It has been almost a year since Noel Devine blazed down the field to seal the seventh straight West Virginia victory against Syracuse last year, but Anthony Perkins still dreams about the play.

The junior defensive tackle continues to ruminate over all the ‘what if’ possibilities, had the Orange clamped down on the speedster. Mostly he wonders, if he had been in the game, whether he could’ve stopped Devine from knifing the Orange with a big play so late in the game.

Last year’s run by Devine crushed the Orange (2-3, 0-1 Big East) in Morgantown, W.Va. West Virginia (3-1) faced a 3rd-and-7 at its own 8-yard line with less than five minutes to go and leading 10-6. The Mountaineers ran a power play up the middle, and the blocking worked like clockwork, as Devine burst down the field to seal the game with 4:09 left.

‘Last year after the game I thought about it,’ Perkins said. ‘Gosh, I wish I was out there. Just maybe I could’ve got ’em. Maybe I could have soaked up a block and somebody else could have been freed up, and I always think about that. I always do.’

So as West Virginia rolls into the Carrier Dome for a noon matchup this Saturday, Syracuse will be looking to prevent Devine from breaking the Orange with another big play. Eliminating backbreaking plays has been a focus of the SU gameplan as it tries to pick up its first win of its past eight games against the Mountaineers.

‘One thing we do know is (Devine) has the big-play potential,’ Perkins said. ‘The kid is fast and he runs hard and he’s not very tall in stature, but he’s a little muscle. The one thing we gotta worry about is containing him, keeping him inside and getting hits on him. I think the more shots he takes, the more he backs down and gets frustrated because he can’t get in the open space and wiggle and run around.’

Safety Mike Holmes said the play was a blown assignment and said it was ‘bad to watch.’ Safety Max Suter said he was too far up the field and Devine split between him and another defender as he bolted to the endzone. The 92-yard run is the longest play of Devine’s career.

Even Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone, who said earlier this week he had not watched the film from last year’s game, is cognizant that Devine can find open field easily.

‘They have some weapons on offense, but Noel Devine is a scary player from a standpoint of when he gets the ball in his hands, he can go,’ Marrone said. ‘He has tremendous speed and elusiveness. If he breaks a tackle, if you miss a gap, he’ll find it. He can take it the distance. All players who have that type of speed are very dangerous.’

Devine’s game-changing ability becomes more problematic when compounded with the Orange defense yielding big plays on what’s becoming a weekly basis. It was especially evident last week against South Florida.

Syracuse trailed, 14-13, coming out of halftime last week against South Florida, but USF quarterback B.J. Daniels hit Carlton Mitchell with an 85-yard bomb that shifted all the momentum to the Bulls. USF would go on to win, 34-20.

Against Minnesota, wide receiver Eric Decker could not be stopped on the third down in the Golden Gophers’ game-tying drive. Penn State opened its game against the Orange with a 49-yard touchdown pass just a few minutes into the action.

The players say it’s starting to get frustrating allowing a few big plays to alter the direction of the game. That’s why Marrone is trying to keep his team patient.

‘He’s just telling us to go out and play and you’re going to get beat,’ Holmes said. ‘The best players have been beat. It’s just how you bounce back, and that’s what really matters.’

Bouncing back against Devine, though, could be harder than imagined. He is averaging 135 yards on the ground and has six touchdowns. One quick slip by a defender and the 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior could be off to the races.

Perkins said the key will be to keep Devine contained and hit him. He said he doesn’t think the Florida native has been hit that much this season and banging him around could be crucial. Devine finished with 188 yards on 18 carries against SU last year.

Containing Devine is much easier said than done – though Perkins seems to have it down to a formula.

‘If we can do the small things, run to the ball, contain him, swipe at the ball and use the drills we perfect in practice, we’ll be fine,’ Perkins said. ‘We can have the big plays for us and not against us.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on October 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm