SYRACUSE (AP) -- Greg Paulus is ready for the second half of his only season at Syracuse, and he's eager to atone for his recent mistakes.

"We're ready to get after it. There's only a certain amount of time left," said Paulus, who has thrown six interceptions in the past two games, losses to Big East rivals South Florida and West Virginia. "I'm not where I'd like to be. We haven't done it the past couple of games."

The Orange (2-4), coming off a bye week, host Akron (1-5) on Saturday afternoon, and they haven't given up hope of reaching six wins and being bowl-eligible.

"I like to make sure everyone understands exactly where we're going," first-year head coach Doug Marrone said. "We all know what we need to get to become bowl-eligible without saying it."

"We have to win four of the next six," said Ryan Bartholomew, who will start at center in place of injured Jim McKenzie. "They beat us last year, so they're going to come in confident."

The Zips (1-5) did exactly that, humbling Syracuse 42-28 in the Carrier Dome in the first meeting between the teams.

This isn't the same Akron team, though:

- Starting quarterback Chris Jacquemain was removed from the team last month for the remainder of the season for violating a team policy.

- Sophomore Matt Rodgers took over at quarterback and tore an ACL two weeks ago, leaving the offense in the hands of freshman Patrick Nicely. His backups are freshman Jared Wackerly and student coach Tim Zetts, who played for the Zips in 2005 before transferring to Saginaw Valley State. The team also has placed an ad in the school paper seeking experienced high school quarterbacks.

- Senior receiver Deryn Bowser has a broken leg and sophomore linebacker Aaron Williams has a broken arm. Both are out for the season. Williams, who ranks second on the Zips in tackles with 34, will be replaced by senior Amin Kabir. Bowser led the Zips in catches in 2008 with 64 and was tied with Jeremy LaFrance this season with 21.

That leaves the Zips, who have lost four straight, down 13 scholarship players this season, mostly due to injury. They're not conceding anything, though.

"We are just doing what we are doing, next guy in," coach J.D. Brookhart said during his weekly teleconference. "Their attitude is fantastic."

Akron is coming off a loss at Buffalo that dropped them to 0-3 in the Mid-American Conference, but the Zips showed some spunk in defeat. They outgained Buffalo 334-312 but were done in by three big turnovers, two inside the Buffalo 5-yard line and the other on their final drive.

Nicely made his first collegiate start against the Bulls, completing 17 of 34 passes for 200 yards.

"The kids rallied. We were just not able to get it done for him," Brookhart said.

Paulus knows the feeling. He watched the second half of the West Virginia game from the bench after a dismal first half in which he was 5 of 9 for 30 yards and one interception, his 10th of the year.

The time off has been a blessing.

"Coach gave me a little bit of time each day. We tried to use that time to get refreshed, energized," said Paulus, who worked hard on fundamentals during the bye week. "It's a really good thing for me and this team. You can see the progress we're making and what we need to work on.

"My confidence and mentality is the exact same - ready for the next play. There are no more excuses, no more 'haven't played, lack of experience,"' Paulus said. "I think whenever a player starts looking over his shoulder, he's thinking about the wrong things."

(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)