MIAMI – You might have been sitting at home lamenting the way you spent your Saturday afternoon. You might have stewed over Syracuse’s 59-0 loss to Miami. You might have called it boring.

But at least you saw two teams throw the football – something you certainly wouldn’t have seen from SU had the game been close.

Before Syracuse was statistically out of contention – early in the first quarter – it did nothing but run the ball. Orangemen quarterback R.J. Anderson threw just one pass in the first quarter, and SU ran 20 times before throwing its second pass.

During seven first-half possessions, Anderson never threw on first down. Worse yet, he didn’t pass on two consecutive plays in the first 30 minutes.

“Running the ball is how we are going to win games,” tailback James Mungro said. “We have a better chance of not turning the ball over. We keep it on the ground as much as we can.”

And against lesser teams it usually works.

Syracuse traveled to Miami with an eight-game winning streak thanks largely to its running game. During each of those eight wins, SU ran more than it passed.

But during that impressive run, the Orangemen rarely trailed during games and never trailed by more than seven points. Playing with the lead, Syracuse could afford to pound the ball on the ground. Down by 24 at halftime against Miami, SU needed to pass.

“In the second half, you saw what happens when you have to throw the ball every other play,” offensive coordinator George DeLeone said. “You have a higher chance of making mistakes and turning the ball over.”

The chance for mistakes is even higher if you are out of practice. SU, which for eight weeks forgot about the forward pass, didn’t remember what it was like to throw the ball downfield.

“I guess we were a little unused to running that type of offense,” safety Latroy Oliver said. “They had trouble with it because we are so used to being able to run the ball. That showed with all the problems we had in the second half against Miami.”

Syracuse may have avoided those problems had it passed the ball early in the game. With no throwing threat, Miami could stack eight men close to the line of scrimmage and stuff the Syracuse run. The Hurricanes didn’t need to worry about a deep pass.

“The difference in this game was that we could throw and run and they just couldn’t,” Miami wideout Andre Johnson said. “If they are just going to run, that is fine. But obviously, we can stop them.”

And so can any other Division I school if Syracuse continues to pass less than a high school team.

“We can throw it, but it just isn’t the biggest part of our game plan,” Mungro said in the days leading up to the Miami game. “It isn’t Syracuse football. It is really no big deal.”

It had better become part of Syracuse football. Because, as Miami showed, it really is a big deal.

Published on November 19, 2001 at 12:00 pm