The play seemed dead. Quarterback Zach Collaros scrambled in the pocket with pressure coming from all angles on Cincinnati’s first possession of the game.

But a few seconds later, the play was alive and well.

Collaros lofted a pass to a wide open Armon Binns on the right sideline, and Binns rumbled 81 yards untouched to the end zone to give the Bearcats a 7-0 lead. In a sign of what would become a common theme, the Orange defense failed to contain Collaros and the Cincinnati offense when it mattered the most in Saturday’s 28-7 loss.

‘I think we did fairly well,’ cornerback Da’Mon Merkerson said. ‘We kept most of the plays in front of us with a bust here or two, and they went out there and made more plays than we did.’

Cincinnati came into the game ranked first in the Big East in total offense, scoring offense and scoring defense. Syracuse had its chances to stop the Bearcats, but Cincinnati made enough big plays to win the game in blowout fashion. Cincinnati threw for 295 yards, while rushing for 127.

It started with the first drive. Syracuse had defenders in the backfield while Collaros scrambled near his own end zone, but he bought enough time to find Binns across the field. The closest any Syracuse player came to touching Binns was safety Max Suter chasing after him from about 20 yards away.

Linebacker Derrell Smith did not have an explanation for the play after the game, saying that ‘maybe somebody came off their man.’ Merkerson said it was a case of blown coverage, while acknowledging that somebody might not have stayed in position on the play.

‘Starting the game, I thought we did a nice job defensively,’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said. ‘We had them stopped and came off our man coverage, and they wound up making a play – a credit to them and their athletes on the field in making a play go for 80 yards.’

Part of the problem for Syracuse defensively came in trying to contain Collaros, the Bearcats’ backup quarterback starting his second consecutive game in place of starter Tony Pike. Collaros displayed impressive pocket presence, evading pressure from all sides and finding the space to make plays down the field. Syracuse was able to pressure Collaros, but he was quicker than the SU defensive linemen.

With that extra time, it put extra pressure on the secondary to keep up its coverage on Cincinnati’s potent attack, and the SU defensive backs couldn’t keep up. Collaros ended up completing 22-of-28 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns.

‘Anytime a quarterback is scrambling, it puts the secondary at a very, very big disadvantage,’ Merkerson said. ‘And so I would say it became more difficult as he began scrambling.’

When he had time, Collaros was even more effective. At the start of the second half, he placed a beautiful ball in a spot where only Binns could catch it while being guarded by Merkerson in the end zone to make the score 21-7, Bearcats. On his last throw, he found Adrien Robinson streaking across the back of the end zone that sealed the game with 9:53 left.

‘He is a very good athlete,’ Smith said. ‘He did a good job of getting out of the pocket. When the pocket collapsed, he made some good plays with his feet, some good plays with his arms. He is a good quarterback, everything he is hyped up to be.’

Even with Collaros picking apart the Orange’s secondary, the defense still gave the offense a chance to win the game. SU only trailed 14-7 at the end of the first half and 21-7 after three quarters. The defense forced Cincinnati to punt four times and came up with some big stops.

Mardy Gilyard, an NFL-ready receiver, only had six catches for 62 yards. Eliminate the 81-yard touchdown pass and nobody on Cincinnati had more than 70 receiving yards. The Syracuse defense believed it did its job. Unfortunately for the unit, Cincinnati made the big plays.

‘We just have to make plays,’ Smith said. ‘They scored on a couple of big plays. We beat ourselves a little bit, we helped them out a little bit. If we cut down on some of those mistakes, it would be a better game.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on November 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm