Spring Break
The Daily OrangeFB | Syracuse running game dwarfed by Huskies attack
By Zach Schonbrun
Posted: 9/4/07, 12:05 AM EST Section: Sports
|
Those were the rushing totals from SU's loss to the Huskies Friday night, and no statistic told a clearer story.
Washington ran anywhere it wanted. Syracuse couldn't run anywhere.
For most of Friday evening in the Orange's 42-12 defeat in the Carrier Dome, Syracuse had not broken even in the net rushing yards category. Backup SU running back Derrell Smith's eight-yard burst midway through the fourth quarter was the longest gain on the ground all night. Only three times in the game did SU gain a first down by running the ball.
"I'm not going to get too hung up about 'we didn't run the ball,'" Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said. "We put ourselves in some long yardage situations that we didn't really have to do. It was more us than it was them and that's my feelings."
Robinson said his game plan going in was to mix in short passes and screens, which can act as running plays and move the chains. But Washington continued to creep forward and at times would put eight or nine players in the box, Robinson said, making it difficult for any sort of rushing attack to be established.
"They were stacking the box unlike what they really had done previously a year ago," Robinson said on Sunday, after reviewing the game tape. "I think they said they are going to make us throw the football."
Without any threat to run, Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson had difficulty establishing a rhythm or finding open receivers. It made things difficult, Robinson admitted, but he was quick not to shed blame on his backs.
"I'm part of the running game also," Andrew Robinson said. "I have checks that I have to make on running plays, and I have put my team in the best situation possible to run the best play, and I'm just as much a part of the running game as the running backs and the offensive line."
SU tailback Curtis Brinkley struggled all evening to make any positive ground running the ball. While he did have success catching the ball out of the backfield (he led the team with 63 yards on four receptions), Brinkley's four total yards on six carries were far from satisfactory for Syracuse.
"We just didn't finish the plays that we had, and we just didn't do a good job today at all," Brinkley said. "Washington outplayed us today, and like I said, we just got to do a better job at competing if we want to get to a bowl game."
Be the first to comment on this story