It took Doug Marrone all of 65 seconds to announce Greg Paulus is still Syracuse’s starting quarterback. But even after 11 minutes of answering countless questions about the same subject, he still had no answer for why Paulus has looked lost the last two weeks.

One game after tossing five interceptions against South Florida, Paulus struggled again in the Orange’s 34-13 blowout loss against West Virginia Saturday. He played just the first half, completing 5-of-9 passes for 30 yards and a brutal pick on the contest’s opening drive. After the Mountaineers took a 27-0 lead into halftime, Marrone pulled Paulus and inserted backup Ryan Nassib, who went 7-for-16 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

Though Marrone may have temporarily contained the notion of a quarterback controversy, the underlying fact remains that Syracuse’s offense has suddenly hit a wall. The Greg Paulus experiment, which began with so much promise, appears to be losing its luster.

And with its second straight setback, the team is faced with this unfortunate reality: Syracuse has lost its first two Big East contests and hits the midway point of the season – and its lone bye week – at a disappointing 2-4.

‘I just didn’t feel comfortable with the way Greg was responding to questions we were asking him on the sideline,’ said Marrone, SU’s head coach. ‘I don’t know what the right word is, but I told Greg that he’s our quarterback and that he will start against Akron.’

Though the game began with a glimmer of hope, any momentum the Orange would have all afternoon was lost with one errant pass early in the first quarter.

On a 3rd-and-2 from the WVU 30-yard line, Paulus rolled out to the right and looked for a receiver coming out of the backfield for a short first-down pass. When his first read was well-covered, he stopped, turned to his left and lofted a fluttering ball across his body, right into the awaiting hands of Mountaineers nose tackle Josh Taylor.

Taylor fumbled on the runback, but the ball was recovered by linebacker Pat Lazear and returned 53 yards all the way down to the SU 11. One play later, West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown hit running back Noel Devine for an 11-yard touchdown strike, and the Mountaineers were on their way.

As Paulus trudged off the field after throwing the interception, Marrone stormed from the sideline and met him, shouting his displeasure about the play. Paulus stopped for a moment and continued onward toward the bench. Marrone followed, still yelling the entire time.

‘I wasn’t able to get an answer on that,’ Marrone said of the pick. ‘That’s not where the ball goes.’

After the game, Paulus was equally dumbfounded. Though he declined to go into specifics about what he and Marrone discussed during the game or at halftime, he was unable to elaborate on the interception that set the tone for the entire game.

‘It was just a bad play,’ Paulus said. ‘It’s a bad decision, and that’s it. That’s all I got about that.’

Meanwhile, the Mountaineers (4-1, 1-0 Big East) put on an offensive clinic in the first half. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions, effectively ending any chance of a SU upset. Brown went 14-of-18 passing for 179 yards and a touchdown in the first half, picking apart the Orange’s beleaguered secondary. He finished the afternoon 22-of-30 for 244 yards.

Syracuse managed just 77 total yards before halftime and had no answer for the powerful WVU attack. Before the Orange even knew what hit it, the outcome had been decided.

‘It’s very tough because it seemed like everything just happened so quick. Before we knew it, it was (27)-0,’ cornerback Kevyn Scott said. ‘It seems like a step back. It’s tough losing like this.’

Nassib, who was named the starter before Paulus’ arrival this summer, played the entire second half. With Nassib under center, the SU offense showed signs of life for the first time all game.

The redshirt freshman showed improved pocket presence and demonstrated better arm strength than Paulus. He tossed a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Williams in the third quarter, then zipped a 26-yard shot to Marcus Sales in the fourth. Nassib said afterward that he was surprised to be put into the game and defended Paulus’ role as the starter.

Marrone took a similar approach, carefully complimenting Nassib without criticizing Paulus. He said Paulus still gives Syracuse a better chance to win than Nassib or any of the other quarterbacks. Nevertheless, not even Marrone could defend the way Paulus played Saturday.

‘I was concerned with some of the questions I was asking and how he was responding to it,’ Marrone said. ”Why would you do this? Why would you do that?’ It just wasn’t characteristic of what my experience has been with Greg in the past.

‘Therefore, I felt uncomfortable about the situation and made the switch, knowing that Greg is still our starting quarterback.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on October 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm