Once again, Syracuse football became a joking matter. Football’s version of the Bad News Bears.

Ryan Nassib fired a pass so wide of the field it flew into the throng of Syracuse cheerleaders. John Kinder ran around helplessly and fumbled what became a defensive touchdown.

There was a litany of penalties, a few dropped passes, a pair of missed field goals and two monotonous offenses.

And neither offense scored.

‘There was a lot of factors that went in, that kind of made it difficult for a lot of us,’ Nassib said. ‘Some of the play calling and the situational stuff is a little bit different than it really is going to be.

‘Excuses aside, yeah, we wish we could have scored a little bit more points.’

After an entire spring dedicated to the ‘development of the program,’ so much so that 13 of 14 practices were shut off to the media and public, the first and only time the Orange performed in front of a crowd in Syracuse looked dreadful. The team coached by John Anselmo defeated the team coached by Rob Moore, 9-0. All nine points came as a result of defensive plays. The defense may have played well, but the one glimpse of Syracuse football for the 3,716 in the Carrier Dome was a disappointment overall. It leaves even larger question marks waiting for Syracuse when it begins preseason camp in August.

Head coach Doug Marrone enters his fourth season at the helm attempting to prevent another drop in results, one that would spur memories of the Greg Robinson era that is not so far removed.

Marrone went into last offseason with so much promise after a Pinstripe Bowl victory in Yankee Stadium. After defeating West Virginia last October, he was heralded as Syracuse football’s savior.

But a five-game losing streak squashed the good feelings. This spring was a chance to reinvigorate the Syracuse community and spur excitement around football again.

Behind closed doors lies the unknown. We hear of the promise, the improvement, the great strides the Syracuse football program has made in closed practices, void of distractions.

‘When you look at the 13 days we had before we split up the team, it’s been outstanding,’ Marrone said.

But the unknown, of course, cannot be seen.

What could be seen was the event that shut the book on spring football, the annual Spring Game. No matter how well Syracuse has played in mystery, the last glimpse of the Orange for the public came Saturday.

The Spring Game needed to leave a positive impression of the team. On campus, the football team holds little prestige. It has been more than a decade since the Orange was nationally relevant. If the student body barely cares, it is hard to develop the program.

But Saturday’s result was abominable.

Closing practice – meaning fans who did not travel to Rochester for Syracuse’s only open practice had one opportunity to see the team in Syracuse – makes the Spring Game’s results even more consequential. Marrone can talk about the progress the team has made, how the absence of distractions such as the media and crowd have allowed for greater focus this last month.

‘People are getting better. A lot of the younger players from practice 11 to practice 13 made an outstanding push,’ Marrone said. ‘Really saw a jump in their ability and that’s exciting. Just like I told the coaches, when we start off in the preseason you never start where you left off.’

It needed to show. He can tell, but the tangible evidence told a different story.

Syracuse will endure a gauntlet of a schedule in 2012. It plays only five games in the Carrier Dome. The sixth ‘home game,’ New York’s College Classic against Southern California in MetLife Stadium, is against a Trojans team that blew out the Orange a year ago and will be a top-five team this preseason. SU also travels to Missouri in November.

Even the Orange’s token matchup with a Football Championship Subdivision team is a difficult draw. Stony Brook will have former Iowa running back Marcus Coker, who ran for 1,384 yards and 15 touchdowns with the Hawkeyes before he was suspended from the team and transferred to the Seawolves.

A losing season is another setback. A deterrent to fans. Another mile in between the current SU program and the glory days of Syracuse football.

There are just more than four months until the start of next season. And there is not much evidence that next season will be anything more than a work in progress.

Mark Cooper is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @mark_cooperjr.

 

Published on April 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm