PISCATWAY, N.J. – Scenes from the aftermath of one sad Saturday in Central New Jersey:

* A downtrodden Cameron Dantley mumbling that he hadn’t thought about being benched during his dismal performance in a 35-17 loss to Rutgers: ‘I was just trying to do the best I could to help us down the field.’

* Mitch Browning, his face blank and his hair slick, accepting blame for his offense’s woes: ‘It’s disappointing, obviously. It is what it is. We got outcoached, outplayed. They took it to us. They had a good game plan. Obviously, we didn’t.’

* And, of course, Greg Robinson, the beleaguered head coach, fending off questions about whether he will be fired: ‘I don’t think like that at all. That is not something in my control.’

Little is in Robinson’s control at this point. Because you can’t control sadness, and only sadness is left now.

Syracuse lost again Saturday, spoiling any momentum from last week’s upset of Louisville. Rutgers, a squad with a shaky quarterback and a losing record, demolished the Orange. Syracuse had two big plays – Doug Hogue’s 82-yard touchdown run and Dorian Graham’s blocked punt – and little else to offer under the gloom of rain and overcast clouds.

Most everything fell apart Saturday. The offensive line regressed. The passing game was nonexistent. The defense gave up 207 rushing yards to the worst rushing team in the Big East and 276 yards passing to the erratic Mike Teel. The Orange celebrated a late Halloween: the offense went as a ghost, the defense as a sieve, Robinson as a stressed, overwhelmed man wearing a raincoat.

‘Disappointing day, the way it finished up,’ Robinson said. ‘I really think it was a game of not taking advantage of opportunities. All of sudden, we let the thing just kind of get away from us.’

Syracuse is now 2-7 with three games to play. Bowl hopes are gone. Greg Robinson will have his fourth losing season in a row. His team has won three total conference games. And while we’re here, we might as well say it. It feels rude to keep bringing it up, but here it is. Greg Robinson’s record as a head coach: 9-35.

He will probably be gone soon. Tomorrow, next week, next month, who knows? Robinson can take it. He knows the score and he knows the situation facing Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross. Robinson is an adult and a professional and owns a couple Super Bowl rings. But he has been dreadful as a collegiate head coach and he will soon lose his job. And that is sad.

Really, there is little else to say. Seriously. For this team, for these fans, for these next three games, there are few subplots left to consider.

There’s Curtis Brinkley’s quest for 1,000 rushing yards. That hit a snag against the Scarlet Knights, but wasn’t derailed. Brinkley was bottled up early and the Orange offense never got into a rhythm. He finished with 67 yards, snapping his five-game 100-yard streak.

Brinkley has 966 yards with three games to play. He will get there. A great story. Not much suspense.

There’s an apparent quarterback battle, as Cameron Dantley and Andrew Robinson compete in an inverted game of ‘Can You Top This?’ It was hard to call Saturday. On one hand, Dantley stunk up the joint, going 3-for-12 for only 19 yards before an ankle injury knocked him out of the game. He was sacked four times.

On the other hand, Robinson sputtered all over Rutgers Stadium, too. In his first appearance since September, Robinson completed 2-of-7 passes, with a fair mix of balls that sailed high or spiked into the turf. Not that interesting, either.

There’s the ongoing saga of these players throwing their weight behind this coach. It would have been easy for the players to lie down. Greg Robinson has been on the chopping block since Day One this season. Since before Day One, actually.

But this team hasn’t succumbed to that outside stress. Not yet. Younger players like Graham and Kevyn Scott and Mike Holmes have committed to learning on the fly. Older guys like Brinkley and Nick Santiago and Bruce Williams have thrown themselves into this final season.

It’s just not enough. This team can only offer its best, and that isn’t good enough.

Which brings us back to sadness. Watching Dantley struggle to explain his struggles is sad. Watching linebackers continue to miss tackles is sad. Watching Robinson, week after week, lose his enthusiasm under the weight of his failure is sad.

In a weird way, saying goodbye to Greg Robinson will be sad. Watch. If you can bear it.

Andy McCullough is the enterprise editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. You can reach him at ramccull@syr.edu.

Published on November 9, 2008 at 12:00 pm