IOWA CITY, Iowa – Saturday night signified a new low in the Greg Robinson era.

Maybe it happened when 6-foot-4, 255-pound tight end Tony Moeaki scampered 52 yards up the middle of the field, barely touched by two Syracuse defenders on his way to the endzone.

Or perhaps it happened on the 36-yard screen pass to Albert Young, a play that just about all of the 70,585 fans in Kinnick Stadium could see coming. The SU defense didn’t.

And just when you thought it was impossible to be even less prepared than Syracuse was in its embarrassing season-opening blowout against Washington, it happened.

Syracuse had zero first downs at halftime. One yard of total offense.

I know it’s hard because no one on campus saw the game on TV, but let that sink in for a minute. It was that bad.

‘I don’t have all the answers,’ Robinson said despondently after the debacle.

But Mike Williams did.

‘Maybe it’s a reality check,’ said Williams, who dropped five passes. ‘Maybe they’re just that much better than us. We’ve got a young team. People have to wait. It might not be our year.’

And thus begins the internal takedown of a team that seemed doomed from the start. Sure enough, SU has been outscored so far 77-12, shown no semblance of a running game, failed to stop the run in game one and was beaten by the pass in game two.

The scoreboard Saturday night read 28-0 at halftime, but it might as well have read 280-0. The Orange was whooped up and down the field, over and over and…well, you get the point.

It was arguably the worst half in modern Syracuse football history.

As usual, Robinson ran up and down the sidelines, egging his players on as it all happened. There were times where he actually became animated, especially after Jameel McClain and Nick Santiago inexplicably let Jake Christensen escape twice in the backfield and throw across the field into the endzone for a touchdown. That made it 28-0.

But not much else changed. The Orange seemed to call the same run play every time – the only difference whether it was to the right or left and if it was a 1-yard loss or a 4-yard loss.

‘I’d like to think we’re doing the right things,’ Robinson said. ‘We’re just not doing them well.’

And if that’s all the head coach could discern from his team’s 35-point disaster, there’s certainly a problem. Really, this one had it all.

Missed tackles. Dropped balls. Botched assignments. Poor decisions.

Not once was there a moment when Syracuse looked like it could score a touchdown. Robinson even seemed to make sure the Orange wouldn’t.

Facing a 4th-and-6 from the Iowa 22-yard line with 6:07 left in the second quarter, Robinson had the nerve to call for a field goal, down 28. It was blocked.

Serves him right.

Then, with 5:49 left in the third quarter and the score still the same, Robinson again ordered his field goal team out.

It was blocked again.

The two failed attempts were even further proof that these first two games couldn’t have gone any worse for the Orange. No one imagined a blowout at the hands of Washington. A big loss to Iowa was expected, but a historically pitiful performance like the Syracuse offense turned in during the first half? Inconceivable. And then it spiraled into a comedy of errors.

The reality check, as Williams so perfectly described the situation, is that Robinson is 5-20 in his first 25 games as head coach. Rarely have things looked so bleak at this university.

Even Mr. Optimist himself, Director of Athletics Daryl Gross, had about as depressing a look on his face as possible after sitting in the back of the bland room underneath Kinnick Stadium, watching Robinson’s postgame press conference. Gross got up when Robinson left, walked towards the door and sighed. Then he turned back to his Blackberry. He won’t soon forget this one.

And neither will the players, who, of course, will not admit that the beating they’ve taken in the first two games has completely washed away any hopes for the season. But you can’t help but wonder how much control Robinson truly has of this team anymore. It’s hard to buy into a system that has been systematically destroyed much like Syracuse’s has in two games.

Maybe Mike Williams’ brutal honesty was only the start.

Matt Gelb is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at magelb@gmail.com.

Published on September 8, 2007 at 12:00 pm