With his first three words concerning the idea that Syracuse has become the Big East’s version of road warriors, Jeremi Wilkes had to catch himself. He needed to clarify after a second breath. That’s how vital the freshman defensive back feels the defense is to SU’s 3-0 start on the road in Big East play.

‘As a team,’ Wilkes muttered before retracting. ‘As a defense, especially, we like to go on the road. A lot of fans are against you, and we prove that we are a style defense.’

Then, after another short pause, Wilkes got right to the point. In a year when the Syracuse defense is shredding apart the conference’s best offenses on the road and not intimidating at home, Wilkes spoke to the Orange’s success on the road. When traveling, this defense considers itself the unit that instills SU’s success in other people’s houses.

‘But on the road,’ Wilkes continued, ‘we have an extra edge because of that.’

An extra edge is about a 94-yard and three-win understatement. Since the beginning of Big East play, Syracuse has defeated three of the conference’s best and most athletic teams in their houses, while giving up a combined 73 points in two losses at home. The Orange gives up only 260 total offensive yards when on the road in the Big East, while allowing 353.5 when in the Carrier Dome. It’ll look to do the same when traveling to Rutgers Saturday against the conference’s worst total offense (292 yards per game).

To SU head coach Doug Marrone, the stark contrast is a complex one. He said that when at home, the distractions players face trump that of away games. He is not content with what’s going on, and he is surprised by it like everyone else. But it’s not an easy answer.

Wilkes, nose tackle Bud Tribbey and strong safety Shamarko Thomas agree with their head coach. But one thing each professes is that it is the defense’s job to hush crowds from Morgantown, W.Va., to New Brunswick, N.J. It was exemplified by SU cornerback Da’Mon Merkerson in West Virginia when he asked each and every member of the 58,122 in blue and gold, ‘Why are you all so quiet now?’

Yes, a sound of silence is one of the aspects the SU defenders make sure to create on the road. A quiet crowd leads to the next key aspect: better communication than at home.

It all starts with getting there. The ride that the defense equates to a ‘business trip,’ a trip that breeds a ‘better’ chip on its shoulder than at home and will not show up in the box score. But being on a bus really helps this unit. As a result, it helps the team.

That is because, for driving-distance road games, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer accompanies his unit, and only his unit, for four to seven hours of quiet. With the road trips, the SU defenders realize they benefit from the focus that yields from the constraints.

The defenders believe SU’s success on the road is best told through its trip and win over then-No. 20 West Virginia. Like he does for all road trips, before the keys in the ignition were turned, Shafer told his defense it had no reason to be uptight. The bus now afforded the team the time to focus and, yes, get loose before taking the field.

‘He talks to us and he says, ‘Stay loose,” Thomas said. ‘Don’t get tight … because they are the No. 20 team in the country. We took that mentality.’

On the bus, the mentality that Tribbey described as one in which the Orange sought to destroy Homecomings was conceived. On the field, that is where it shows. That is where the ‘D’ can come through in silencing the crowd and then pouncing on the win.

Again, Morgantown is the perfect example. As the game wore on, it was a feeling from the SU players toward the WVU fans of ‘are they really this quiet?’ They were, indeed thanks to Doug Hogue’s early interceptions.

That was the beginning. At the end, the ease in communication was tested, and Derrell Smith passed with flying colors.

On the game’s final play, the play that really put Syracuse football back on the national map, the Mountaineer crowd had been silenced more than it should have, thanks to SU pinning the WVU offense with a fourth-and-22. It all started with the SU linebacker Smith calling an audible so the SU blitz could get in.

WVU quarterback Geno Smith then didn’t see Thomas and Anthony Perkins coming from the backside. Perkins was able to wrap around the WVU offensive line to contain Smith. After the rest of the defensive backs checked into a different coverage, Thomas soon arrived with Perkins. The win was in the books.

And SU returned with Shafer to a bus ride assuredly filled with its share of dancing because of the defense.

Tony Olivero is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at aolivero@syr.edu.

Published on November 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm