TAMPA, Fla. – No matter how bad things get for Syracuse, Curtis Brinkley keeps on chugging.

For the second straight game, the senior tailback was the lone bright spot for the Orange in its disappointing 45-13 loss to No. 19 South Florida Saturday. Brinkley rushed for 112 yards – 106 in the first half – on 20 carries, including a 24-yard score for Syracuse’s lone touchdown. He also added 26 receiving yards on two catches.

His strong outing comes a week after an impressive 144-yard performance against West Virginia. Brinkley is on pace to reach the 1,000-yard milestone, having compiled 733 rushing yards in seven games. He’s having the best season of his career

Throughout the first half, when Syracuse was playing well and managed to stay within one score of the Bulls, Brinkley controlled the clock by running strong between the tackles. His touchdown came on the first play of the second quarter to cut the SU deficit to 14-10.

But like the rest of the Orange offense, Brinkley failed to maintain his pace in the second half, picking up only six more yards in the game’s final 30 minutes. As Syracuse fell further and further behind, it was forced to turn to the passing game, which proved to be unsuccessful.

And also like the rest of the offense, he had no explanation for what went so wrong after halftime.

‘South Florida came out in the second half, and I guess they made adjustments,’ Brinkley said. ‘They executed what they planned, and they executed very well.’

The effort was not without controversy, though. After the game, Brinkley accused the Bulls of playing dirty and taking cheap shots, citing plays early in the game in which he thought USF players were going after his surgically repaired knees.

At his press conference Sunday afternoon, SU head coach Greg Robinson said he did not see anything particularly out of line.

‘I didn’t sense that,’ Robinson said. ‘I sensed that it was a fairly clean football game.’

Fiammetta injured

Syracuse starting fullback Tony Fiammetta was a late scratch Saturday, suffering from what was described only as a lower-leg injury. He was out on the field for warm-ups about an hour before kickoff in shorts and went to midfield with the rest of the captains for the opening coin toss.

Adam Rosner, usually an offensive guard, took a few snaps as a fullback in Fiammetta’s stead to clear a pathway for Brinkley.

‘Tony is a factor in the offense. You all know that,’ Robinson said. ‘Others were working to carry the load. I don’t want to say that they didn’t do their job because in the first half, the ball was moving. Maybe in the second half, that might have been the case. It would’ve been nice to have him always available.’

On Sunday, Robinson said he expects Fiammetta will be ready after a bye for Syracuse’s next game in two weeks against Louisville.

Huh?

After the game Saturday, a reporter asked Greg Robinson if he ever considered substituting backup quarterback Andrew Robinson for starter Cameron Dantley, who went 1-of-10 for seven yards in the second half, especially when the outcome of the game was decided in the fourth quarter.

His answer was somewhat of a stumper.

‘You know. I wanted to do it later in the game, the last series or two,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘What happened was, I’m coaching over on the (defensive) side. I run over there (to the offensive side), and it’s too late. We’re already out. I think that Andrew deserves to get in there and do something like that.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on October 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm