PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The hallway outside the Syracuse locker room was starting to empty out. A handful of players had already come out to face the media. They scattered around the bowels of Rutgers Stadium to share their thoughts now knowing the team once again was not going to a bowl game.

But the one player the group most wanted to hear from wasn’t yet there. Quarterback Cameron Dantley waited until many of his teammates headed for the bus before emerging from the visitor’s locker room.

Dantley probably knew what was coming. After all, he oversaw three quarters of the Orange’s dismal offensive performance in its 35-17 loss to Rutgers (4-5, 3-2 Big East) Saturday afternoon – a loss that officially eliminated Syracuse (2-7, 1-4) from the postseason for the fourth straight season. Everyone wanted to why Syracuse looked so inept on offense.

And all Dantley could do was shake his head.

‘Everything wasn’t going well for us in terms of the defense they were running,’ Dantley said. ‘They were trying to bluff us a lot and trying to catch us on a lot of things they knew we would get out of. At times like that we have to make a couple plays, and we didn’t do that.’

The offense managed only 168 yards and seven first downs all game. That includes tailback Doug Hogue’s first-quarter 82-yard touchdown run, accounting for 48 percent of Syracuse’s total output. And SU was destroyed in the time of possession battle – Rutgers held the ball for 15:48 more.

Dantley struggled, going 3-of-12 for 19 yards before exiting with an ankle injury late in the third quarter. Backup Andrew Robinson didn’t fare any better, completing 2-of-7 passes for 12 yards. Even tailback Curtis Brinkley, Syracuse’s rock all season long, could muster only 67 yards on 18 carries.

It started so well, too. The Orange led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter after Hogue’s long run and a blocked punt recovered in the end zone by Da’Mon Merkerson. For 15 minutes, it looked like SU had turned a corner after its emotional win at the Carrier Dome last weekend over Louisville. The team was primed for another upset.

Then reality set in, like it always seems to do for this Syracuse team, and the momentum vanished. SU gained 68 yards of offense after the first quarter and missed a field goal at the end of the half with a chance to take a 17-14 lead. Despite the Orange’s auspicious start, the announced crowd of 42,172 ultimately saw the same old Syracuse.

‘It is a set-back? Yeah. I wanted to win one on the road, a Big East game on the road,’ said SU head coach Greg Robinson, smacking the podium as he spoke. ‘We needed to go in here and get these guys. I really believed that we had an opportunity to do that. It obviously didn’t work out.’

Because the offense kept going three-and-out, the defense spent most of the game on the field trying to stop Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel, with little respite.

Teel finished the game 24-of-33 for 254 yards and three touchdowns. His primary target was Kenny Britt, who caught nine passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter that tied the game at 14.

‘(In) the second half, we didn’t follow the plan,’ said cornerback Dorian Graham, who blocked the punt that Syracuse recovered for a touchdown. ‘They made adjustments, and we couldn’t answer what they were giving and throwing at us.’

After this loss – which ensures Greg Robinson’s fourth losing season in four tries – the attention will likely turn to Robinson’s job security. In his postgame press conference, Robinson skirted around the issue. Two questions were asked. Robinson refused to answer any more after that.

But whether he wants to talk about it or not, the rumors will swirl again this week. All year long, Robinson has said his goal is to play in a bowl game. Now he may never get that chance at Syracuse.

‘I don’t think like that. I don’t think like that at all,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘Those are not something in my control. My job is to get this football team back on track, and get them to play better than they did today. That’s the bottom line.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on November 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm