can only will this team so far.

Sooner or later, somebody else on the Syracuse offense needed to step up and make a play. That somebody never materialized. On 4th-and-4 from the five, Cameron Dantley’s desperation toss fluttered innocently away, along with SU’s visions of an upset.

And once again, Brinkley was left with little to show after another memorable outing. A familiar refrain for the senior who has shined amidst the dark, depressing backdrop of this season.

‘This is, this is, devastating,’ Brinkley said after the game. ‘This feels like I just lost my championship game in high school. This is the worst loss that I’ve experienced in college football. … We could have beat this (team).’

Then again, Saturday’s game possessed a familiar air. Curtis Brinkley driving the Orange, prodding it along in futile fashion only to suffer another defeat. He’s been Syracuse’s best player this season, speedy and shifty and elusive, there one moment and five yards downfield the next.

Brinkley has finally fulfilled the expectations that tailed him to Syracuse. Before a pair of knee surgeries and a broken leg last October derailed his career. He was the forgotten man going into this season obscured by the return of Delone Carter. But Brinkley has been a revelation, the unquestioned leader of SU’s attack. He’s having the best season by an SU tailback since Walter Reyes in 2003.

But that hasn’t been enough. Neither has Brinkley’s 621 yards rushing this year, already a personal single-season best. Or his 100-plus yards a game and 5.5 yards a carry. As much as he’s tried to pick this team up and carry it on his back, Syracuse is still 1-5. This offense is still improving, this defense still finding its identity. Brinkley can’t win these games by himself.

Not that he hasn’t tried. Brinkley has provided flashes this year. A highlight reel, 43-yard scamper against Pittsburgh that left a Panthers safety twisted on the ground. A career-high 145 yards and a touchdown to lead SU to its only win of the year over Northeastern. As Brinkley goes, so goes this offense.

That was evident again at West Virginia. Syracuse’s gameplan was to throw the football, and it did so (Dantley threw 40 times). But by the fourth quarter, it was the Curtis Brinkley show again. He carried 10 times in the frame for 72 yards. ‘I started to get into my rhythm in the second half,’ Brinkley said.

Twice in the second half against the Mountaineers, Brinkley took a third-and-short handoff and leaped over the line of scrimmage, the 5-foot-9 back soaring over heap of grappling lineman below him for a first down.

‘I’ll tell you what says it all about Curtis is those third down runs, and fourth and short, and he’s giving it up, going up over the top,’ head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘He’s a talented football player, but he plays with his heart, and it’s very obvious. He’s a courageous football player.’

Being courageous unfortunately isn’t enough for this offense. Brinkley shepherded Syracuse into striking distance, but he couldn’t get them into the endzone. And without Brinkley to finish the job, Syracuse’s offense promptly ceded the ball, and the game, to the Mountaineers.

Losses like this have taken a toll on every Syracuse player, but nobody seems to wear it after games quite like Brinkley. Two weeks earlier, Brinkley stood in a dingy room in the underbelly of the Carrier Dome after SU’s collapse against Pittsburgh, a hat pulled low over his eyes. ‘There’s no reason we should have lost that game,’ Brinkley declared. ‘I’m very upset right now.’ He had rushed for 119 yards that day on 16 carries.

The scene was eerily similar Saturday. That same defiance that manifests itself in Brinkley’s play was there.

‘No disrespect to West Virginia, to any of these teams we’ve played, but these teams really aren’t that good,’ Brinkley said. ‘I mean, they’re good, but we can play with these teams.’

Curtis Brinkley certainly can. The rest of Syracuse cannot right now. And one man can only do so much.

John Clayton is the sports editor of The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at jsclayto@syr.edu.

Published on October 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm