Tanardo Sharps smells blood.

No matter that he was 3 years old the last time his Temple football team beat Syracuse (1983). No matter that the last five times the teams have played, Syracuse has won by a combined score of 201-39.

Sharps, Temple’s starting running back, sees a Syracuse team without a Division I-A win. He sees a Syracuse (1-4, 0-1 Big East) defense that ranks last in the Big East in nearly every category.

In Sharps’ mind, when Temple (1-4, 0-1) hosts Syracuse at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia at noon Saturday, the Orangemen may be vulnerable to an upset.

“Yeah, we think we might be able to take advantage this year and get something done,” Sharps said. “I was a little surprised at how bad they looked against Pitt.”

Then again, so was just about everyone. Syracuse, two-point favorites over the Panthers, lost, 48-24, giving up 48 straight points.

The Syracuse secondary surrendered nearly 300 yards passing — almost all of it in the first half.

First under quarterback R.J. Anderson and then under Troy Nunes, SU’s offense hardly fared better, making just one first down in the first quarter and failing to score a touchdown in the first half.

“It was a day when if something was going to go wrong, it went wrong,” Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. “Obviously, we gave up a few big plays defensively that we could’ve reacted better to. It was just a very difficult day.”

“Personally, a loss like that hurts,” defensive end Josh Thomas said. “I try to ignore some of the thoughts because there are nights you can keep yourself up pretty late thinking about it. There can’t be another letdown this week.”

At least not if the Orangemen want to keep any hope of going to a bowl.

Syracuse would need to win five of its last seven games and finish the season 6-6 to have a chance at the postseason. Big East powers Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College still loom on SU’s schedule.

“In every sense of the word, this is a must-win,” Thomas said. “It’s a must-win for our confidence and the season. We need this game.”

Despite SU’s historical smacking of Temple, don’t count Saturday as an easy Syracuse win.

Temple often stacks eight players at the line of scrimmage on defense, shutting off the run and forcing an opponent to win by throwing.

That puts the pressure on Syracuse’s Anderson, expected to start despite an ailing throwing shoulder. So far this year, Anderson hasn’t beaten anyone with the pass, completing slightly more than 40 percent of his passes and throwing just two touchdowns compared to six interceptions.

‘They are playing a very aggressive eight-man front style of defense,” Pasqualoni said. “We have to come up with a design as to how we’re going to do it. We’re confident that we’re going to be able to do it.’

Luckily for Syracuse, Temple quarterback Mike McGann hasn’t played much better than Anderson. McGann’s completed less than half his passes, throwing four touchdowns and eight interceptions.

If Temple wants a shot at beating Syracuse, it will have to rely heavily on Sharps, its premier back. In five games, Sharps has rushed for 530 yards and four touchdowns.

And, along with the rest of his Temple team, Sharps will come in well-rested off a bye week.

“We’re healthy right now,” Temple head coach Bobby Wallace said. “We gave the guys a pretty good bit of time off. We’ll be refreshed and ready to go.

“Despite their record, Syracuse will be ready, too. I’m sure they’ll put it back together. But it’s very unusual to see them struggling like this.”

Published on October 9, 2002 at 12:00 pm