BUFFALO – In reality, the Syracuse football team only trailed Buffalo for two minutes Saturday night. Yet, somehow, the mood inside UB Stadium reflected a team that had just suffered its worst loss of the season.

Syracuse cruised past Buffalo, 37-17, in front of 29,013 fans, just as expected. As surmised, it was sloppy.

The Orange scored 16 points on special teams, didn’t score an offensive touchdown until eight minutes into the second quarter and rotated quarterbacks throughout the game like it was an open audition.

Meanwhile, Buffalo (0-2) matched SU in intensity and, for almost two quarters, in skill.

‘A win’s a win,’ SU wide receiver Andre Fontenette said. ‘But it’s a little frustrating. It’s not very exciting.’

After a 65-yard kick return on the opening kickoff by Diamond Ferri, Collin Barber nailed a 46-yard field goal, SU’s first points of the season. After one quarter, Syracuse was considerably outhustled and outplayed. And it led Buffalo – perhaps one of the worst teams in Division I-A – by three points.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Buffalo defensive back J. J. Gibson picked up a Greg Hanoian fumble and raced 57 yards to the end zone. It gave Buffalo a 10-3 lead and sent a horde of hyped-up UB students into near-convulsions.

It was at that point in which SU’s worst nightmare was realized. It didn’t take long to snap out of it. Syracuse (1-1) used two punt blocks by Anthony Smith, one of which he returned for a touchdown, to take a 17-10 lead.

‘Sometimes early in the year you need to make it a good, tough football game,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said.

At halftime, and with SU leading 27-10, the Orange slowly trudged to the visiting locker room. Pasqualoni sprinted off the field, only stopping to fiercely lash out at his players, urging them to hustle off the field.

The Orange looked defeated, even if the scoreboard read otherwise.

In the third quarter, Barber made his third field goal of the game, giving SU a 30-10 lead. On the next Buffalo possession, Kelvin Smith returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown to close SU’s scoring.

In the fourth, SU succumbed to more sloppy play and penalties. Syracuse recorded nine penalties in the game, five in the second half.

‘I don’t think we came out sharp,’ said SU quarterback Joe Fields, who was two-for-six passing for 23 yards. ‘I don’t think we finished sharp either.’

Fields threw an interception on SU’s second drive of the game. He played two series in the first quarter and was pulled for Perry Patterson. All three quarterbacks received playing time, with Xzavier Gaines seeing action in the fourth quarter. Pasqualoni said he planned to play Fields the first two possessions and then substitute Patterson.

‘We’re going to continue to give both (Fields and Patterson) a chance,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We’ll continue to evaluate both.’

Despite the 20-point win, Syracuse players showed little excitement after the game. Some limped or bowed their head walking into the tunnel. Almost three-quarters of the sell-out crowd had left by the fourth quarter.

The lights, the sparse crowd and the dew on the field made it seem more like a high school contest than a D-I football game. After the game, Pasqualoni bemoaned SU’s sloppy play, especially the penalties.

‘It’s very frustrating,’ he said. ‘We’re working hard to try to clean it up. It’s just not there. We just can’t shoot ourselves in the foot and expect 400 yards of offense.’

‘Overall, it’s a win,’ running back Walter Reyes said. ‘We’re 1-1 now. But we still have a long way to go.’

Published on September 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm