The longest catch by a Syracuse player Saturday wasn’t made by a wide receiver. Nor did a tight end reel in the biggest grab, for that matter. Instead, In the Orange’s 28-7 loss to Cincinnati at the Carrier Dome Saturday, a 30-yard reception by running back Antwon Bailey highlighted SU’s aerial attack.

It’s an alarming sign for a team with an NFL-ready wide receiver roaming the field that a running back – you know, the player on the field who is supposed to run with the ball – stretches the field more than the crop of wideouts.

But that’s what Syracuse’s passing game has regressed to over the past few weeks

If SU wants to start thinking about a bowl game, which seems to be slipping away more and more after every Big East game, the Orange will have to start stretching the field consistently like it did when the team was peaking around the midway point of the year.

Syracuse has the pieces to be a vertical team. Mike Williams is a nightmare for opposing defensive backs with his 6-foot-2, 204-pound frame. He has shown that he can beat some of the best defensive backs. Williams alone gives Syracuse a weapon to attack the middle and long portions of the field.

Instead, in the last two weeks we have seen a passing game that has become too complacent with bubble screens and short routes. Playing without Williams against Akron, Syracuse averaged 8.75 yards per catch and threw for just 105 yards. This shows the value of Williams to this offense, as the longest completion on that day was 20 yards. There was no vertical component without the star.

This week, Syracuse rarely tried to beat Cincinnati deep. Williams was relegated to bubble screens, where he loses his value as a receiver. Why have Williams breaking a play at the line when he has the ability to beat cornerbacks and safeties?

Offensive coordinator Rob Spence said Cincinnati’s defense kept the Orange from stretching the field.

‘That team we just played is not a team that gives up any big plays down the field based on the kind of coverage they play,’ Spence said. ‘I think we had a good plan and a plan to win the game and a plan to help keep the defense off the field, and that’s what we tried to do.’

While that may be true, why not at least take a chance? Cincinnati seemed to have a perfect read on Syracuse’s short passing plays throughout the game.

Keeping the defense off the field is a valid point, but that doesn’t mean an offense can’t throw passes for more than 10 yards at a time. It’s not like Cincinnati has Champ Bailey or Nnamdi Asomugha out there as cornerbacks.

All this would be a moot point if we had not seen flashes of brilliance earlier in the season. Syracuse teased us. In its three-game stretch against Northwestern, Maine and South Florida, in which the Orange played arguably its best football of the season, Syracuse threw the ball up and down the field.

Who can forget Williams’ 66-yard touchdown pass against Northwestern? Against Maine, SU averaged 12.86 yards per catch, while exposing the middle portions of the field. Even against South Florida, a top team in the Big East, Syracuse threw the ball over the top several times and had success.

We’ve seen on more than one occasion that Syracuse can throw the ball farther than the line of scrimmage. Doug Marrone said those chances were available against Cincinnati, but SU couldn’t take advantage.

‘We had a couple plays with guys open down the field, but we had pressure so we had to dump it down to one our backs in the flat, intermediary routes rather than taking the shot down the field,’ Marrone said. ‘We just have to keep working with the players and getting them to a point where we start executing those plays.’

Perhaps some of the problem is the quarterback. While Paulus was a wheeling-and-dealing quarterback during the good times, he has regressed to a yards-after-catch quarterback, where his receivers have to earn their stats.

No matter the reason, Syracuse needs something to galvanize the passing game. In its last two games, Syracuse threw for its lowest and fourth-lowest passing totals of the season. The talent to stretch the field more is there. Now it’s time to use it.

Matt Ehalt is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at mrehalt@syr.edu.

Published on November 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm