TAMPA, Fla. – Finally, for the first time all afternoon, it looked like Syracuse’s defense was finally starting to settle down. Trailing by only eight points at halftime, the Orange managed to hold South Florida dormant for two consecutive drives, first forcing a fumble, then a punt.

It was an opportunity for the Syracuse offense, which had actually out-gained the Bulls in the first half, to battle back into the game.

But on 3rd-and-7 from his own 15-yard line, SU quarterback Cameron Dantley was sacked by Keith McCaskill and fumbled the ball. USF’s Craig Marshall scooped up the ball and returned it to the Orange one-yard line. On the next play, USF quarterback Matt Grothe found A.J. Love wide open for a touchdown, completely deflating the Orange as it appeared to be stealing away some of the momentum.

Cue the meltdown.

This critical third-quarter exchange turned out to be a crucial turning point in Syracuse’s 45-13 blowout loss to No. 19 South Florida Saturday. Dantley’s mistake preceded a dismal second half offensively, in which the Orange did not earn a single first down and gained only nine yards.

‘When you fumble on the two-yard line, guys, we have a problem,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘We have a problem there, because they’re good enough to score, and they’re going to score right there.’

The laundry list of statistics all lead to the same conclusion: The second half was ugly.

Syracuse had the ball for a grand total of 6:40 in the contest’s final 30 minutes. Tailback Curtis Brinkley, who rushed for 106 yards in the first half, managed six more yards the rest of the way. Dantley, whose fumble may have been the turning point of the entire game, went 1-of-10 after halftime and finished 11-of-27 for 129 yards.

This after Syracuse’s offense played a consistent first half, gaining 221 yards and going into halftime trailing, 21-13.

That’s when the wheels fell off. SU offensive coordinator Mitch Browning didn’t even try to deny or sugarcoat it. His team stunk.

‘Boy, did we,’ Browning said. ‘Six three-and-outs. Yeah, I know. I watched the second half. I watched it extremely close.’

No play hurt more than Dantley’s fumble in the third quarter.

The play called for the junior quarterback to make a quick three-step drop and find a receiver on a short slant route. Instead of scrambling or throwing the ball away when no one was immediately open, he tried to step up in the already-collapsing pocket.

McCaskill busted through the line of scrimmage, rocked Dantley and knocked the ball loose. Marshall picked it up for South Florida on the eight and returned it all the way to the one-yard line. The touchdown on the next play increased the Bulls’ lead to 28-13, and they never looked back.

‘It was a little quick,’ Dantley said of the play. ‘I’m supposed to get the ball out of my hands. I took three steps back, and everything was covered. I really just panicked – not panicked – I just didn’t think on my feet. I should’ve thrown the ball away, but I held it a little too long, and he came off the backside and hit me.’

The entire second half left Syracuse wondering what happened and what could have been. It seemed as though the Orange was ready to make it a game when SU linebacker Jake Flaherty forced a fumble in the red zone early in the third quarter, killing what would have been another USF scoring drive.

Instead of capitalizing on the turnover, Syracuse went three-and-out and punted. On the next drive, Dantley fumbled.

It was a frustrating end for an offense that has now struggled two straight weeks. Brinkley’s 24-yard score Saturday was the Orange’s only touchdown in almost 10 quarters, dating back to the beginning of the second half in Syracuse’s outing Sept. 27 against Pittsburgh.

Now it’s up to this team to try and figure out what is going so wrong.

‘We went dormant on offense,’ Robinson said. ‘I wish I could tell you what specifically was the reason for that, but I don’t know. I just didn’t feel like we showed the same explosiveness that we showed in the first half.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on October 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm