In the end, little of this made sense. The figures didn’t compute, the synapses didn’t fire – whatever, pick a metaphor, they all fit. Even some of the players didn’t get it.

A coach who has won twice in 22 Big East games getting complacent? The same coach saying that trying to gain a yard was ‘desperate?’ A running back who had almost 100 yards in the first half carrying the ball six times in the second? A defense that saw the game slipping away, ground down by the opponent’s ground game, but still not blitzing?

None of it made sense in Syracuse’s 34-24 loss to Pittsburgh, a sad end to a day that had started with such a promise.

Syracuse let a flat Pitt squad inflate and let a double-digit second half advantage evaporate. The Orange didn’t pounce on the Panthers when it had a chance to in the first half and didn’t close them out when it needed to in the second half.

All that stuff makes sense. Losing is just the way of the world these days for Syracuse football.

But after the game the explanations came. And things stopped making sense.

Because this wasn’t like the early-season beatings. This team has learned from those losses. This team has improved.

This coach has not.

Head coach Greg Robinson was asked, in general, why his team lost. Robinson retreated to a familiar refrain: He just didn’t know. ‘I don’t really know what the answer is, other than, they made some plays that we didn’t make,’ Robinson said. ‘And we have to assess why. It isn’t that clear. I don’t get replays and all those other things.’

A typical answer these somber Syracuse days, but that’s OK. Because when Robinson can explain why decisions were made, it’s tough to understand.

For example, why was never-before used freshman running back Antwon Bailey in the game for Syracuse’s first possession in the fourth quarter? Why, when the score was now tied, and Curtis Brinkley was running wild, was he not given the chance?

Because usual replacement Doug Hogue was hurt and Brinkley needed a breather, Robinson said. One problem: Brinkley said he was fine. Ready. Willing. More than willing. ‘I wasn’t hurt or nothing,’ Brinkley said. ‘I wasn’t tired.’

Why didn’t Robinson call more run blitzes to disrupt Pitt’s ground attack? Time and again, the Panthers pounded the front seven of the Orange, churning out 220 yards behind LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling. Time and again, Syracuse used the same tame defensive schemes, reacting instead of attacking. Why didn’t he at least try something different?

‘There were some times we just played a lot of base defense, where it was just like trying to make plays,’ said Nick Santiago, a senior defensive tackle, who, like Brinkley, has put up with this for four years now. ‘But I think that we just got to start bringing the heat more as far as blitzing and stuff like that.’

Why no blitzing? ‘When teams are in two tight ends and two backs, easier said than done,’ Robinson said. ‘It sounds real good, but, hey, it’s feast or famine.’

So Syracuse chose to take what was given: a steady diet of power running from the Panthers.

And, of course, there was the punt in the first quarter. The punt when Syracuse led 14-3, had a 4th-and-1 at the Panthers’ 38 and a full wind of momentum whipping at its back. That punt.

It happened first in the game, but it’s saved for last here, because, really, it was the coup de grace of nonsensical.

Why not go for it?

‘We had the lead,’ Robinson said. ‘We had the lead right there … That’s desperate. That’s desperate, in my mind. No. You play smart football. You punt it down there and you’re supposed to stop them.’

Pitt drove down for a field goal after the punt, and the Orange missed an opportunity. Robinson insisted afterward that his team needed more than a yard, maybe even two, to get that first down. Of course, Robinson said the ball was around the Pitt 45, and that was seven yards off.

But calling it ‘desperate?’ It is easy to second-guess. But it’s also easy to gain a yard. Pittsburgh’s Dave Wannstedt, a coach in hot water himself after an opening loss and a few slow starts, certainly appreciated getting the football back.

And when Pitt faced a key fourth down – 4th-and-inches from its own 32, trailing by eight in the third quarter – it went for it. And got it. And tied the game four plays later.

One man might see that situation as desperate. Another might see it as necessary. Sometimes, things can be both. Sometimes, desperation is a good thing.

Because other people in the Syracuse athletic department make decisions, too. Robinson’s choices on Saturday might have been enough to force a move.

At this point, that would make sense.

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

Published on September 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm