CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – It happened again. The Syracuse football team traveled to a city where the football on the field comes second only to the contents of the Dixie cups in the parking lot. And again, as predicted, Syracuse was embarrassed. This time it was to No. 12 Virginia, 31-10, at Scott Stadium in front of 59,699 people.

Earlier this week, the Syracuse players spoke of avenging their first road debacle, a 51-0 thumping at Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., on Sept. 5. They couldn’t back it up. SU succumbed to more of the same – bad penalties, shoddy defense and inconsistent offense – that ruined it against the Boilermakers almost three weeks ago.

‘I thought we took a step up against Cincinnati,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said, ‘and I thought we took a step back today.’

After the game, Pasqualoni launched a profanity-laced tirade, which was audible through the wall of the Scott Stadium locker room. Moments later, he appeared disheveled, sitting at his press conference in front of an ‘ACC Tradition of Excellence’ banner.

He lauded SU’s determination but lamented its inconsistency. Syracuse had a chance to pull within one touchdown in the fourth quarter. Facing fourth-and-goal at the U.Va. 4-yard line, Perry Patterson’s out pass in the end zone fell out of Joe Kowalewski’s hands.

‘What if we score on that fourth-and-4?’ Pasqualoni said. ‘What if we had gotten the ball right back? I just think it would have been more fun. Against Purdue we didn’t have that chance.’

Another what-if: What if Steve Gregory was healthy? The Orange’s second-best receiver was in Syracuse nursing the sore right thigh that kept him out of last week’s game against Cincinnati. Without Gregory, Kowalewski seemed like one of Syracuse’s most consistent options. He caught three passes for 40 yards, tripling his season total for catches. He caught two passes for 25 yards in SU’s first drive of the game.

‘You can’t be happy with your performance when you don’t win,’ Kowalewski said. ‘I’d rather play bad than come out with a loss.’

At halftime, the Orange (2-2) had accumulated just 109 total yards. Meanwhile, the SU defense tried its hardest to turn Virginia quarterback Marques Hagans into Michael Vick. The junior ran for 81 yards and two scores and passed for one more. His first run, a 59-yard scramble, put the Cavaliers (4-0) up, 7-3, in the first quarter. His touchdown throw, a 39-yard strike to Michael McGrew, ended the scoring. Hagans finished the game 11-for-12 passing with 202 yards.

SU starting quarterback Perry Patterson looked sharp on SU’s first drive of the game, leading the Orange to a 26-yard field goal. Patterson drove the Orange 68 yards on that first drive, completing four passes. The five-minute drive gave SU reason to be optimistic. But three straight U.Va. scores snuffed any sort of Syracuse momentum.

Still, SU players were confident that they could learn from the loss. They say they’ve found a reliable quarterback in Patterson, and the offense is continually improving.

Despite the lopsided victory, Virginia head coach Al Groh said Syracuse was the best team his Cavaliers had faced all season.

‘We were tested real good,’ Groh said. ‘They’re going to have a good team this year.’

Pasqualoni said the Orange benefits from playing a tough early-season schedule, even if the results from the two difficult games are seemingly the same.

‘It makes you better,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I really do believe that. But it doesn’t change the way you feel about them. A loss is a loss.

‘But this is a different team than the one that lost to Purdue.’

Published on September 26, 2004 at 12:00 pm