With three losses to start the season, beleaguered Syracuse coach Greg Robinson doesn’t need a quarterback controversy. But if the Orange don’t win a game soon, he might have one.
After starting a year ago and performing admirably despite being sacked 50 times and also surviving a relentless pummeling even when he did get his passes away, junior Andrew Robinson is the backup now to senior Cam Dantley, a former walk-on.
Andrew Robinson, the first quarterback recruited by his head coach, lost the job after performing poorly in the season opener at Northwestern.
“It wasn’t something that I completely expected. It was a little bit shocking,” said Andrew Robinson, who had to sit one game last season with a broken rib, giving Dantley his first career start. “Two days after the decision was made, I rebounded and went out to practice with a positive attitude.”
Andrew Robinson has since watched Dantley throw three touchdown passes in a 42-28 loss to Akron and relieved Dantley late in the fourth quarter on Saturday in a 55-13 home loss to No. 16 Penn State.
Dantley is slated to start again Saturday against Northeastern (0-2).
“We’re still good friends,” Dantley said. “He’s always helping me on the field. He’s seen a lot more than I have. And it’s been the same for me. When he was starting, I helped him.”
For the season, Dantley, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley, is 26-for-52 for 245 yards and four TDs with two interceptions and has a quarterback efficiency rating of 107.27. Andrew Robinson is 14-for-31 for 103 yards, no touchdowns and one interception and has an efficiency rating of 66.62.
The new backup remains upbeat.
“I think I’ll start again,” Andrew Robinson said. “I didn’t come here to be second.”
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OFFENSIVE-MINDED DEFENDER: Cornerback Darius Butler of Connecticut (3-0) has been in his coach’s ear for more than three years, begging to play some offense.
With a need at wideout this fall, coach Randy Edsall finally gave Butler his shot. And the senior delivered quickly, scoring on his first career carry, a 13-yard end-around in the second quarter of Saturday’s 45-10 win over Virginia. Butler also had two catches for 40 yards, two kick returns for 49 yards, and four tackles, including one for a loss, to earn a place on the weekly Big East honor roll.
“He might be the best athlete that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Edsall, in his 10th year as coach of the Huskies.
jump of over 40 inches and says he’s been timed at 4.34 seconds in the 40-yard dash, was a quarterback in high school. He switched to defensive back because he felt it gave him a better opportunity to play early in his career. He’s been a four-year starter and a two-year captain.
Edsall says the plan is to use Butler for about 10 plays on offense each game. He said he will rely on Butler to tell him if he gets too tired to play both ways and return kicks.
Don’t expect any straight talk, coach.
“I wouldn’t tell him,” Butler said. “I wouldn’t be honest.”
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RUTGERS FANS: Coach Greg Schiano wasn’t overly upset that the sellout crowd at Rutgers Stadium bolted in the third quarter after the Scarlet Knights fell behind 38-6 in the third quarter last week against North Carolina. Only a few thousand people were left when the Tar Heels posted a 44-12 win.
“Like I said on Thursday night after the game, it’s a night game, people have to go to work the next morning, kids have to go to school, score is 34-6, so I can absolutely understand why people would want to leave,” Schiano said. “If I were there I would probably stay, unless my sons were there and they needed to go to school the next day.”
After two straight home losses, Rutgers heads on the road for the first time in 2008 to play Navy on Saturday.
u and them,” Schiano said. “The first one is especially fun because you’re traveling away from Rutgers for the first time, and then when you take the field you’re the enemy. There’s that strip of red in whatever stadium we’re in, but everyone else is against us. I think that’s fun.”
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ROCKY MOUNTAINEERS: West Virginia has had more than a week to get over its loss to upstart East Carolina. The Mountaineers, ranked No. 21, play at Colorado on Thursday night, and coach Bill Stewart was glad for the extra time between games.
“We worked very, very hard. That’s the good thing about playing a Thursday game,” Stewart said. “Maybe we’ll have our – I don’t like the word swagger – maybe we’ll have our moxie back, or whatever you call it, where we can fly around a bit, go after people, get to the ball, swarm the ball like I know we can.”
The 24-3 loss to East Carolina was a shock to the Mountaineers, who were ranked eighth.
Colorado (2-0) is coming off a 31-24 surprisingly tough win over Eastern Washington, secured only when cornerback Cha’pelle Brown returned an interception for a touchdown with less than 2 minutes left. The Buffaloes have had the same amount of time as West Virginia to put that near-upset behind them.
at moxie back, we get things clicking on all cylinders, I think you’ll see a different Mountaineers football team.”
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HONORS: UConn running back Donald Brown was selected as the Big East offensive player of the week after rushing for 206 yards and three touchdowns in the Huskies’ 45-10 win over Virginia. For Brown, second in the nation in rushing (188.7 yards per game), it was his second straight 200-yard game, and he also was the game’s leading receiver with five catches for 32 yards.
South Florida safety Nate Allen was selected as the defensive player of the week for his role in the Bulls’ 37-34 win over Kansas. With 41 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Allen intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards to the Kansas 27 to set up the game-winning field goal. He also had three tackles.
USF freshman kicker Maikon Bonani earned special teams player of the week honors for his game-winning 43-yard field goal against Kansas as time expired. Bonani also connected from 34 and 23 yards in his first college game.
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AP Sports Writers Tom Canavan and Pat Eaton-Robb contributed to this report.
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