The door opened in the back of the press room and Greg Robinson walked in, a man with no answers, fresh off perhaps the worst loss of his four-year career at Syracuse, a 42-28 home defeat to Akron. For the head coach who has won seven games in his time at SU and lost 30, this may have been the abyss.

Robinson’s hands gripped the podium as he spoke, his cheeks shining under the camera lights and his polo shirt unbuttoned and askew. He spoke for nine minutes but could give no reason why his defense, his program, had fallen so far. Why the Orange (0-2) had been unable to stop the Zips (1-1). Why his team lost at home to a Mid-American Conference team for the first time since 1976 – and gave up 478 yards and six touchdowns in the process.

‘If I knew that,’ he said, ‘I would have fixed it.’

If Robinson knew what was wrong, he might have prevented Saturday’s defensive debacle, a haze of missed tackles and blown assignments witnessed by 31,808 at the Carrier Dome.

If Robinson knew, his team might have stopped Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain, who threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns on 20-26 passing – a clinic on how to run the no-huddle, spread offense out of the shotgun against an undersized, overwhelmed opponent.

If Robinson knew, the Zips might not have sliced for 218 yards on the ground with draws and inside traps, buoyed by the tailback tandem of Alex Allen and Dennis Kennedy.

But Robinson did know what went wrong. He blamed himself. He blamed his coaching staff.

‘There’s no excuses for it,’ he said. ‘I just think that really, we like to think we were prepared. Obviously we weren’t.’

The bleakness of the defense overshadowed an awakening from the offense. Cameron Dantley – named the starter this week in place of the struggling Andrew Robinson – managed the game and converted 65 percent of his passes, a safe collection of check-downs and dump-offs. He tossed three touchdowns, two to tight end Mike Owen.

Curtis Brinkley and Delone Carter got into a groove after the first quarter and dragged the Orange back into the game. Brinkley rushed for 143 yards – a career high – and a touchdown, while Carter slashed for 88.

Except it wasn’t enough. A good day from the offense couldn’t fix a dreadful one from the defense.

‘They’re were calling the right plays on our defenses, we were making mistakes,’ safety AJ Brown said. ‘They capitalized on our mistakes.’

Akron capitalized early and often, surging to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Jacquemain tossed a 33-yard strike to Andre Jones on the Zips first drive, beating cornerback Mike Holmes – a blown coverage, Robinson said afterwards. Two drives later, Dennis Kennedy broke loose on a 35-yard scamper into the end zone on third and 23 – an embarrassment, Robinson said.

That set the tempo for the day: a Syracuse defense that broke down under the pressure of Akron’s bubble screens and quick hitches and couldn’t make tackles in the open field. Third and longs offered little solace, only more disappointment and gloom when the Zips converted.

‘Coach [Robinson] had a right to be mad at us,’ said defensive tackle Art Jones, who had five tackles and a sack.

But there was a chance to salvage this one, to comeback on a day where the defense was outclassed and the offense was too slow to start.

The offense kicked into gear after the first quarter and started to grind away at the deficit. It was 28-14 at the half, but then things tightened. Akron still picked up yardage but sputtered for a change. Igor Iveljic hooked a 41-yard field goal wide right in the third. Then SU linebacker Derrell Smith picked off a Jacquemain pass.

And early in the fourth, Dantley scrambled and found Nick Provo as the tight end slid to the ground in the back of the endzone, a touchdown that tied the game at 28.

But Syracuse could not hold. Jacquemain lead a 10-play, 78-yard drive to answer, hitting Jones for another score. Holmes was again beaten in coverage.

On the ensuing drive, the Orange moved to at the Akron 46, trailing by 35-28 with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the Akron defense swarmed Carter in the backfield, holding him short of the first down despite his twists and lunges forward.

It was over and the fans understood, enthusiasm leaking out of the stadium as they headed for the aisles. The Orange had been unable to stop Akron all day. Why now? They were right. Jacquemain hit tight end Merce Poindexter for an 18-yard, touchdown and the defense walked off the field, heads down, just as the fans had – ugly symmetry for a program facing its lowest depths.

‘The fans have every right to be upset and be disappointed,’ Robinson said afterwards. ‘What can I say? Other than I better get my thing going here and get these guys playing right.’

As he spoke, a boom microphone toppled over and slammed into the ground, a bang that resonated through the press room.

This is Syracuse football in 2008: double digits losses to MAC teams, equipment malfunctioning at random and a coach searching for answers.

And answers are hard to find in the abyss.

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on September 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm