Although Perry Patterson appeared to finally put an end to the Syracuse football team’s two-man quarterback battle with his play on Saturday, SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni refused to name Patterson his starter for next week.

‘As you go through the game, I think you’d say Perry had a productive day,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘But you need to watch the film because sometimes where the quarterback is standing and what he sees is different from what I see on the sidelines.’

Freshman Joe Fields started for the third straight week in SU’s 19-7 win over Cincinnati but left after two SU drives. Pasqualoni said the move was planned, similar to the substitution pattern he used last week at Buffalo. Patterson played the next two series, and Fields played again for SU’s fifth offensive possession. Then, Patterson played the remainder of the game.

With about nine minutes remaining in the first quarter, Fields appeared to leave the field with a slight limp.

Pasqualoni said after the game that he didn’t know the extent or location of Fields’ injury. But he said Fields was stiff and limping during halftime, and that entered into his decision to keep Patterson in the game.

Even with Fields hurt, Patterson appeared to make a solid case for the starting job. He finished 10-for-16 passing with 156 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions against the Bearcats. The picks, though, bothered Pasqualoni, perhaps planting some doubt in his mind as to who his starter should be.

‘This is definitely what I’ve worked for,’ Patterson said. ‘Coach gave me a chance to prove myself.’

Pasqualoni declared Fields his starter for the Purdue and Buffalo games, but reopened the competition for the Cincinnati game.

As for Patterson’s opinion on who should start next week at Virginia:

‘I’m not sure,’ Patterson said. ‘That’s up to Coach P.’

Even with a sparse crowd of 32,893, Pasqualoni and several SU players said they were pleased with the crowd support. Most of the lower-level seats at the Carrier Dome were filled, but the upper deck was virtually empty.

The student section finally filled close to capacity minutes before kickoff. Pasqualoni, though, voiced his pleasure with the fans, reserving the first comments of his press conference for the SU faithful.

‘I thought the crowd was great,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘The fans really helped us, especially early on in the game. I think we had a tremendously positive, upbeat and loud group of people out there, which was really terrific.’

Though the crowd was relatively small, it provided lots of noise, especially when Cincinnati was threatening in SU’s red zone.

‘The crowd was awesome,’ kicker Collin Barber said. ‘We had 32,000, but they were a loud 32,000. We had great fans.’

Fields wasn’t the only injured player Pasqualoni had to worry about. Starting wide receiver Steve Gregory suited up but didn’t play.

Pasqualoni said Gregory had a sore thigh muscle and wasn’t scheduled to play unless absolutely necessary. He didn’t elaborate on Gregory’s status for next week.

Defensive end Julian Pollard left the game briefly in the first quarter and returned after missing a series. After coming out, though, he saw only limited action. Pasqualoni said he expected Pollard to be fine.

The 1959 Syracuse football national championship team was honored before the game. Later, during a timeout, a new championship banner was unveiled next to the 2003 men’s basketball banner. … The 2004 national championship men’s lacrosse team was honored at halftime. … Both Syracuse and Cincinnati seemed to struggle with penalties, especially personal fouls. The Orange committed three personal fouls, two for roughing the passer.

Published on September 19, 2004 at 12:00 pm