Ross Krautman became a hero as he sent Syracuse to a bowl last season with a game-winning field goal against Rutgers. This year, his field-goal kicking unit was one of the goats.

One blocked field goal, another missed field goal. A blocked extra point. Seven potential points lost due to a feeble day by the SU kicking game.

‘I think it’s very difficult to win football games when you have five turnovers, and a field goal gets blocked and a PAT gets blocked,’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘Those things happen, and we lost that game because of those errors, and we weren’t able to capitalize at times.’

Both Krautman and Scarlet Knights kicker San San Te missed kicks at an alarming rate in Rutgers’ 19-16 win over Syracuse on Saturday. Krautman finished 1-of-3 on field goals — missing one more field goal Saturday than he did all of last season — and 1-of-2 on extra points. Te had a much busier day than Krautman, attempting seven field goals and hitting on four of them.

There was controversy last week surrounding the botched call by the officials on Krautman’s missed extra point against Toledo. But this week, all of Krautman’s misses were clear.

Syracuse produced one of its best drives of the season on its first possession of the second half, driving 93 yards in six plays. Running back Antwon Bailey finished it off with a 3-yard touchdown run to put SU up 13-3, but Krautman’s extra point was blocked by Jamal Merrell coming around the right side of the Syracuse line.

‘I think we have to look at that wing area at the right tight end,’ Marrone said. ‘One of the things we’ll do is get bigger out there. We had to go overload on that last one, which secured it for us. In the other circumstances, it’s not acceptable.’

Krautman then missed a 39-yard attempt wide left less than three minutes later. But it was the field goal unit’s final error that really shifted the momentum to force overtime.

Holding a 13-6 lead late in the fourth quarter, Syracuse drove into Rutgers territory but stalled just inside the 30. Krautman lined up for a 44-yard attempt, one that could have pushed SU’s lead to double digits to potentially seal the win.

But Merrell again swooped in front of the kick, breaking past the right side of the offensive line. Rutgers cornerback Marcus Cooper picked up the football and returned the ball into SU territory, setting up the game-tying touchdown drive for the Scarlet Knights.

Te, the Rutgers kicker, missed three field goals but made the kick that mattered most — a 47-yard try in the second overtime to put RU up 19-16.

‘I’m proud of our players and coaches for continuing to stay calm and continuing to chop,’ Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said. ‘Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t, but if you don’t keep doing what we did today, it never goes your way.’

SU misses injured players

Doug Marrone expected to see Olando Fisher on the field Saturday. Fisher, SU’s nickel back and second-string strong safety, hasn’t played since the Orange’s season opener Sept. 1, when he suffered a lower body injury against Wake Forest.

One month later, he was surprisingly not ready to go.

‘We thought Olando Fisher would have been able to come back, and that would’ve helped us in a big way because he would’ve been able to start the game at safety and maybe play some nickel,’ Marrone said. ‘Then we thought that we would’ve been able to get him back to just playing nickel for us, and he wasn’t able to do that.’

SU could have used Fisher and the handful of other SU players who were unable to return this week. Defensive end Chandler Jones missed his fourth straight game and strong safety Shamarko Thomas missed his second. Backup running back Prince-Tyson Gulley was unable to play as well.

Gulley had a breakout game last week with 66 yards on 10 carries, but he suffered a collarbone injury and was unable to go.

The player moving into Gulley’s spot as the second running back is sophomore Jerome Smith. His first game as the change-of-pace back was uneventful — three carries for 6 yards.

But he did take part in a crucial third down in overtime on his third carry. Facing third-and-1 from the Rutgers 2-yard line, Smith was stopped by RU safety Duron Harmon for a half-yard gain.

Smith did get a first down on a third-and-1 earlier in Saturday’s game, though, so Marrone was pleased overall with his effort.

‘Once a kid is in the lineup and how the game progresses determine when you have to put him in there,’ Marrone said. ‘I thought he ran hard, I thought he had a real nice first down.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on October 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr