Welcome back, Syracuse.

Welcome back to respectability. Welcome out of third-quarter exits. Welcome into public consciousness.

I know, I know-SU lost. But it was close. Very close. Two overtimes close.

You can say it’s because Iowa was missing its star quarterback, Drew Tate, and that undoubtedly was a factor in the Hawkeyes’ four turnovers. But also credit Syracuse. It played well. It played like it belongs.

Anyone who was in the Carrier Dome must admit that much. It felt like college football. A big game against the No. 14 team in the country, and it was loud. And entertaining. In the end, SU was short-by about a yard.

It creates this delicate balance between being proud of taking Iowa on a ride few imagined and worried that even when seemingly every break falls in SU’s direction, it still can’t win.

‘We are here to win and I believed in my heart that it was going to look better,’ Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘We need to win and this football team needs to win. We need it, they need it, and they need it so bad. They didn’t get it. Until they win, it is going to be hard, it is going to be hard on them.’

But there are losses that can serve as milestones, believe it or not. Look no further than the other sideline on Saturday. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was 1-10 in his first season, but lost on the final possession to nationally ranked Minnesota in the season finale.

It was a loss, sure, but Ferentz admitted it helped validate what the program was doing. Saturday was the same thing for Syracuse. But the second part of the equation is building on it and winning.

I don’t know when SU will win, but if it can’t happen in the approaching three-game stretch-at lowly Illinois on Saturday, followed by home games against mid-majors Miami (Ohio) and Wyoming the next two weekends-it may not happen all season. And it will certainly lose the momentum it undoubtedly generated on Saturday.

But once SU wins, more will follow.

Once it happens, once SU knows what it’s like to close a game or win a close game, it will spiral over to the next one. That’s what made Saturday’s loss so difficult for the Orange to swallow-the game seemed like it was right there, and SU couldn’t finish.

But it shouldn’t come in the way of recognizing what SU did on Saturday. There are degrees of losing. The 51-0 season-opening loss to Purdue in 2004 and 27-0 embarrassment to South Florida last season are on a different level than taking the No. 14 team in the country to double overtime.

When a team has lost 11 straight games and becomes a laughingstock in the national pages of Sports Illustrated, you look for the silver lining wherever you can. And there is something to take out of the fact that the Orange went punch-for-punch with one of the nation’s elite.

‘It’s hard on us because we have to deal with the pressure from everyone at school and stuff,’ said receiver Taj Smith, who emerged as SU’s top receiver with five catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. ‘We’re trying. Everyone’s feeling good about it, but we feel disappointed, too.’

The pressure won’t go away. That elusive second win in the Greg Robinson era will still be the subject of debate. But after Saturday, SU will receive a little more credit in those debates.

Iowa was Syracuse’s Minnesota. SU will be out of the punch lines and inching toward a respectable football program.

It’s nice to have them back.