Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said it best Sunday after a look at the film of Saturday’s win over Buffalo.

In response to a question about SU’s success running the football against a weaker team, Robinson stated the obvious in expressing optimism about this weekend’s game against Virginia.

‘We’re better than Buffalo,’ he said. ‘We have better talent than Buffalo does. You should win some of those battles (on the line) even though the numbers don’t look like it.’

That’s right. Syracuse’s 31-0 win over a meek Bulls team shouldn’t have surprised anyone. It was great that Damien Rhodes had a career day. It was great that Perry Patterson looked comfortable in the pocket. It was great the Orange got its first win of the season.

But the West Coast Offense still has a lot to prove. Now that SU kicked around the perennial rag doll, it’s time to look at the real talent on the schedule because Damien Rhodes won’t go untouched for 50-yard frolics the rest of the season.

Truth is, Patterson still hasn’t thrown for a touchdown this season. The deep ball looked good on a couple of occasions against UB, particularly his 44-yard completion to Tim Lane, but we never saw the methodical first down after first down after first down this system promises. SU’s longest scoring drive took only 3:48.

In three quarters of work, Patterson completed 10 passes for 139 yards and threw no interceptions. Hats off to the man, but even Matt Bonislawski threw for two scores in Connecticut’s 38-0 win over the Bulls earlier this season. That’s right, Bonislawski (who?) and redshirt freshman D.J. Hernandez (who?) threw for touchdowns against Buffalo.

Meanwhile, the Orange’s opening drive against the Bulls went 16 yards. The boos from SU’s loss to the Mountaineers still echoed in the Carrier Dome when Patterson overthrew Bruce Williams on SU’s third-and-23 to open the game.

‘There are still areas to improve on both sides of the ball,’ Robinson said. ‘On the offensive side we need to get better on third down situations, but overall I felt we improved in a lot areas.’

After converting no third downs against the Mountaineers, SU was 5-for-16 against the Bulls. Improved, but still not well enough.

Against Buffalo, Rhodes proved the best thing for a struggling passing game can be a strong running game. And while Rhodes will be there to take pressure off Patterson the rest of the season, the passing game needs to come around. Fast.

SU’s next two opponents are legitimate top 25 powers. Virginia and Florida State are just as fast, if not faster, than the Mountaineers’ defense and where there were holes in the Buffalo game, there will be teeny, tiny cracks against the Cavaliers and Seminoles.

Whether or not SU heads into a West Coast funk or finds some West Coast spunk remains to be seen.

Timothy Gorman is the Sports Editor at The Daily Orange where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at tpgorman@gmail.com.

Published on September 11, 2005 at 12:00 pm