A quarter of the way through the season, the Syracuse offensive line’s jitters are gone. It’s starting to show.

The front five helped the Orangemen rush for 158 yards in Saturday’s 37-34, triple-overtime loss at Auburn. The Tigers had given up just 106 yards per game on the ground before playing SU.

“The offensive line gave probably the best effort so far,” center Nick Romeo said. “We have little mistakes here and there that need to be corrected, but I think it’s an ongoing process with us.”

Credit increased confidence for the line’s improvement from the season opener at Brigham Young, in which several offensive linemen admitted to butterflies.

“We’re not as nervous as before,” Romeo said. “We’re getting more confidence each game.”

Especially from their effort in front of 83,667 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. The Tigers — led by linebacker Mark Brown’s 40 tackles on the season — were the Orangemen’s stingiest opponent yet against the rush.

Sophomore left tackle Adam Terry — a first-time starter who’s protecting quarterback R.J. Anderson’s blind side — lauded Auburn’s hard-hitting defensive line.

“We had a tough game against some good defensive linemen,” he said. “Auburn was very quick with (tackle) DeMarco McNeil inside.”

Brigham Young and North Carolina, SU’s other Division I-A opponents this season, have surrendered 174.5 and 203.5 rushing yards per game, respectively.

The Orangemen racked up 198 yards against the Cougars and 152 against the Tar Heels. Counting a 63-17 blowout of I-AA Rhode Island, SU’s rushing for 204.8 rushing yards per game.

And with Walter Reyes and Damien Rhodes shouldering the bulk of SU’s running load, the Orangemen have two distinct backfield styles. Reyes, a sophomore, is a pounding back, while Rhodes, a freshman, is a slasher.

‘The running game is starting to come along,” fullback Chris Davis said. “Guys are starting to get comfortable with the offensive line blocking.”

Guard Erik Kaloyanides — one of four first-time starters on the line — said earlier this season that the line doesn’t have to change the way it blocks to fit Reyes’ and Rhodes’ opposite styles.

While Reyes and Rhodes — both first-time starters — have grown accustomed to their front five, the line has adjusted to the backs, too.

Knowing the crucial role they’d play in SU’s run-first scheme, offensive coordinator George DeLeone made an effort in spring practices to push his young offensive linemen.

When asked after SU’s season-opening, 42-21 loss at BYU whether the Orangemen could be successful if the offensive line wasn’t, DeLeone said, “No. Absolutely not.”

Said Kaloyanides earlier this season: “You just have to build on the things you didn’t do as well as you could’ve, and you focus on them during the week. You’ve got to make a pact with yourself and with the offensive line and the whole offense.”

Though the line has surrendered six sacks in four games, it gave up just one against Auburn. Still, Anderson faced constant pressure and got knocked out of the game in the second half Saturday.

“In terms of positives coming out of the Auburn game, we showed that we’ve got a lot of depth at certain positions,” Anderson said. “The offensive line has done a great job coming together and getting better early in the season.”

After the BYU game, Terry pointed to cohesiveness as a big part of the line’s success.

“Once we get a feel for everybody,” he said, “that’s when we’ll start gelling.”

Statistically, Saturday was a start.

Staff writer Adam Kilgore contributed to this story.

Published on September 30, 2002 at 12:00 pm