Andrew Robinson was in trouble. Deep in his own zone, a screen pass play was blown up and two West Virginia defenders were hounding him. Syracuse wide receiver Taj Smith came back towards the quarterback and Robinson dumped it off to Smith.

But Robinson didn’t see linebacker Reed Williams. Neither did Smith.

Williams dropped Smith and the ball popped into the air, right into the hands of Keilen Dykes, who scampered 20 yards for a Mountaineers touchdown less than three minutes into the second quarter.

That was the last pass Robinson would complete to anyone in the first half. Syracuse gained two first downs in the second quarter – one on a WVU personal foul – while No. 13 West Virginia broke the game wide open on Syracuse turnovers. The Mountaineers crushed Syracuse 55-14 Saturday at the Carrier Dome in front of 35,345 fans.

In 118 years of football, while at home, Syracuse has never given up more points to a visiting team than it did Saturday. The 55 points were also the most allowed in any game by Syracuse since Nov. 17, 2001, a 59-0 loss to Miami (Fla.).

An emotional Greg Robinson, who suffered his worst margin of defeat as Syracuse head coach, and dropped to 6-29 in his three seasons, stood at the podium for nine minutes at his postgame press conference, yelling more than he has all season.

‘We have to feel it for 24 hours – the pain of it,’ Robinson said. ‘That was painful because I’m telling you, we could have played that team, if we just clicked a little bit, all of a sudden it could have been a real interesting football game.’

The game was decided in the second quarter, when almost nothing clicked for Syracuse and two crucial SU turnovers – most importantly the Dykes interception return for a touchdown – sealed the game’s fate. Syracuse scored on its first drive, a one-yard touchdown run by Curtis Brinkley, but that was all the Orange did when it mattered.

‘We got that touchdown off tackle. It was good,’ Robinson said. ‘We didn’t sustain it. I think the turnovers were what got us behind and then all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose. All of a sudden, the score is up there.’

West Virginia totaled 486 yards of offense, 251 yards coming on the ground. Quarterback Pat White, who was a gametime decision to start after bruising his hip last weekend, tallied a combined 237 yards and three touchdowns, even as Syracuse put its fastest players on defense. But the misdirections, ball fakes and sheer athleticism was too much.

The Mountaineers simply had the ball too many times as Syracuse’s offense could barely stay on the field.

Andrew Robinson’s first interception of the game, a tipped pass on a Smith slant route, led to West Virginia’s first score. Syracuse ran 13 plays in the second quarter and amassed seven yards. Two drives went three-and-out.

In the second quarter, Robinson was 0-for-6 with the interception and two sacks. Two pass attempts were batted down at the line. His receivers dropped balls. Nothing worked. When it was all over, Syracuse had six fumbles – only one lost – but it showed the sloppiness.

‘They scored and we came back and scored you could see, this could be interesting,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘But turnovers, they can kill you.’

Following Robinson’s lead, the Syracuse players showed more anger than they have all season. After losses there’s been times when players were at a loss were words. Not Saturday. Not after allowing 55 points. ‘I’m sick of all of it,’ a despondent Jameel McClain said. ‘I’m sick of the missed tackles. I’m sick of the score. I’m sick of losing. So to sum it up, I’m sick. But what can I do?’

‘It’s always hard when you get down early, turnover early, it’s like, ‘Dang, here we go again,” wide receiver Mike Williams said. ‘It really was a big setback.’

It was the second week in a row that represented a regression on the SU offense. Two games removed from its stunning upset of Louisville, when the Syracuse offense gained 465 yards and put 38 points on the board, the offensive unit looks completely shell-shocked.

That starts and ends with the passing game, which sparkled against the Cardinals, but has done little since.

Before a 61-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams when the game was already decided, Robinson was 4-of-13 for 39 yards and two interceptions. He finished 5-for-15 with 100 yards.

‘Today I felt like I wasn’t on,’ Robinson said. ‘I made some mistakes, had some ball security problems and it definitely wasn’t our best day.’

And even Greg Robinson didn’t expect the outcome to be this bad, bad enough to be one of the worst losses in school history.

‘I’m very disappointed,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘I expected to see a closer margin than it turned out to be. It’s frustrating and I think it’s a real challenge for us right now. We have to dig deep right now.’

Published on October 6, 2007 at 12:00 pm