Greg Robinson walked up to the lectern flushed. It was a scene the media often witnessed each week last year following a whitewash.

But the circumstances were different this time. Syracuse survived a double-overtime affair when it prevailed, 40-34, against Wyoming Saturday at the Carrier Dome. And the head coach stood there for the post game press conference struggling to recall plays in a wacky third quarter that consisted of endless penalties, instant replays and careless mistakes.

‘I am worn out. That game drains you in every way,’ Robinson said. ‘But I’m very pleased we won that football game, that we won it in overtime and overcame a lot of obstacles that we placed in front of ourselves.’

Robinson should be proud that his team has learned not just how to win but to do so in a clutch situation in overtime, marking the first time since 2004 SU has had a winning record and the first time since 2002 it has won three games in a row.

With that said, Robinson should also be ripping his hair out that that his team failed to make marked improvement in week 5.

All season, SU has begun the transition to a respectable program. From Wake Forest to Iowa, SU learned how to contend in a game, let alone with a top-25 program. From Iowa to Illinois, the Orange finally learned how to win. Then from Illinois to Miami (Ohio), Syracuse learned how to win in respectable fashion by properly finishing games.

From Miami (Ohio) to Wyoming?

Syracuse learned how to make an awful football game exciting to watch. Coming into the game, freshman running back Delone Carter said the next step was for the team to perfect its play so it doesn’t have a similar letdown it experienced against Miami (Ohio) in the second quarter.

‘For us as a team, a win is a win,’ said free safety Joe Fields, who made his first interception Saturday but also committed a personal foul penalty. ‘We’ll take them how we get them right now. We would love to come out and dominate on defense and offense. But that didn’t happen.’

It didn’t, but I’m not going to stand and shout on a mountaintop that Syracuse isn’t fully prepared for the Big East schedule that starts this week. Tough games against Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Louisville loom ahead.

Clearly SU gained experience on how to win in a tight situation, rectifying its failed try against Iowa. So right now it’s a clear trade-off, although not a desirable one.

To make sure SU’s imperfect game this weekend doesn’t hinder its preparation for the Big East, Syracuse should carry that close-game experience into conference play and use this week to steer the course so sloppy performances don’t happen again.

Quarterback Perry Patterson thought the overtime experience against Iowa helped prevent another failed goal line stand from happening again against Wyoming. Wide receiver Mike Williams, who finished with three catches for 36 yards, points it all to practice where they work on plays specifically for overtime games, games they’re leading and games they’re trailing. But Williams acknowledged nothing beats experiencing a situation firsthand.

‘Coach wants us to win big like we did last week,’ said tight end Tom Ferron, who caught four passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. ‘But this type of game helps us improve in having to go into overtime and having to fight back. This stuff will just help us down the road.’

At some point, Syracuse would have to learn from both experiences. But at this point in the season, before Big East play, it’s hard to measure if it’s desirable that Syracuse learned how to win in overtime at the expense of playing a perfected game. I thought maybe the head coach might provide some perspective.

‘What does it mean other than we’re 3-2? I don’t know,’ Robinson said. ‘The thing I do say is we overcame a lot of adversity and we found a way to win at the end. I’m more concerned about our development in our execution in our offense, defense and the kicking game.’

So there you have it. But we won’t find out if the tradeoff will yield its consequences until next week. Then we’ll find out whether Syracuse did enough in practice to make up for its lost opportunity.