The video room this week has been a place of guilt, disappointment and frustration for the Syracuse offensive line. Whenever the much-maligned unit gathers to watch tape of last weekend’s loss to Penn State, the players are required to revisit the memory of tailback Delone Carter trying to bull his way through the line with no holes to run through. Each clip ends the same way: Carter flattened by a group of defenders who easily penetrated into the backfield.

For Tucker Baumbach, seeing his teammate consistently stuffed behind the line of scrimmage isn’t even the worst part of these film sessions. It is the unavoidable realization that he often has nobody else to blame but himself and his fellow linemen. The coaching staff has been quick to point that out.

The offensive line has been arguably the Orange’s weakest link through two games this season, and is one of the primary reasons why SU has scored just seven points in its last six quarters. Quarterback Greg Paulus was unable to maintain a rhythm Saturday, and was constantly flushed out of the pocket and forced to scramble. Perhaps even more disconcerting, the rushing attack of Carter and Antwon Bailey (supposed to be a team strength) managed just 66 yards on 22 attempts – an average of three yards per carry.

That’s why the offensive line has banded together this week to improve. With a stricter practice regimen designed to simulate intense game-like situation, the O-line hopes this Saturday’s contest against Northwestern (7 p.m., TW26) will spark a turnaround and lead Syracuse (0-2) to its first win.

‘There’s definitely a sense of responsibility because a lot of the time we watch things, and a coach says, ‘If this block was made and this block was made, we’d have Delone one-on-one with a safety,” said Baumbach, SU’s starting right tackle. ‘I’ll take any of our backs versus any safety in this league, one-on-one. There’s that little push that we still have to get together.’

The Orange running game is ranked No. 105 in the nation, and it seems that a majority of the blame has fallen on the offensive line for the team’s deficiency. Paulus complimented Carter’s play thus far, despite his lackluster statistics, citing a few ‘unbelievable moves’ in the Penn State game.

In his weekly press conference on Monday, head coach Doug Marrone also praised the way his backs have run the ball, and acknowledged the disappointingrunning game is likely a result of poor offensive line play. With that in mind, he said he may need to simplify the playbook this week in an attempt to make things easier on his linemen.

‘I don’t have any issues with what we’re doing with the running back position,’ Marrone said. ‘What we have to do is put the offensive line in a better position to make plays and being able to be more aggressive in our run game.’

Left guard Ryan Bartholomew stressed the offensive line is ‘very close’ to fixing its problems and that the most pressing issues have been minor technical flaws that can easily be corrected. One play, he said, is all it may take to put everything together and start creating space for Carter to run.

Until then, the offensive linemen will continue to face criticism. And with that comes the unshakeable sinking feeling of knowing they are accountable.

‘We have a lot of talented backs,’ Baumbach said. ‘It’s up to us to step it up, and start making holes, because they can definitely run through them.

Marrone: No quarterback controversy

If there were lingering questions about the status of Paulus this week, Marrone quickly dismissed them. Marrone left little doubt Monday that Paulus is still the Syracuse starting quarterback and that backup Ryan Nassib will be utilized sparingly, if at all, against the Wildcats Saturday.

‘We’re still building our packages and still building our passing game around Greg,’ Marrone said.

Nassib went 4-of-5 for 30 yards against Penn State, but Marrone reiterated that he did not necessarily earn additional playing time with his performance. Marrone said he used Nassib in the passing game primarily to add variety to the Stallion formation, which is usually employed for Bailey to take a direct snap and run an option with Carter. Marrone said he does not want Paulus on the field in those situations so he does not have to block and risk injury.

Fearing that opponents would easily be able to predict the Stallion whenever Nassib came off the sidelines, Marrone created some plays for Nassib to throw, hoping to keep defenses guessing.

‘You may see that package (Saturday), you may not,’ Marrone said. ‘Is the package going to grow? Well, instead of throwing whatever four plays we threw out of it, it might be four different type of concepts for Ryan so people don’t get a beat on what we’re doing. We’re not earning any more playing time.’

Time Warner to televise game

Time Warner Cable Sports, channel 26 in Syracuse, will televise the Orange’s contest against Northwestern Saturday night, according to a statement by the SU athletic department released Tuesday afternoon. Previously, the only way to watch the game was on Orange All-Access, an online subscription service.

Currently, Syracuse’s contest against Maine on Sept. 26 is not slated for television.

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on September 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm