If Syracuse ever stood a chance of staging an improbable comeback Saturday, those notions were quashed on backup quarterback Ryan Nassib’s first drive. Right when the Orange’s offense began to show a spark, the receivers reverted to their careless ways of last season.

On 2nd-and-6 from the West Virginia 47-yard line, Nassib dropped back and delivered an accurate pass that bounced off Antwon Bailey’s hands and fell incomplete. One play later, Nassib launched a rocket toward Alec Lemon, who let the ball sail straight through his hands and out-of-bounds.

Two throws, two drops. And it wouldn’t get any better from there.

Four dropped passes plagued Nassib’s rhythm in his two quarters of action Saturday, ensuring that Syracuse would never fight back into the game. Though Nassib finished the afternoon 7-of-16 for 120 yards and two touchdowns, those numbers could have been much better if not for the receivers’ butterfingers.

‘Coaches are harping on us about catching the ball first and then making a move, so we concentrate on catching the ball first,’ Lemon said. ‘There were a couple of drops that we had in the game. We hurt ourselves, and we hurt the team and we have to bounce back from that.’

Perhaps the most deflating drop came in the fourth quarter. Nassib had already connected with Mike Williams on a 50-yard touchdown strike and was creeping into West Virginia territory for another. West Virginia held a 24-6 lead at the time, but Nassib was showing signs of life.

On third down, Nassib lofted a deep bomb to the left sideline to Delone Carter, who was streaking downfield near the end zone. It was a perfect pass over the coverage right into Carter’s hands, but he was unable to hold onto the ball and the Orange had to punt.

West Virginia scored its final touchdown of the game on the ensuing drive.

‘I just had to slow up for it and slow down my stride,’ Carter said. ‘As soon as I caught it, I took a few hits. But it’s not an excuse. I should have caught it. That’s how I feel about it.’

The dropped passes highlight an increasingly apparent problem with the Orange offense. After Williams, no other receiver has established himself as a legitimate No. 2 option.

SU’s lack of depth was exposed Saturday, with West Virginia applying a constant double-team on Williams, daring Syracuse to throw somewhere else. This will likely become the norm moving forward.

Nevertheless, Nassib defended the receivers for their drops and placed the blame on himself.

‘A lot of those drops weren’t entirely their fault,’ Nassib said. ‘A lot of them were on me. I definitely put the ball with a little too much velocity on a lot of those throws, and I take responsibility for some of them. We got to work on our chemistry.’

Marrone defends playcalling

Boos rained down on the Carrier Dome field for the first time in the Doug Marrone era. West Virginia held a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter and Syracuse was facing a 4th-and-inches situation from its own 43-yard line.

It seemed like a perfect opportunity for the Orange to begin battling back into the game. But Marrone elected to punt, eliciting catcalls from the 40,144 in attendance. The remaining fans booed again in the fourth quarter when Marrone decided to punt from near midfield with about 13 minutes left and SU trailing, 34-6.

These were two of several fourth-down opportunities that Marrone chose to punt instead of going for it, raising questions about his aggressiveness and playcalling. Afterward, he defended his decisions.

‘You start thinking about the amount of possession time you have, you think about the type of team you’re playing offensively, as far as what they do – do they run the ball? Do they turn the football over?’ Marrone said. ‘Then you start calculating in your mind how many possessions you can get back with three-and-outs and with turnovers.

‘That’s why I chose to punt the ball with 12 or 13 minutes left, thinking I could get four possessions out of them, put them back in there and then not lose the game with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. If they get five touchdowns, then you can’t get enough possession time. There are formulas out there that we go through.’

Dome dedication

The field at the Carrier Dome was named and dedicated Ernie Davis Legends Field at halftime. The words ‘Ernie Davis’ were written in cursive under the block ‘S’ at midfield, and ‘Legends Field was written in print. Former SU running back Jim Brown, Martin Luther King III and Chuck Davis, Ernie’s uncle, were in attendance.

The ceremony also included a video address by United States Vice President Joe Biden, who graduated from Syracuse University’s College of Law.

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on October 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm