PISCATAWAY, N.J. – It’s only natural this time of year to look back at the season that was and compare it with the season that could have been.

A proper snap against Wake Forest.

An extra yard against Iowa.

Suddenly, it’s a different season. Maybe 5-0 heading into the Big East.

Those were the first two games of the year. SU went on to win its next three. At the time, it appeared like a capable team, perhaps even a team on the rise.

Don’t get caught in that trap.

Something happened in the back stretch of the schedule. SU regressed as the season progressed. Saturday’s 38-7 debacle against Rutgers was a fitting finale to a 4-8 season. Neither the head coach nor the players will admit it – nor should they – because when nit-picking and splitting hairs, it’s easy to identify something that’s improved.

‘I think we made progress,’ senior cornerback Tanard Jackson said after finishing an impressive personal season and career. ‘I definitely think we made progress. You play football to win games. It’s not as fun when you don’t. But one thing I’ll credit this team with is they never stopped fighting.’

Maybe Jackson’s right. And it wasn’t just him saying it. Running back Curtis Brinkley emphasized that despite the final record, he respected how the team didn’t quit.

‘I ain’t excited about 4-8,’ Brinkley said. ‘But we’re working.’

Whatever the reason then – whether it’s talent or fatigue or a combination of factors – SU has simply been outplayed in the latter part of the season. Head coach Greg Robinson is fond of the clich, ‘the proof is in the pudding.’

So let’s go to the pudding.

In SU’s first five games, it averaged 25.6 points per game. In the seven Big East games, 11.6. It can be argued the opponents were better and the top SU performer early in the season, Taj Smith, was sidelined for the year, but teams are by nature supposed to improve during the season. Especially teams that can claim to have a young offense and a new system to learn.

Three games in particular stick out as not simply losses, but games where SU didn’t have a chance – Oct. 28 against Cincinnati, Nov. 11 against South Florida and Saturday against Rutgers. In those three games, Syracuse mustered only 20 points. It allowed 82 points in those games.

This can be rationalized, claiming they were three road games and all three opponents will reach a bowl. Maybe it’s too premature in SU’s rebuilding to expect it to knock off better teams on the road. Those games weren’t even close, though. Even in the Cincinnati and South Florida games, which were both within striking distance in the second half, it’s hard to pinpoint a spot in the game where SU seemed like it was altering the momentum.

Even within the games, SU is starting better than it’s finishing. On the season, the Orange outscore opponents in the first quarter, 55-52. In the second half of games, it got outscored 155-97. Even more glaring, SU was outscored 97-37 in the second halves of final six games.

Numbers can sometimes be deceiving, but they can also be telling. In this case, it’s telling of something – the more we saw of Syracuse, the uglier it became.