Coming off one of its worst offensive performances in history, the Syracuse football team needed a spark to ignite a lackluster offense.

The Orange struck a match in the University at Buffalo.

Syracuse dominated Buffalo, 31-0, before 34,442 at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Damien Rhodes led SU with four touchdowns on 236 rushing yards, 216 coming during a 24-0 first half.

The win gave head coach Greg Robinson his first career victory and shook off some of the negativity that surrounded SU’s season-opening loss to West Virginia.

‘I am really happy and fired up,’ Robinson said. ‘It took forever. It was a long game.’

Robinson had to wait an extra week for a crack at win No. 1 in large part because SU’s new offense struggled. The West Coast-styled attack managed just 103 yards in a 15-7 loss to the Mountaineers on Sept. 4.

Syracuse outperformed that in the first quarter alone on Saturday with 147 yards. By halftime, SU held a 24-0 lead on 332 offensive yards.

SU’s defense, which surrendered a pair of field goals to West Virginia, allowed 123 yards as Buffalo never advanced past the SU 30-yard line.

‘I am just glad we won,’ Robinson said. ‘I really had not thought about the shutout until somebody said something about it earlier. It is great for our guys, and I think both sides of the ball got it done today and that’s great. It is what we were hoping to see.’

Buffalo, which lost to Connecticut, 38-0, to begin the season, failed for the second week against an improving SU defense. Buffalo starting quarterback Stewart Sampsel went 4-for-18 with 19 passing yards. The Buffalo offense had 10 possessions of three plays or fewer. The Bulls gained more than 40 yards on just one drive during the second quarter and never threatened to score.

‘We didn’t win at the line of scrimmage in any way remotely needed,’ UB head coach Jim Hoffer said. ‘We haven’t run the ball on offense, we haven’t pass protected and we haven’t thrown accurately with any consistency. In the end, we haven’t produced.’

Syracuse’s offense proved more consistent than a week ago, starting with the offensive line that opened gaping holes for Rhodes. The senior tailback scored on runs of 27, 50 and 54 yards in the first half and added a one-yard score in the third quarter. On the last scoring drive of the first half, Rhodes needed just three carries to advance SU from its own 27 to the end zone.

‘The more experience you get a real game situation, the more you can understand this offense,’ Rhodes said. ‘We didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot as much this week.’

Rhodes added a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter after a 44-yard Perry Patterson pass to Tim Lane moved the Orange inside UB’s 10-yard line.

Along with improved offensive line play, Patterson managed the entire unit more effectively. Offensive coordinator Brian Pariani stretched the Bulls defense laterally with several deep routes during the first half. Rhodes’ running also allowed SU to rely more on the ground attack than Patterson’s arm.

The junior quarterback threw for 139 yards on 10-of-20 passing. More importantly, Patterson never turned over the ball.

‘It felt good today,’ Patterson said. ‘It felt like we were moving in the right track. Obviously there’s still a lot of work, but it was good enough to beat Buffalo. We just wanted to get into some sort of groove to gain momentum for next week.’

Still, as much as Buffalo provided the perfect sparring partner for an eager Syracuse on Saturday, Robinson cautioned that Syracuse held a considerable talent advantage. SU fans should be happy about the win, but a truer test comes Saturday against nationally-ranked Virginia in the Carrier Dome on ESPN2.

‘As I looked out there, I would say that they were outmanned a little bit,’ Robinson said. ‘I think that our players are a little bit different caliber than theirs, and for the most part that showed.’

Published on September 11, 2005 at 12:00 pm