Anthony Perkins rolled his helmet across the Rutgers turf in front of the end zone. Syracuse was finally going bowling.

In head coach Doug Marrone’s second season, he saw his vision come to fruition when Ross Krautman kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. The field goal sealed a 13-10 SU victory over Rutgers in front of 49,911 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, N.J., last season. The victory gave the Orange a 7-3 record and clinched the team’s first bowl berth since 2004.

Krautman supplied SU with just enough points to get the win. The freshman kicker also drilled a career-long 48-yarder with 3:19 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 10-10. And a 66-yard drive late in the game placed Krautman directly in the spotlight. Krautman remained calm and cool to send the kick through the uprights.

‘I’m off on my own,’ Krautman said to The Daily Orange on Nov. 13, 2010.

Ryan Nassib was sacked six times as the Syracuse offense struggled to find the end zone. The Orange defense limited Rutgers to 280 yards on 73 plays and sacked RU quarterbacks Tom Savage and Chas Dodd twice apiece. Syracuse turned the ball over three times and RU lost the ball once.

After the Scarlet Knights struggled to score in the first half, RU head coach Greg Schiano benched the freshman Dodd in favor of Savage in the second half. Savage supplied some energy, leading an eight-play, 85-yard drive to put Rutgers in front 10-7 in the third quarter.

SU couldn’t put much together offensively, picking up just 242 yards prior to the game-winning drive. And the Orange’s incompetence on offense was driving Marrone mad.

‘I kept thinking, ‘Why is this happening?” Marrone said. ‘‘Why can’t we go out there and execute?”

In an ugly game, the specialists played a crucial role. SU punter Rob Long averaged 44 yards on his consistent line drive punts. Krautman made each of his two field goal attempts and Rutgers kicker San San Te was 1-of-3.

Long explained that the important thing wasn’t drilling his punts deep, but limiting any possible negative outcomes.

‘It wasn’t about the punts this game,’ Long said. ‘It was about not getting one blocked.’

And the end result rested on the shoulders of Krautman, who delivered one of the season’s defining moments.

Long knew how important Krautman’s kick and the victory were for the Orange. After Marrone spent months stressing the goal of attaining a winning season and a bowl berth, SU’s objective was finally met.

Said Long: ‘Everybody knows what it means when he made that.’

—Compiled by Andrew Tredinnick, asst. copy editor, adtredin@syr.edu

Published on September 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm