He’s been booed and harassed and slandered. He’s been a starter, a backup and a starter again.

Now, as quarterback Troy Nunes stares down the last two regular season games of his Syracuse football career, he’s become a Count of Monte Cristo of sorts, exacting his revenge on every opponent who’s shamed him over the years.

On Saturday, Nunes and the Orangemen (4-6, 2-3 Big East) visit Boston College (5-4, 0-4) for a noon game at Alumni Stadium, where, two years ago, Nunes played perhaps the worst game of his career, throwing four interceptions in a 20-13 SU loss.

‘That was the worst feeling game,’ Nunes said. ‘I felt bad that our team went out and did a lot of what we needed to do to win up there. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes mentally that cost us the game.’

The stage is set Saturday for payback.

Syracuse is riding a three-game win streak during which Nunes, who replaced R.J. Anderson as starter after SU’s Oct. 19 loss at West Virginia, has averaged 239 passing yards. In the process, Nunes has eliminated mistakes — read: running backward — that once plagued him.

‘(Saturday) is,’ Nunes said, ‘by far the biggest game of my career here.’

Nunes quest for revenge peaked last Saturday, when he threw for a career-high 403 yards in a 50-42 win over then-No. 8 Virginia Tech. The upset avenged a 22-14 loss two years ago.

In that game, the Orangemen led the then-No. 2 Hokies, 14-3, at halftime before Nunes was tripped by an offensive lineman and heaved a desperate pass that was picked off and returned to the SU 5-yard line.

“(This year), Troy is really taking care of the ball,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni. ‘He’s feeling the sense of urgency about the turnover issue and not losing the ball in difficult situations.’

Though Nunes has thrown five interceptions in seven games, he’s ditched his penchant for negative-yard rushing plays.

‘He’s definitely one of the more intelligent guys on the offense,’ center Nick Romeo said. ‘He knows everything from the offensive line calls to the coverages.’

Indeed, when Nunes was paraded out for Monday’s press conference, his opening statement sounded like a film-session narrative.

Instead of spouting generalizations about SU’s newfound confidence, Nunes waxed about BC’s multiple blitz packages.

He is, after all, part pretty boy, part professor.

An avid Dave Matthews Band fan who wears green ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bracelets, Nunes has mastered SU’s atlas-sized playbook.

During last Saturday’s game, after calling an audible, Nunes turned around and directed fullback Chris Davis to stay still, lest the Orangemen draw an illegal-motion penalty.

The Eagles will test Nunes’ savvy. Boston College ranks second in the Big East in pass defense, surrendering 162 yards a game. And despite being winless in conference play, BC spoiled Notre Dame’s undefeated season with a 14-7 win Nov. 2.

During the Orangemen’s meetings Monday, offensive coordinator George DeLeone told his group, ‘Boston College isn’t going to give us any first downs because of how we played against Virginia Tech.’

Conversely, Eagles quarterback Brian St. Pierre will likely pick on an SU secondary that allows 296 yards a game.

St. Pierre is, in essence, the anti-Nunes.

Over his year-plus run as BC’s clear-cut starter, St. Pierre’s thrown 37 touchdowns in 20 games. Nunes has played in 15 games during that span, flirting with the starting lineup and throwing 12 touchdowns.

St. Pierre attended St. John’s Prep, a sexy Massachusetts football powerhouse. Nunes hails from Butler, Pa. (population 15,000).

St. Pierre’s nickname is ‘Saint,’ a word which, in many fans’ eyes, hasn’t even sniffed the same sentence as Nunes’ name.

‘I take everything now with a grain of salt,’ Nunes said in a reflective moment Monday.

‘When I’m playing well, I get all kinds of e-mails and phone calls and letters. When I’m not, it’s hard for me to bum a quarter off somebody to make a phone call.’

Nunes has endured his share of harassing answering-machine messages during his SU career. And, last season, when he started in place of a flu-stricken R.J. Anderson against East Carolina, the Carrier Dome fans serenaded him with a chorus of boos.

‘They hate me,’ Nunes told former SU receiver Kwazi Leverette after Syracuse’s first drive in that game.

Nunes — originally tabbed as 2001’s starter before getting yanked against Central Florida — later gutted the ECU defense for four touchdown passes.

Still, things had soured so much that Nunes considered forfeiting his final year of eligibility to pursue the real world. But he’s back with that goofy smile, that gun-slinging persona that SU fans have learned to love and hate and love again.

‘Once I sat down and thought about it over the summer,’ Nunes said, ‘there was only one decision for me. This (season) is something that I didn’t think would happen. I’m just thankful the Lord gave me the opportunity to come back and make some plays.’

Published on November 14, 2002 at 12:00 pm