Marrone blames self for ‘poor decision’ to go for touchdown
SEATTLE — Despite the disappointing play of both the offense and the defense Saturday, Marrone made a point of admitting he made a ‘poor decision’ when he went for the touchdown with seven seconds left in the half, as opposed to what would have been a 43-yard field goal. An SU field goal would have tied the score at 13 heading into halftime.
‘I made a poor decision early on,’ Marrone said. ‘We had vertical routes in the end zone. I thought we could score a touchdown and get some momentum going in with the lead. And they ruled it a fumble. And we lost the time. And we could’ve kicked a field goal. So that’s my fault.’
Marrone also took the blame for some other strategic mistakes that took place early during Saturday’s game, when SU could’ve potentially taken a bigger lead when it was already up by 10.
He said he may have been overly aggressive at times.
‘I made some bad calls,’ Marrone said. ‘I made the toss-reverse in the red zone. We wound up kicking a field goal, making it 10-0. I could’ve just kept doing what we were doing, and it could’ve been 14-0. … I was just trying to be aggressive. That’s my nature when it comes to offense.’
Smith is lone bright spot for SU defense
After Syracuse gave up 41 points Saturday, senior defensive captain Derrell Smith took the entirety of the blame for the defense.
But Smith, a second-team All-Big East linebacker last season, was hardly the problem. Smith was all over the field Saturday. The senior compiled a team-high 14 tackles, nine of which were solo, and forced a fumble. He was one of the bright spots on an otherwise horrific defensive effort Saturday.
‘A couple of plays that broke out were missed tackles, and (Washington) were able to score,’ Smith said. ‘Just eliminate the missed tackles — I had a few myself, a couple other people had some — we just need to work on that, and we’ll be better.’
Smith leads the team with 19 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss this season. But Saturday, his performance was overshadowed by the collective poor play of his unit.
Yet when Doug Marrone addressed the media Saturday evening, one of the few bright spots, in Marrone’s eyes, was the play of Smith.
Said Marrone: ‘Defensively, Derrell Smith, I saw him running around hitting some people.’
This and that
Walk-on freshman place kicker Ross Krautman started for the Orange for the second consecutive week ahead of Ryan Lichtenstein. Krautman finished the game 2-for-3 from field goal range with a long of 37 yards. He was also 2-for-2 on point after attempts. … In the second start of his career, SU quarterback Ryan Nassib finished 17-for-35 for 202 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 39 yards and a touchdown. … After having a big game against Akron, receiver Van Chew followed it up with another Saturday. He finished with six catches for 83 yards and received some praise from Marrone afterward. … Freshman kick returner Prince-Tyson Gulley returned five kicks for 138 yards Saturday. But his fumble with 6:41 remaining in the first half allowed Washington enough time to score the go-ahead touchdown.
