FB | Brinkley, Carter key sharp Syracuse running attack

By: Andy McCullough and John Clayton

Posted: 9/8/08

For one game, at least, Syracuse's three-man running back rotation was trimmed to two.

Syracuse racked up 218 yards on the ground in Saturday's 42-28 loss to Akron, led by Curtis Brinkley and Delone Carter.

Doug Hogue started the game, but only gained nine yards on three carries. He sat after the first two offensive series and watched as his two teammates shone. Brinkley rushed for a career-high 143 yards and a touchdown, and Carter added 77 of his own.

"We pounded it," Carter said. "We got aggressive. We were able to get aggressive, getting into that rhythm that we got into."

Both are coming off cataclysmic injuries last season: a dislocated hip for Carter and a broken fibula for Brinkley.

Brinkley came in for Syracuse's third series and made the most of it. The senior slipped through holes and slipped past tacklers, averaging 6.8 yards a carry and keying both Syracuse scoring drives in the first half. He scored in the second quarter, vaulting over the pile at the goal line.

"It went beyond his effort," head coach Greg Robinson said. "His true talents really began to show."

Carter, playing against his hometown college, didn't get in until the third quarter. He snapped off a 27-yard-run on his third carry, shaking a man at the line of scrimmage and busting into the open field.

"To see him doing what he's doing," Robinson said, "he's persevered and fought through so much."

Brinkley and Carter were the hub of the Orange offense, as they played Hogue out of Saturday's rotation.

"Curt and Delone are the best tandem of backs in the Big East," said wide receiver Bruce Williams. "Nobody can doubt that."

That wasn't enough Saturday. And Carter was stuffed on a key fourth-and-one late in the fourth quarter, when the Orange had a chance to tie the game. But for a team mired with problems, at least the backs looked strong.

"The frustrating part is done," Carter said of the rotation. "It is what it is now."

Owen on target

It was a good day to be an Orange tight end. With new quarterback Cameron Dantley not taking too many chances downfield, Mike Owen became his favorite target.

Owen, a defensive end and linebacker as a freshman in 2006, led Syracuse with five catches, including a pair of touchdowns. He caught five passes all last season. But he was important to Dantley against the Zips. Most of his catches were short passes thrown in the flat, as Dantley rolled out of the pocket on play-action fakes.

Redshirt freshman tight end Nick Provo got in on the action, too. He caught his first career pass Saturday in the fourth quarter, a fifteen-yard touchdown as he slid on the turf in the back corner of the end zone.

Defensive backs down

Syracuse's already-thin secondary took two more hits in the first quarter, when starting cornerback Nico Scott (sprained ankle) and starting free safety Randy McKinnon (bone bruise) went down with injuries. Neither player returned.

With those players out, Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain picked the Syracuse secondary apart to the tune of 260 yards and three touchdowns.

Paul Chiara, filling in for McKinnon, did tie for the team-high with nine tackles, but that was mostly loss amid SU's inability to defend the pass.

"They're important parts to our team," said safety AJ Brown. "We have people that can step in and fill the spots. Paul came in and did a good job."

This and that

Syracuse women's soccer head coach Phil Wheddon and men's basketball head coach Jim Boeheim were on hand and honored after the first quarter of Saturday's game for their part in a pair of gold medal winning teams at the Olympics in Beijing. Wheddon was the goalkeeper's coach for the U.S. women's national team, while Boeheim was an assistant for the U.S. men's basketball team. Syracuse also honored its national champion men's lacrosse team. The squad paraded onto the field carrying the national title trophy during a halftime ceremony.

ramccull@syr.edu

jsclayto@syr.edu