LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A slew of Syracuse seniors left a grand impression on the college football world Saturday despite a 41-17 loss to No. 17 Louisville.

James Wyche, Ryan LaCasse, Anthony Smith, Kellen Pruitt and Steve Gregory each contributed to a Syracuse defense that for most of Saturday contained Louisville’s explosive offense at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

The Cardinals came into Saturday averaging 47 points and 496 yards, ranking them No. 7 in total offense in the country.

Louisville gained 505 yards on 69 plays Saturday, but 146 of those yards came on two plays in the final 3:23. For most of the afternoon Syracuse used a swarming defense to pressure Louisville starting quarterback Brian Brohm, harassing the sophomore into throwing the ball quickly.

Syracuse totaled five sacks, intercepted Brohm twice and forced four fumbles, recovering two of them.

The play of SU’s seniors on defense ignited that.

‘They did a great job,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘I think a number of guys did. We blitzed them some.’

Louisville picked up a lot of the garbage yards on an 89-yard rushing touchdown by George Stripling with 39 seconds remaining. Robinson anticipated the Cardinals would run out the clock, so he inserted several backups who don’t play defense. Louisville instead chose to run the ball and exploited the mismatch.

The final stats indicate Syracuse had trouble containing the Cardinals offense, but the Orange defense kept its own offense in the game until late in the fourth quarter.

Linebacker Kelvin Smith said the defense didn’t want to give Brohm time to sit in the pocket and make reads. Smith said the defense had a better chance at pressuring Brohm and allowing the occasional pass rather than relying on its coverage skills.

‘We put a lot of pressure on (Brohm),’ Smith said. ‘He had a lot of problems with that. He had a couple of big plays, but that’s what happens. We thought he was a good passing threat so we wanted to play aggressive.’

It seemed to work except for a few breakdowns. On the second offensive play for the Cardinals, Brohm found wide receiver Montrell Jones for a 60-yard touchdown. Jones raced into the secondary virtually untouched as two SU defenders covered a receiver underneath.

After that, SU pressured Brohm and limited his time in the pocket. He was forced to scramble numerous times as LaCasse and Wyche each picked up two sacks. Sophomore Tony Jenkins was also active at the line, knocking down two passes.

LaCasse and Wyche’s speed rushing and their ability to chase Brohm from behind caught the attention of scouts in attendance. On one play, LaCasse ran across the field to tackle Brohm and limit the quarterback to a minimal gain on a scramble.

‘Those guys are the fastest ends I’ve ever seen in my life,’ free safety Anthony Smith said. ‘I think they made their mark today. When you’ve got guys like that going into the NFL, you don’t have that many mobile quarterbacks besides Donovan McNabb or Michael Vick. You can count on guys like that to get to a Brohm type of quarterback. You’re going to be seeing LaCasse and Wyche in the League.’

Smith also pressured Brohm with several safety blitzes, garnering one sack. Smith has gotten more attention from opposing offenses throughout the season and UL head coach Bobby Petrino said Smith is ‘as good as there is around’ at the free safety position.

Smith also contributed with Gregory on a turnover in the second quarter. Brohm found Gary Barnidge over the middle and the tight end raced up the middle of the field, breaking several tackles at the SU 40 and dragging Gregory toward the 20. Gregory stayed with Barnidge, though, and stripped him and Smith recovered at the 13.

Earlier in the game on third-and-6, Pruitt jumped a curl route and intercepted Brohm, returning the ball to the Louisville 31.

Syracuse forced three first-half turnovers. If the SU offense had scored more than its three points off those turnovers, Saturday’s outcome may have been different.

‘That was one of our intentions, to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback,’ Wyche said. ‘It was a good job today; everybody pitched in for us.’

Published on November 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm