Poor strategies doom Orangemen

Theoretically.

I really don't think Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni had any clue what was going on at any point of Michigan's 18-13 victory over the Orangemen Saturday night at the Carrier Dome.

Maybe Pasqualoni was bothered by the noise caused by the 49,249 fans that packed the Carrier Dome. Maybe he was distracted by the Syracuse cheerleaders and dance team that were prancing around the perimeter of the field.

T.J. Berka Teeing Off

And maybe he was just perturbed by his own mascot, the Syracuse 'orange'. In trying to figure out what the heck it was, Pasqualoni might have just taxed his brain to the point at which he didn't really care what was going on with his football team.

Keep in mind, these are all theories and will be difficult to prove. And of course, Pasqualoni won't squeal and tell us what he was thinking Saturday night in the Carrier Dome.

But I think the public should get a chance to find out what the heck that Pasqualoni was thinking.

First of all, why did Pasqualoni feel the need to keep inserting quarterback Troy Nunes in the game? The redshirt freshman platooned with sophomore Madei Williams throughout the game, and his performance can be best described as awful.

And I'm being nice.

In the first half, Nunes completed as many passes - two - to Michigan defensive backs as he did to Syracuse wide receivers.

Nunes continued his masterful play in the second half, running 30 yards backwards into the end zone and throwing the ball out of bounds to draw an intentional grounding penalty. Michigan got a safety on the play, which turned out to provide the game-winning points.

And when Nunes did do something well, like lead Syracuse 80 yards downfield for the game-tying touchdown on the first drive in the third quarter, Pasqualoni responded by pulling him on the next drive for Williams.

But don't worry, Pasqualoni was an equal-opportunity offender. When Williams led Syracuse on a scoring drive to put the Orangemen up, 7-6, in the second quarter, Pasqualoni rewarded him by putting him on the bench in favor of Nunes.

The Syracuse team didn't quite have a clue as to when to call timeouts either. The Orangemen called all three of their first half timeouts with 7:48 to go in the second quarter.

And on the fateful game-ending drive in which the Orangemen threw the ball incomplete in the end zone? Syracuse didn't have the option to kick a field goal and stop Michigan because they had used two of their three second half timeouts prior to the drive.

Imagine what a Syracuse defender must have been feeling. The Orangemen held the Wolverines to 298 yards - including only 66 in the second half - but had to watch helplessly as the offense and coaching staff fumbled around as if they had spent the afternoon stumbling around at one of the local bars.

But Michigan did its best to give Syracuse all the opportunities it needed to pull the game out. Yes, the Wolverines scored when they had to, but once again, they settled for Jeff Del Verne field goals more often then not.

Michigan got into Syracuse territory nine times - including all seven possessions in the first half. But all the Wolverines had to show for it were Jeff Del Verne's three field goals and an Aaron Shea touchdown.

When the Wolverines had a chance to put the game away, bad things would happen. A false-start penalty on third-and-short. A dropped pass by Evan Coleman inside the Syracuse 10. A running play for a loss.

Michigan was the better team. It could move the ball between its 30 and the Syracuse 30 with the best of them. But the Wolverines couldn't provide the Felix Trindad-like knockout punch that Syracuse would offer up to them.

Finally, the Wolverines avoided the last-gasp Syracuse swing and escaped from the Carrier Dome 3-0. But Michigan could have easily hit the deck on Saturday night.

They didn't need to. Pasqualoni and the Orangemen did a fine job of slugging themselves.

- T.J. Berka can be reached via e-mail at berkat@umich.edu

09-20-99