Doug Marrone found a way to prevent Greg Paulus from throwing interceptions Saturday: Take the ball out of his quarterback’s hands.

One game after Marrone benched Paulus for poor decision-making, Paulus bounced back against Akron with a workmanlike performance, completing 12-of-17 passes for 105 yards and an 11-yard touchdown to Marcus Sales in a 28-14 Syracuse win. Perhaps more importantly, he did not throw an interception for the first time all season against a Division I opponent.

With star wide receiver Mike Williams suspended for violating team rules, Syracuse built its offensive gameplan around the rushing attack. The Orange ran the ball on 46-of-64 plays and compiled 234 of its 339 total yards on the ground.

The conservative approach meant Paulus rarely had to toss the ball downfield, relying mostly on receiver screens and other short passes. Most of Paulus’ throws went sideways, allowing the wideouts to pick up yardage after making the reception. His lone touchdown came on an easy horizontal pitch and catch to Sales, who waltzed into the end zone untouched.

The few times Paulus was forced out of the pocket, he flung the ball out-of-bounds instead of trying to squeeze a throw into double coverage – the primary cause for Paulus’ 10 interceptions this year, one away from tying for the most in the nation.

‘Yes. There were no interceptions,’ Marrone said when asked if he was satisfied with Paulus’ performance. ‘He had no interceptions, and he managed the game. He was put in some tough situations.’

Though Paulus started under center, Marrone sprinkled in backup Ryan Nassib liberally throughout the game. The duo alternated downs on certain drives, with the coaching staff calling plays exclusively for each quarterback.

For the first five games of the season, Nassib was used almost exclusively as a decoy, lining up out wide when SU utilized its ‘Stallion’ formation. He finally saw extensive playing time two weeks ago against West Virginia, firing two touchdowns and showing impressive arm strength in place of Paulus.

This time, Nassib was used primarily in the running game, tallying 14 yards on four carries. His statistics were tainted by a first-quarter sack, which cost him 11 rushing yards. Akron defense end Hasan Hazime exploded past new SU left tackle Josh White and destroyed Nassib in the backfield before he had time to look up.

Nassib threw just one pass – a long strike that slipped through the hands of tight end Cody Catalina. A completion likely would have led to a touchdown. Afterward, Nassib said stomaching the dropped deep ball was ‘tough.’

‘I have certain plays set up,’ Nassib said of his current role. ‘It depends on how the game is going, that determines how many reps I will get. It depends how the offense is moving – if we need big plays or we have to change it up a bit.’

Both quarterbacks remained diplomatic about the way they were used Saturday. When asked about splitting time with his counterpart, Nassib shrugged off the question and said he was happy to see any time on the field at all. Meanwhile, Paulus deferred to Marrone and expressed confidence in his coach’s decisions.

‘We have different packages for different guys, whether that is receivers, running backs or quarterbacks,’ Paulus said. ‘Coach is going to put us in the best position to win the game and for us to be successful on each play.’

In the week leading up to the game, Marrone said that while Paulus is still the starter, the coaching staff would devise a number of plays for Nassib and include him in the offense. The plan seemed to work against the Zips, and that strategy will likely remain the norm for the rest of the season.

During his postgame press conference, Marrone complimented the way both quarterbacks ran the offense and handled the bevy of bad snaps that plagued center Ryan Bartholomew all afternoon. Nevertheless, despite the two-man system that emerged Saturday, Marrone stopped short of calling the setup a quarterback rotation.

‘I don’t put words on it,’ Marrone said. ‘I just know that we have different packages for different players. We use the strength of our players to help us win games.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on October 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm