WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – None of Joe Fields’ firsts ended right.

His first snap came from Matt Tarullo’s hands 16 seconds into the game; and ended after the ball dropped to the turf five seconds later for an incompletion.

His first completion, a 1-yard loss on a pass to running back Walter Reyes, pushed the Syracuse football team further away from scoring.

And his first college football game resulted in a defeat.

‘I’m not happy with the way I played,’ Fields said. ‘Just look at the score.’

Syracuse lost to Purdue on Sunday, 51-0, in front of 56,827 at Ross-Ade Stadium.

But after all that, there could still be one more first that Fields experiences. One more first that bites Fields and makes what should be his most glorious debut a bitter beginning: His first demotion.

Not this week. Head coach Paul Pasqualoni made that clear yesterday, saying Fields is the starter. But as time goes on, a quarterback feud could emerge, similar to R.J. Anderson-Troy Nunes in 2002.

For now, though, it’s Fields, who played unexpectedly poised in his first collegiate game, completing eight of 15 passes for 93 yards through three quarters.

Soon, though, sophomore Perry Patterson may step in.

Patterson relieved Fields with 23 seconds left in the third quarter and SU trailing, 37-0. He completed 7 of 10 passes for 64 yards in one-third of the time that Fields was in.

So if you haven’t noticed it yet, catch up.

Patterson’s mop-up duty cleaned more than the last 15 minutes of the game. It opened the latest chapter of a Syracuse quarterback controversy.

You remember these, right? SU football had one in 2001 and 2002. Now, SU has a quarterback controversy so often it’s almost clich.

But here it is, freshly packaged in the form of two never-before-seen products. Well, essentially. After all, three days ago neither had attempted a collegiate pass.

‘We will continue to go along the way we are going,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘Joe is the starter and I would not hesitate to put Perry in the game. I said that last week and we will proceed along those lines this week.’

So take your pick, but be ready to make an exchange. There could be many this year. Because when two unproven athletes make a pitch at a job, they could shine one week and look dull the next.

The quarterback controversy is a two-horse race. Knock Xzavier Gaines out of the picture. The junior saw no action Sunday, and Pasqualoni quickly morphed this into a two-man competition.

Initially, he liked Gaines enough to say he feels ‘good about all three of (the quarterbacks).’

Gaines was never again mentioned.

‘I feel very confident in Joe and Perry,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘So we’ll go back and look at the film. But my feelings haven’t changed. I like those guys. I think they both have talent. And I think they’ll both have a chance to become great players.’

There isn’t room for a third in ‘both.’

So now we’re down to Fields and Patterson, and if you think Fields starting Sunday means it’s his job, try again.

Pasqualoni seemed open to the idea of Patterson starting after Sunday’s game.

A reporter asked Pasqualoni if he could change his mind for next week. A simple yes or no would have taken care of that.

But Pasqualoni veered around the question.

‘I’m just going to go back and watch the film,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We were down by a big score and Joe was rattled and I wanted to settle Joe down and give him a break. And I thought Perry went in and did a good job.’

The indication is that Pasqualoni is open to change.

Patterson played fantastically, all things considered. He waltzed in and played like he was talking right to Pasqualoni, as if to say, ‘Here’s what you’ve been missing, coach.’

He checked in, immediately took command of the offense and charged downfield with a defeated and beleaguered unit. He completed passes of 18, 17 and 14 yards within his first four attempts.

He reached the Purdue 24-yard line on his first drive and would have gone farther if Alex Shor didn’t drop Patterson’s fourth-and-3 pass over the middle.

Which isn’t to say Fields played awful. Questions surrounded the freshman as he entered his first game. Fields answered most of them, finding open receivers despite unrelenting pressure from the Boilermakers.

He revealed himself as a viable starting quarterback.

Expectedly, Fields stumbled a bit, too, struggling to behave like a veteran probably would.

Mostly, that included little things: failing to throw the ball away, throwing behind receivers, letting the play clock wind down.

But, at times, it included bigger things, too.

Fields threw his first interception with 8:29 left in the first half, trying to needle a pass to wide receiver Andre Fontenette on third-and-12.

Purdue’s Paul Long had the pick. Just three plays earlier, Fields had his biggest play – a 35-yard pass to Jared Jones – which put SU on Purdue’s side of the field for the first time all day.

‘I think Joe would have liked to have completed a few more balls,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘A read here and there. Considering the nature of the opponent and it being the first game, I thought he was good.’

Soon, we’ll know just how good.

Scott Lieber is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at smlieber@syr.edu.

Published on September 6, 2004 at 12:00 pm