After Syracuse lost its season opener, Doug Marrone focused on the positives his team could build on moving forward. The SU head coach saw more reason for encouragement after the Orange battled No. 2 Southern California last Saturday.

But before he turns his attention to a dangerous Stony Brook team, Marrone is honing in on SU’s mistakes through two games.

“Right now, we’re really concerned on how we’re playing and how we’re getting better,” Marrone said during the Big East coaches’ teleconference on Monday. “And, what we need to do to win games — the things that we haven’t done in the past two games.”

Those mistakes leave the Orange (0-2) in search of its first win of the season heading into Saturday’s matchup with Football Championship Subdivision opponent Stony Brook. The Sea Wolves (2-0) have cruised to two wins, defeating Central Connecticut State 49-17 in the opener and routing Pace 77-7 last week behind a potent rushing attack.

Marrone acknowledged the challenge ahead against Stony Brook, but his team’s progress was his primary concern on Monday

The offense, led by veteran quarterback Ryan Nassib, has been sharp. But slow starts in both games — SU has scored just 16 of its 70 points in the first half — proved costly.

“We have to do a better job offensively early in the game and get ourselves going quicker,” Marrone said during the teleconference. “And we haven’t done that in the past two weeks, and that’s some of the things that we have to correct.”

Syracuse searching for consistency from punters

The punting game has also been a concern for Marrone.

The head coach used both starter Jonathan Fisher and backup Riley Dixon on Saturday, depending on the situation.

“We feel that Riley is doing a better job than Jonathan right now in our sky-kicks getting more height on the ball, being able to drop the ball inside the 20,” Marrone said during the teleconference. “Going into the game, we had a plan, those situations both players knew that going in, we’ve actually had it for the past two weeks.”

Fisher handled four punts, sending them an average of 41.8 yards, while Dixon stepped in for two. After Northwestern return man Venric Mark finished with 134 yards and a touchdown on two punt returns, both SU punters botched kicks against the Trojans.

With a chance to pin USC deep in its own territory, Dixon shanked a punt 12 yards to the Trojans’ 20 yard line.

And then Fisher’s mistake set up the Trojans’ 21-point fourth quarter.

With SU only trailing by five, he sent a 39-yard punt to Robert Woods. The wide receiver brought it back 31 yards to set up a 22-yard touchdown pass by Matt Barkley that opened up a comfortable 28-16 lead.

After two subpar games from the punters, Marrone stressed the need for improvement.

“I do have a concern and I addressed with the players about our location with where we’re going with the punts,” Marrone said during the teleconference. “Early on, location and distance have caused a lot of pressure on our coverage unit.”

Published on September 11, 2012 at 1:56 am

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu