Syracuse punter Brendan Carney barely had a moment to sit during Sunday’s Syracuse-West Virginia game.

Carney had to punt 11 times against the Mountaineers, one off his career high and the most obvious sign of Syracuse’s offensive trouble. SU’s ability to cause turnovers coupled with Carney’s kicking largely kept the Orange in the game as he pinned West Virginia on its side of the field seven times in the first half.

Carney averaged 43.7 yards per punt with a long of 59 in the first quarter.

‘(The loss) was definitely a disappointment,’ Carney said. ‘I punted a lot today. Some were good, some were bad. We just need to pull it together.’

Carney is tied for the SU lead for most punts in a game. In 2003, he kicked 12 times against Virginia Tech. On Sunday, his punts went for a net of 481 yards. The most yards an SU player has punted for in a game is 502.

‘It was a tough game,’ Carney said. ‘We have a new coaching staff and I think the first game is always going to be tough.’

Back on defense

One of the lone bright spots on Sunday was Syracuse’s ability to defend West Virginia’s passing attack.

In his first game after returning to cornerback, Steve Gregory led Syracuse with nine tackles against the Mountaineers. Syracuse held WVU to 167 yards passing with one interception.

‘(My return to cornerback) went well, but there’s always things you can improve,’ Gregory said. ‘Once we go and look at the film, we’ll be able to tell more but overall, I did alright.’

With about nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, Gregory made a big hit after a five-yard completion to Mountaineers wide receiver Darius Reynaud. Gregory stayed down after the tackle but got up after a couple of minutes and walked to the sideline.

‘In the second half I was kind of dehydrated and cramped up,’ Gregory said. ‘I had to go in and get some IVs.’

Gregory went down again with about 9:30 remaining in the third quarter but said it was a stinger on his shoulder, nothing serious. He also returned two kicks in the game for a total of 43 yards.

‘It’s been a rough day,’ Gregory said. ‘I’m sure the stats sound pretty good but internally there’s probably some things we can work on.’\

Passing options

Syracuse was without its most experienced wide receiver on Sunday: last week Landel Bembo broke his leg during practice. He will miss the rest of the season.

Sophomore Rice Moss started in his place opposite Tim Lane.

‘It was a big disappointment,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘He was Perry’s go-to-guy as we left training camp. To see him after the game in the locker room, it was killing him. He could he have made a difference.’

Freshman Bruce Williams, who was listed as a backup on the depth chart, did not play until the second half. Sophomore J.J. Bedle, who returned kicks as well, often appeared in three-wide receiver sets.

Robinson did not commit to playing time for Bedle or Williams in the future, though.

‘I think right now Rice is the starter with Tim,’ he said. ‘Those two guys are the starters.’

This and that…

Director of Athletics Daryl Gross and Chancellor Nancy Cantor presented Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim with a letterman’s jacket at halftime. Boeheim will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend. … Gross appeared in the media room after the game. While disappointed, he stressed patience for the future of SU football: ‘It’s gonna get good, just wait and it will happen,’ he said. ‘I saw where we started at (Southern California) in our first game when Pete Carroll came in. There’s some progression that happens with these things.’

Published on September 5, 2005 at 12:00 pm