It’s funny how a single play can define an entire season.

The Syracuse Orange football team, which started the year 1-5, has such a play and, ironically, it was a defensive play that occurred October 1st at Florida State.

Late in the first quarter, Syracuse quarterback Perry Patterson fumbled, killing a drive in the red zone. A few plays later, Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford threw a 43-yard pass to receiver Willie Reid.

Before reaching Reid, the ball bounced off the hands and shoulder pads of Syracuse cornerback Steve Gregory, who had already intercepted Weatherford earlier in the game. Reid, showing great concentration, caught the deflection and ran it into the end zone for the early lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Orange fumbled deep in their territory, setting up Weatherford’s one-yard touchdown plunge. Just like that, Syracuse was down 14-0.

If Gregory had intercepted the pass, the Orange would have survived the first 17 minutes of the game without allowing a Florida State score, giving them the momentum and the ball. Instead, the Orange found itself down 14 points to a top-10 team on the road and they never recovered. They wound up losing the game 38-14.

Syracuse’s first-year head coach Greg Robinson stated that the play was "buzzard’s luck." That’s coach-speak for what that play really was -- a prime example of this team’s poor execution. The play shows that the Orange defense has no margin for error.

This past weekend’s 31-9 loss to Rutgers exposed a variety of the Orange’s shortcomings. Afterwards, as many of the announced crowd of 39,000 fans filed out of the Carrier Dome with more than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the familiar questions and criticisms concerning the fate of this once-proud program surfaced on the sports-talk radio programs:

"What’s wrong with the play calling?" "Why can’t we throw more?" "Why hasn’t this coaching staff turned this program around yet? Look at what Charlie Weis has done at Notre Dame!"

Although there are many answers to these questions, the one answer that matters most is the same one that has plagued this program for six years and, once again, has these fans seeing red in the wake of Saturday’s loss to a perennial Big East punching bag -- this team has a glaring lack of talent, particularly on offense.

When longtime athletic director Jake Crouthamel retired in the middle of last season, Daryl Gross was imported from USC to oversee a football rebirth. He watched the Orange complete another mediocre 6-6 season, which concluded with Georgia Tech mugging Syracuse in the Champs Sports Bowl. Based on that performance, Gross decided to make a coaching change, and Coach Paul Pasqualoni was fired eight days later.

There were many reasons for Pasqualoni’s dismissal, but the two biggest factors were his inability to land top recruits and the predictability of his offensive and defensive systems. Because of these two problems, the offense ended the season ranked 78th in total offense and 74th in scoring offense. Worse yet, the defense finished 101st out of 117 teams in 2004.

What these numbers prove is that Pasqualoni’s team lacked top-flight talent. The product on the field stunk. After several years of seeing the same problems, the fans told the school that it was time for a breath of fresh air by leaving the Dome bleachers empty on Saturday afternoons.

Enter Robinson, the winner of two Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. Gross hired him to repair the defensive problems, and repair them he has. Through six games this season, the Orange defense has shown stark improvement. They are 38th in total defense, and have forced 15 turnovers, while allowing a respectable 22.8 points per game.

On the other hand, the offense has vanished.

Robinson and his offensive coordinator, Brian Pariani, have installed a version of the West Coast offense similar to the style employed by the Denver Broncos. However, there isn’t a John Elway, or even a Jake Plummer, on this roster to run it. Nor is there a Terrell Davis, Clinton Portis, Shannon Sharpe or an Ed McCaffery to take the pressure off of the quarterback. And this team certainly doesn’t have the Broncos "no-name" offensive line.

Therefore, the Orange have struggled. They are 112th in total offense this season. They are dead-last in third down efficiency. Patterson is averaging 146 yards per game, and has more interceptions (4) than touchdown passes (3). Tim Lane is their leading receiver with 18 catches for 218 yards and no touchdowns.

The running game has also been heinous, especially for a team whose players were recruited for a Triple Option offense. Damien Rhodes, who was highly-touted entering the season, has 600 yards and five touchdowns. However, if you take out the Buffalo game, in which he busted out for 236 yards and four scores, Rhodes is averaging 72.8 yards per contest, and he only has one touchdown.

In short, there has been no rhythm in a system built on timing. The run blocking and pass protection have been atrocious. Rhodes tends to tap-dance rather than exploding through open lanes. When Patterson has time to throw, he holds the ball too long, missing open receivers. That’s if they get open, which is rare. Perhaps that’s just as well; he has had numerous passes dropped by his teammates this season.

The defense has performed well in Robinson’s scheme, but it can only bail out a dysfunctional offense for so long. The Orange offense fumbled nine times against Rutgers, losing five of them. Interestingly, the Scarlet Knights were only able to cash in one of those fumbles for points, and that was on a Corey Barnes 26-yard fumble return.

However, Rutgers scored on a blocked punt, and they were able to capitalize on a short field gift-wrapped in the third quarter when the Orange offense failed to pick up the one yard they needed for a first down on consecutive plays.

The Orange attack was equally abysmal against Connecticut the week before, converting three of 15 third downs and turning the ball over three times.

What the record and the numbers expose is that Syracuse is in full rebuilding mode, and they will be for the foreseeable future. The fans need to be patient. It will take this new coaching staff time to bring in the talent to make this system work. Robinson and his staff already have improved the defense; the offense will follow suit.

The improvement, however, is not likely to happen this season. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the offense should show signs of growth next season. As this program moves forward and Robinson recruits athletes for his West Coast scheme, the team will eventually return to respectability.

Although this is his first opportunity as the head coach, Robinson has won at every level he has toiled. There is no reason to think he can’t win at Syracuse. And Gross is the same man who brought Pete Carroll to USC -- and that move worked out fairly well.

To all Syracuse fans -- take heart and look forward to a time when the Orange climb back to prominence. The view will be better once the team is there.