He didn’t know his own stats – a new career-high – or how long it had been since he had felt this way. But Curtis Brinkley understood the feeling, the one that had eluded him and his team for so long – since last October, in fact. The feeling that used to be common for Syracuse football players, but now seems so foreign: What winning feels like.

‘We ain’t had a win in, I don’t know how long,’ Brinkley said. ‘You said 11 months? That’s ridiculous. But, like I said, it feels great.’

Brinkley, along with fellow running back Doug Hogue, was responsible for much of that new, oddly familiar sensation Saturday, as the Orange (1-3) grinded out a 30-21 victory against Northeastern (0-3), a win it needed heading into Big East play next week. The backs teamed for 245 yards on the ground, enough to please the 34,649 fans who came out for Homecoming at the Carrier Dome. It was the first time two Syracuse running backs ran for 100 yards since 2004. Brinkley rushed for a career-high 145 yards and one touchdown, while Hogue caught one score, rushed for another and added 100 yards on the ground – his own career-high.

But more important for head coach Greg Robinson’s Orange, the team won for the first time since Oct. 20, 2007, when it defeated Buffalo 20-12 (Brinkley snapped his fibula against the Bulls and sat out the rest of the season).

Never mind that Syracuse, the school of Jim Brown and Ernie Davis, was playing Northeastern, a Division I-AA program that was nearly axed last year by its own athletic department. Never mind that the Orange led by just three at halftime. Never mind the missed opportunities, the 55 yards in penalties, the defensive lapses that kept the Huskies in the game.

It was a win. A win. That was enough, for this team, for this program, for this coach, so harangued these past four games and these past four years. And when you’ve won just eight times in four seasons, you cherish each one.

‘I’m not going to sit here and speculate what the score coulda, woulda, shoulda been,’ Robinson said. ‘We won the game. We won the football game, and we did a lot of good things during the game. That’s the bottom line.’

And the running game was the reason, even with sophomore Delone Carter sidelined with a hamstring pull. It was up to Brinkley and Hogue, and they answered. With the offensive line cracking open holes, the backs took advantage, carrying a Syracuse team that looked sluggish for much of the first half.

The two backs rotated all game, switching back and forth, Brinkley slicing inside and outside, shaking players downfield, Hogue barreling through the line, wielding his 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame like a weapon.

‘Me and Curt kept driving off each other, going off each other,’ Hogue said. ‘It was real good for me. I just wanted the game to get done.’

Because the win wasn’t easy. They never are for the Orange: An extra cruelty, considering how rarely they occur.

Northeastern quarterback Anthony Orio tried his best, throwing for his 293 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores caught the Syracuse defense sleeping. Orio hit Greg Abelli for a 27-yard strike to make it 10-7 heading into the half (and caused the Syracuse fans to boo the Orange, even as it led, as the team trotted into the locker room). Then Orio found Chris Plum on a post route early in the fourth, hitting his wide receiver in stride as he streaked past Syracuse safety Randy McKinnon for a 54-yard touchdown.

And when Alex Broomfield punched one in from the 1-yard line, it was 27-21 with 6:41 to play in the fourth quarter.

But Syracuse turned to its running game when it needed to answer. Hogue touched the ball six times on a 9-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Patrick Shadle’s third field goal of the day and just 1:52 remaining on the clock. A fitting end to a day that, for once, Syracuse had controlled.

‘We came out running the ball great, moving the ball,’ said quarterback Cameron Dantley, who threw for 167 yards on 14-17 passing. ‘And then we got confidence as an offense. We started clicking, and everything went great from there.’

It was a win the team needed. A win the players knew they needed, as Pittsburgh comes to the Dome next Saturday for the start of conference play. It’s a boost of confidence for someone like Brinkley.

‘I’m going to think over a few things,’ Brinkley said afterward, laughing as he spoke. ‘I might have something to tell ya’ll on Wednesday about this Pitt game.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm