MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Something’s irking Will Hunter.

It’s not so much that his Syracuse football team — 1-6 after a 34-7 loss Saturday to West Virginia — can’t win.

It’s that some of his teammates are letting up. Mailing it in. Waving the white flag.

‘I do feel bad because I see a lot of guys playing with no emotion, playing with no heart,’ Hunter said. ‘I see guys playing just to be playing, just to get through the season. And it breaks my heart.’

Hunter’s brutally honest. He’s a refreshing change from his fellow Orangemen, who either don’t see what Hunter sees or are trying to sugarcoat the sour situation.

‘I think they’re fine,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said when asked if motivation is a problem for SU.

‘There’s definitely no motivation problem,’ kicker Collin Barber said. ‘We’re searching for confidence and trying to see what type of team we are. There’s a sense of urgency. We’ve got to earn some respect from our fans. We can’t blame other people or point the finger at each other as a team.’

But Hunter doing just that might give SU the kick in the butt it needs. Hunter’s sending a message; he’s a senior, probably won’t play in the NFL. This is it for him. And he’s watching his teammates tank it as the season goes down the toilet.

Granted, Hunter — and the rest of the SU defensive backfield — hasn’t impressed this season, surrendering a Big East-worst 264 passing yards a game.

But giving up, as Hunter said some Orangemen are, undermines everything holy about college football. It’s a waste. It’s how you lose respect. It’s how you lose fans.

While Hunter refused to name particular teammates who had been giving up, he said he tried to pull some aside last week.

‘And we thought we got through to some guys,’ Hunter said, ‘because we practiced with a lot of tempo and a lot of speed (last week). During the games, it’s a whole different ballgame, because if you say something to somebody, they may go in the tank.’

So how do SU’s captains — guys like Hunter and senior David Tyree — take 1-6 as a call to arms? As a chance to perch atop the locker room soap box and rattle off like Knute Rockne or William Wallace?

‘Yeah, we say stuff,’ Tyree said. ‘But sometimes, it gets to the point where it’s stagnant. It’s like you’ve said enough, let’s go play football. You don’t win games by talking, you win games by playing football. And that’s what we haven’t done.’

Pasqualoni, ever the optimist, said he’s going to keep focused on tomorrow and on film sessions and on next Saturday’s game against — whoopee — Rutgers. But maybe he should step back, look and listen. Listen to Hunter, who has nothing to lose by speaking the truth.

‘Last year our coaches did a good job getting us up for the game,’ Hunter said. ‘This year, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to do that. But a lot of guys aren’t following suit. We all come out, we all play with enthusiasm at the beginning, but once something happens, those guys that aren’t really playing with motivation, they just go in the tank.

‘We need to take some guys out, put some other guys in — make them have a reality check.’

Now, conventional wisdom says to keep such problems behind closed doors. But for how long can SU put on its brightest face and insist everything is fine when, apparently, it’s not?

The Orangemen have five games left to figure this out. Five games to listen to someone like Hunter. Five games to show some heart because, right now, they’re playing solely for pride.

Before he darted out for the bus, Hunter was asked if he had approached SU’s coaches about his concerns and proposed lineup changes.

‘We’ve been thinking about it,’ he said. ‘We just haven’t had a chance to. But you never know what’s going to happen in the coming weeks.’

Five meaningless games. At least, now, they’ll be interesting.

Darryl Slater is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at dpslater@syr.edu.

Published on October 20, 2002 at 12:00 pm