Perhaps Syracuse head football coach Paul Pasqualoni offered the best assessment of the Orange’s offensive woes.

‘You can’t shoot yourself in the foot and expect 400 yards of offense,’ Pasqualoni said of SU’s numerous penalties after Saturday’s 37-17 win over Buffalo last Saturday.

Now, 37 points might seem like a lot, but let’s look at them in perspective. First, they came against a Bulls team that allowed 37 the week before to Eastern Michigan – not exactly the type of opponent that the Orange wants itself compared to.

Second, let’s recall how those 37 points were scored. Nine came on a trio of Collin Barber field goals. Seven more came on Anthony Smith’s fumble recovery in the end zone after he blocked a punt. Another seven came on a Kelvin Smith interception return for a touchdown.

That gives us 23 of the 37, leaving 14 for the offense. But seven of those came from three yards out as a result of Smith’s second blocked punt. And the final seven came on a 46-yard touchdown run by Damien Rhodes, and that drive started just on the SU side of the 50.

That’s how you score 37 points and finish with 275 yards of offense. That’s also how you normally lose a football game. And if the SU offense continues to make mistakes like it has, Syracuse will probably lose a whole lot of games, starting with Saturday’s home opener against Cincinnati.

Now, imagine what those stats may have looked like had SU erased eight offensive penalties or, as Pasqualoni said, not ‘shoot itself in the foot.’ Or if SU’s receivers had held on to passes, or if the tight ends and wide-outs made solid outside blocks.

Normally, when a team says it has to correct a lot of little things to get better, we laugh and write that team off. But this may be one of those ever-so-few cases when that over-used phrase holds true.

The Orange does need to fix a lot of little things – a (italics) whole (italics) lot of them, actually.

SU can start with the penalties. Both center Matt Tarullo and guard Jason Greene said Buffalo’s defense played slower than expected, which led to some of the holding

calls.

They said they often ran past their man too fast or their man didn’t move as quickly as expected, causing them to reach back and hold.

Well, if that’s true, then the problem should be easily corrected against quicker opponents Cincinnati and Virginia in the next two weeks. Pasqualoni seemed most aggravated about the penalties, and Greene said they had already been discussed and worked on during Monday’s practice.

‘If we can fix the penalties, it’s going to take stress off the line and the passing game,’ Tarullo said. ‘I didn’t see a lack of rhythm. I saw penalties.’

Yes, fixing the penalties will help, but that would only correct one of the two glaring problems. The other is blocking, and the offensive line doesn’t deserve all the blame for that.

It’s easy to blame the veteran group for Walter Reyes’ running troubles. Heck, they even say they’re to blame. But if we look back to last year, a large number of Reyes’ big runs went to the outside.

Now, it’s the linemen’s job to get him outside. But once he’s there, it’s the job of the receivers and tight ends to spring him for big gains.

‘Everyone blocking well can turn a 5-yard gain into a 15-yard gain,’ Greene said. ‘That’s how you break long runs.’

Based on Saturday’s offensive performance, everyone was not blocking. Reyes got outside often, but rarely did he find much running room. There were none of those long runs for Reyes.

Rhodes’ 46-yard touchdown scamper was the only big running play of the day, and on that play, Greene said everyone executed their blocks perfectly.

So, yes, Syracuse does have to fix some little things. Like eight offensive penalties, a multitude of dropped passes and a load of missed blocks.

The Orange won last Saturday despite butchering those ‘little things.’

If SU does it again, it won’t get by against Cincinnati – or any other team on its schedule.

Michael Licker is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at mjlicker@syr.edu.

Published on September 15, 2004 at 12:00 pm