Greg Paulus exited the field for the third straight time as the victim of his own doing. He had just thrown his fifth interception of the game, and at this moment in time, had completed back-to-back-to-back passes to USF defenders.

So when Paulus came to the Syracuse sideline, he stopped around the 40-yard line and turned to the videoboard. He watched the replay of his most recent interception. He saw what the 40,147 in the carrier Dome had witnessed: another ill-advised turnover. He turned around, quickly shaking his head. What was a one-point game at halftime had turned into a debacle. Paulus’ five interceptions, and particularly the three he tossed in the second half, doomed the Orange to a 34-20 loss to South Florida in its Big East opener Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse (2-3, 0-1 Big East) turned the ball over seven times as a team, which matched the total amount from its first four games. Paulus finished the game 25-of-46 for 269 yards with five interceptions and two touchdowns. He had only thrown four interceptions in his first four games. The first half ended with all the momentum swinging in Syracuse’s direction. On a 2nd-and-18 at its own 11-yard line, USF running back Moise Plancher was crushed by linebacker Derrell Smith, and fumbled the ball into the hands of safety Max Suter. Three plays later, Paulus lofted a pass to the left-corner of the endzone for Mike Williams, who jumped up between Jerrell Young and Ryan Eppes to haul in the 11-yard score that cut the lead to 14-13. Despite four turnovers in the first 30 minutes, Syracuse somehow only trailed by a point. But Syracuse’s high-flying ship quickly crashed in the second half.

On the first play, B.J. Daniels found Carlton Mitchell streaking down the Syracuse sideline for an 85-yard touchdown. Mitchell created space between him and cornerback Nico Scott and stepped over a diving tackle attempt by Scott to extend USF’s lead to 21-13 right out of the gate. Things only got worse as Syracuse’s next three drives ended in a Paulus interception, and USF scored 14 points as a result. On the first drive, Paulus was hit by a USF defensive lineman as he throw and the ball floated right into the hands of USF’s Kayvon Webster. Eight plays later, Mike Ford carried Max Suter into the endzone to make it 27-13. On the next possession, Paulus tried to lob a screen pass to Antwon Bailey while being swarmed by the Bull’s defenders, but 265-pound lineman Jason Pierre-Paul hopped in front of the ball and waltzed into the endzone to essentially seal the game. Paulus would throw another interception to Nate Allen. While Paulus struggled mightily, he did benefit from great play out of Mike Williams. The senior had a fantasy-like day, hauling in 13 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He jumped over the Bulls’ Quenton Washington and Mistral Raymond for the first score, while he brought down the second one while being tightly covered by Jerome Murphy. Syracuse ended up out-gaining USF for the game 344 to 338, but it didn’t matter on this day. When the USF secondary had five receptions courtesy of Paulus, that’s all the Bulls needed to improve to 5-0.

mrehalt@syr.edu