Antwon Bailey said his mindset when he gets a carry is simple: Hold onto the ball and get positive yardage.

Bailey, Syracuse’s little-used freshman tailback, did a whole lot more in the third quarter against Louisville Saturday, when he blasted up the right sideline for a 39-yard touchdown run – his first career score.

‘It feels great to finally reach the endzone at the college level and for it to be in this game, the biggest game we’ve played and won so far,’ Bailey said. ‘It just feels great.’

It was a breakout moment for Bailey, who’s worked his way into the mix at tailback since making his debut against Pittsburgh on Sept. 27. The Landover, Md. Native has 11 rushes for 64 yards this year. Thirty-nine of those came via his touchdown sprint Saturday.

On 2nd-and-4, Bailey took a handoff and swept right. He broke through a few arm tackles at the line of scrimmage, before shooting up the right side and weaving into the endzone. That gave Syracuse a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter.

‘I saw (freshman receiver Marcus Sales) get the block on the corner,’ Bailey said. ‘I knew it was showtime from there.’

Bailey finished with 40 yards on three carries. More importantly, it’s become clear Bailey has inserted himself into the mix for carries with sophomore tailbacks Doug Hogue and Delone Carter. Neither Hogue nor Carter received a single carry Saturday. Carter, who was healthy for the first time in four games, never even left the sideline.

Of course, considering Curtis Brinkley’s pristine form, there aren’t many stray carries to go around these days. But Bailey’s performances in practice and on gameday are getting harder to ignore.

‘This young man is beginning to show that he is very complete,’ Robinson said about Bailey. ‘He’s capable of running the ball, he blocks well, he understands pass protections and he also runs good routes when he’s called upon.’

Santiago steps up

Defensive tackle Nick Santiago continues to emerge as one of the top playmakers on the Syracuse defense. The senior had his best game of the season Saturday, tallying two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

‘We figured we had nothing else to lose,’ Santiago said. ‘We had to come out hard and that’s what we did. We brought blitzes off the end and our d-line was giving a lot of pressure so that’s what helped us out.’

Santiago leads the Orange with 3.5 sacks (SU has eight total this year). He’s also tied for the team lead with seven tackles for loss with fellow defensive tackle Art Jones.

Williams back in the mix

After standing on the sidelines most of the past two games, Bruce Williams worked his way back into the Syracuse secondary Saturday. Williams played nearly all of SU’s win over Louisville, coming into the game at safety in the first quarter after A.J. Brown left with an ankle injury.

The senior captain was fourth on the team in tackles, with five. More importantly, he made the game-sealing interception in the final minute, making a dramatic, diving grab over the middle.

That provided a sense of vindication for Williams, who earlier in the quarter had fumbled a punt to give Louisville possession in SU territory.

‘As soon as I seen the ball, I was just like, ‘Man, gimme it.” Williams said. ‘And I just laid out and it was there.’

Walking wounded

Williams got his chance to play in part because of the injuries that struck Syracuse. The most notable knocks occurred in the secondary, where cornerback Kevyn Scott (right knee) and safety A.J. Brown (ankle) both suffered first half injuries and didn’t return.

Ditto for long-snapper Max Leo, who was blind-sided by a crunching block on a punt return in the first quarter and didn’t return. Senior Dalton Phillips replaced Leo and was solid on his snaps.

Freshman wide receiver Frank Satterfield, who Robinson called, ‘arguably one of our best coverage guys on kickoffs,’ fractured his ankle.

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on November 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm