TAMPA, Fla. — After the final seconds ticked down in Syracuse’s 13-9 victory over South Florida on Saturday, Anthony Perkins ventured to the Orange-clad section in the crowd stationed behind the SU bench.

The 6-foot-4 defensive tackle strolled over and took off his helmet. And then, at the end of the performance, he took a bow.

Perkins took a bow for Syracuse. And he took a bow for his defense.

After weeks of brash talking without a concrete, complete performance to show for it, the SU defense finally owned up to its members’ words Saturday. With a simple game plan, the Orange pressured, hit and sacked USF quarterback B.J. Daniels throughout the day, never allowing him to get comfortable from the start. SU sacked Daniels four times and forced two interceptions, only allowing the Bulls to muster 219 total yards.

In a game in which the Syracuse offense struggled until finally finding its rhythm on a 14-play, 98-yard drive in the fourth quarter, the team’s defense was responsible for keeping the contest competitive.

‘Defensively, they stepped up,’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘I thought all of our guys played hard.’

From the beginning, SU implemented its game plan. The Bulls had arguably their best drive to start the game when they were able to easily move the ball downfield, before Daniels threw a jump ball that was intercepted by Orange cornerback Da’Mon Merkerson in the end zone.

Thereafter, the Orange rushed Daniels hard. Hit and knocked him down with regularity. And most importantly, never allowed him to get comfortable.

‘You don’t want him to feel comfortable,’ senior linebacker Doug Hogue said. ‘Once he starts feeling comfortable in the pocket, starts running around and getting his own ‘swag’ and own groove and what not, that’s when we knew we were going to be in trouble.

‘So we were going to have to frustrate him. Keep him on his heels and make him make quick decisions.’

Many times, the SU defense didn’t allow Daniels enough time to make decisions. On the Bulls’ second drive, Syracuse safety Max Suter was the first to get in on the pressure-happy action, with a sack of Daniels for an eight-yard loss. Later that drive, it was Brandon Sharpe who was next to the party, sacking Daniels for a nine-yard loss after a roughing-the-punter penalty extended USF’s drive.

Going into the contest, the Orange’s plan was built around countering Daniels’ shiftiness and elusiveness with pure strength. To fellow senior linebacker Derrell Smith, it was just that simple. The target was there. Hit him.

‘Basically, what you do is just hit him,’ Smith said. ‘The way you negate speed is to show power. I think our defense is both powerful and fast.’

And the Orange confused Daniels. Sometimes, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer sent six. Sometimes, he showed blitz but backed off, content to let the situation play itself out.

‘We blitzed from different directions,’ Smith said. ‘When (Daniels) thought we were going to blitz, we didn’t. When he didn’t think we were going to blitz, we did. I think we just confused their offense.’

While the defense was frustrating and confusing Daniels and the rest of the USF offense, it was keeping Syracuse’s offense in striking distance.

In the defensive struggle, the two offenses combined for only one touchdown. The Bulls’ lone touchdown of the day came on a 94-yard kickoff return by Lindsey Lamar.

Aside from leading the game-winning drive, SU quarterback Ryan Nassib struggled. He overthrew open receivers. He took bad sacks. He was unable to move the ball at times to win the field position battle. But each time, the Orange defense went out and one-upped the Bulls’ unit.

‘The defense showed up, they really did,’ Nassib said. ‘They showed up great. They showed a lot of their big-play mentality and made a lot of big plays. … All in all, that’s what they do. That’s what we expect every game.’

And now, to Hogue and the rest of the SU defense, the struggles at Washington and the incomplete performances against Maine and Colgate are distant memories. All that matters is complete domination, in the biggest win under Marrone.

‘That’s a thing of the past,’ Hogue said. ‘Now we just don’t care. We had a plan, and we executed it.

‘It was just about hitting this guy the whole game.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

 

Published on October 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm