Maybe it was something in the water in Morgantown, W. Va. Since last year’s 34-7 loss at West Virginia on Oct. 19, the play of two Syracuse football headliners has been flawless.

Quarterback R.J. Anderson has thrown 171 straight passes without an interception dating back to last year’s game against the Mountaineers. Granted, Anderson threw only two passes the rest of the year, but he’s still error free this season. Similarly, running back Walter Reyes has not fumbled in 230 rushing attempts. His last fumble was against the Mountaineers, too.

Syracuse is the only Division I team that has not thrown an interception this season. Last year, Anderson threw eight picks.

‘He’s making excellent decisions,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘He’s taking some chances, but he’s taking good chances.

‘He hasn’t thrown an interception yet, but I’m not going to get into that because I don’t want to jinx him.’

Saturday, in the 39-14 win over Boston College, Anderson threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns in his best game of the season.

‘I see some things happening,’ Anderson said. ‘We had some opportunities to make plays, and we made them. I’m starting to understand some things. For me, it’s starting to open up.’

Reyes, meanwhile, has hit a little bit of a lull after being held to combined total of 95 rushing yards in SU’s last two games. He still ranks No. 4 in the country with 129.3 yards per game.

‘Walter’s doing a lot of things for us besides just carrying the ball,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘He’s catching the ball extremely well, and he’s blocking in protection extremely well.’

Freaky Friday

Kicker Collin Barber was held out of Saturday’s game because of an injury to his upper right thigh. No big deal. Injuries happen every day. But it was the timing of the injury that perplexed Pasqualoni.

‘No one’s ever got hurt on a Friday,’ Pasqualoni said of what’s typically a light practice day. ‘It’s the last thing you’d ever expect to have happen and it’s never happened.’

Except for last Friday. Pasqualoni said Barber was going through his normal kicking routine of increasing the distance after each field goal. He said Barber was kicking from the 16- or 17-yard line when he clutched his right leg.

Originally, Pasqualoni thought Barber would be ready for Saturday’s game after icing his leg. But Saturday morning, the leg felt just as bad as the previous day.

If Barber’s not ready to go this Saturday against Pittsburgh, punter Brendan Carney will likely kick field goals and extra points for the Orangemen, as he did for most of the game against BC.

Carney relieved freshman Ricky Krautman, who missed an extra point and a 36-yard field goal in his debut.

‘Ricky struggled,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I think Ricky’s going to be a good kicker, but he struggled a little bit. Brendan has done this in high school, and he made a few kicks on Friday. And he went in and banged it right through.’

Swit for Whit

Junior Troy Swittenburg started at cornerback in place of Thomas Whitfield on Saturday against BC. Swittenburg, normally a backup strong safety, made his first start of the season.

Swittenburg played safety on third downs and played cornerback on first and second downs.

‘We always considered Troy to be a corner,’ Pasqualoni said.

Back in the zone

It’s been two years since free safety Anthony Smith scored a touchdown, which he did as a tailback in high school. Saturday, all the normal emotions came rushing back to him. After pushing his way through the punt protection on a BC punt in the third quarter, Smith extended his left hand and knocked the ball to the ground. He picked up the bounding football and sauntered into the end zone.

‘When the ball was rolling, I was hoping it would get the right bounce,’ Smith said. ‘I knew I was in position.’

Add Big East Special Teams Player of the Week honors to his list of accomplishments. It seems there isn’t much that the sophomore hasn’t done this year.

‘I don’t know what else (I can do),’ Smith said. ‘I’m going to try to make something happen, though.’

This and that

Three Orangemen earned Big East honors last week: Anderson earned co-Offensive Player of the Week, linebacker Kellen Pruitt was named co-Defensive Player of the Week and Smith won the honor for special teams. … Pasqualoni needs one win to reach 100 as head coach of the Orangemen. He has 133 wins in his 18-year career including his stint at Western Connecticut … Last year’s loss to the Panthers in the Carrier Dome marked the first time in 12 years Syracuse had lost to Pitt.

Published on October 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm