Cameron Dantley spent most of his Saturday simply handing off the football, riding his running backs to his first victory as a starter. And that was just fine with him.

‘It’s great, especially going into Big East play,’ Syracuse’s junior quarterback said. ‘It’s definitely what we needed.’

To get what it needed, Syracuse ran the ball 42 times and threw 17 in Saturday’s 30-21 win against Northeastern. But Dantley thrived when called upon, throwing for 167 yards and a touchdown on 14-for-17 passing. Most passes were short – tight end Mike Owen again served as his security blanket, hauling in three passes for 29 yards – but Dantley did stretch the field at times, including a 25-yard toss to Marcus Sales down the Northeastern sideline in the fourth quarter.

Dantley also scrambled for 20 yards on a third down in the first quarter, a key play that brought his team back into field goal range after penalties short-circuited a drive.

The quarterback’s play satisfied head coach Greg Robinson, who named Dantley, a former walk-on, the starter in place of incumbent Andrew Robinson three weeks ago. ‘I think we threw the ball very efficiently,’ Robinson said. ‘And I just think that if we can continue to do that, good things are going to happen.’

Efficiency is the key. Dantley still has not been asked to take many chances downfield or carry the Orange offense. That isn’t his responsibility in offensive coordinator Mitch Browning’s run-heavy offense. Dantley’s numbers this season bear that out: he has completed 58 percent of his passes, but averages just 137.3 yards a game.

But the cautious passing attack was enough on Saturday.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s double-overtime or if we blew them out, a win is a win,’ Dantley said.

Carter sidelined

While his running back teammates ran wild, Delone Carter stood and watched on the Syracuse sideline, his pulled left hamstring keeping him from getting in on the action. Carter did not dress for Saturday’s game, a decision Robinson said was made Thursday.

Carter injured his hamstring on a sweep last week against Penn State. An MRI this week revealed the hamstring was not torn, but the pull was enough to keep Carter out.

‘You could see he wasn’t going to be able to go full speed,’ Robinson said. ‘We want him to wait it out and see where he was throughout the week, and on Thursday, we knew it’d be best for him to rest. We worked him on Friday and then yesterday, he really did nothing but get treatment. We’ll see how he is today.’

Jonesing for stats

Arthur Jones had a quiet day: no tackles or assists for the junior defensive tackle. But Jones faces double teams most weeks, and had 13 tackles (four for loss) coming into the game. ‘Arthur attracts a number of blockers,’ Robinson said.

Jones starred two weeks ago against Akron – tallying three tackles for a loss and a sack – and recovered a fumble last week against Penn State. But the Huskies kept him off the stat sheet.

Youth movement stunted… for now

After getting good amounts of playing time against Penn State and Akron, young defensive backs such as Dorian Graham, Kevyn Scott and Da’Mon Merkerson didn’t play much Saturday. With Nico Scott healthy at cornerback and Randy McKinnon back at safety, Robinson didn’t want to juggle lineups again.

‘It wasn’t timely to just slide people in and out yesterday because we needed to maintain, trying to get the continuity,’ Robinson said. ‘That doesn’t mean some of those younger players might not play this week.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm