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SYRACUSE (AP) -- Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone maintained the protocol in his weekly press conference on Monday, first taking time to thank the fans who came to watch the Orange beat a ranked team for the first time in five years.
That the signature victory of Marrone's rookie season was a dominating one against Rutgers made it just a little bit sweeter. Several potential recruits were on hand to experience the stunning 31-13 win over the Scarlet Knights, who entered the game ranked No. 25 and battle Syracuse for recruits in the region.
"It was a big recruiting weekend. It's our first full year recruiting and it's the first time we've had these prospects on campus during an official weekend," Marrone said, declining to say how many potential recruits were there. "It was a good sendoff for our seniors, who have been through quite a bit of adversity in their careers here. Obviously, we're extremely pleased with the outcome of the game. We have a lot of players that deserve a lot of credit."
Foremost would be tailback-turned-linebacker extraordinaire Doug Hogue. His performance included 6.5 tackles for losses (that broke the school record of five shared by Dwight Freeney, Antwaune Ponds and Christian Ferrara), 3.5 sacks, and one forced fumble, and it earned him national defensive player of the week honors.
Hogue ranks 15th nationally and second in the Big East in sacks per game (.86) and he's tied for 15th in the country and tops in the conference with 1.45 tackles for loss per game.
"Really, his performance goes with the performance of everyone on that defense," Marrone said. "They've all helped in Doug attaining those statistics."
The Orange (4-7, 1-5 Big East) head into Saturday's season finale at Connecticut (5-5, 1-4) ranked ninth nationally against the run, allowing 92.5 yards per game. Pitt's Dion Lewis is the lone player this season to gain more than 100 yards against Syracuse.
Sophomore running back Antwon Bailey also was cited, earning Big East honor roll recognition for his efforts against the Scarlet Knights. Bailey gained 181 all-purpose yards, including 77 yards on 16 carries and his first touchdown of the season, averaged 28.5 yards on two kickoff returns, and he caught three passes for 47 yards.
"We had a lot of good play on both sides of the ball," said Marrone, who planned to give every graduating senior a game ball as a token of appreciation for how they handled all that had gone wrong the previous four seasons under former coach Greg Robinson. His teams managed 10 wins in his tenure, only three in conference.
Since Marrone was hired 11 months ago, Syracuse has lost 20 scholarship players and 10 more to season-ending injuries, including three of the team's top defenders.
"We've won a lot of battles during the week," Marrone said. "The one battle we hadn't won was in the wins and losses. Our players have believed in exactly what we're doing from the beginning. That's the great part of this team right now."
Even though Marrone and his staff have had to juggle an awful lot of players because of the loss of personnel, the Orange defense throttled Rutgers with nine sacks and held the Scarlet Knights to a season-low 130 yards on offense.
More importantly, for the first time this season Syracuse did not commit a turnover, and that came against the team with the best turnover ratio in the country.
"I think it was a perfect storm in a bad way for us," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said Monday on the Big East teleconference.
And that storm likely will intensify on the recruiting trail now that Syracuse has begun to re-establish its winning identity.
"It gets our name out there," assistant head coach Bob Casullo said. "It gets our name out there."
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
