SYRACUSE - It didn't matter that the defense prevailed in Syracuse's annual spring football game.

What did matter was the sense of excitement on the field - and in the stands.

A crowd of 6,029 - the largest to see the spring scrimmage without a lacrosse twin bill since the Carrier Dome opened in 1980 - turned out Saturday to welcome new head coach Greg Robinson, who's been on the job all of four months.

"I'm just proud to be here, proud to be a part of this thing," Robinson said after the defense had held on for a 34-30 victory over the offense. "I can see with the community, the school, all that working together, it's pretty powerful stuff. It was really great, and I know the team really appreciates it.

"What I really hope to believe is that they can feel the energy from our football team. They know we're working hard. They know that good things are ahead."

Good things didn't happen at the outset for quarterback Perry Patterson, who started - and very slowly. He threw either behind his receivers or low on several plays and also suffered a couple of dropped passes.

"I was a little slow in the beginning, but I knew once I got going that I'd be able to hit the open receivers," said Patterson, who was 9-for-22 for 101 yards.

The offense managed in the early going to score only one point in the complex scoring system used in the game - on a 32-yard run by Damien Rhodes - and trailed 18-2 before Ricky Krautman kicked a 27-yard field goal for the only offensive score of the first half.

Patterson, who alternated most of the game with Joe Fields, began clicking early in the second. He hit Landel Bembo with a 39-yard touchdown pass to move the offense within 22-13.

"When I was running, I was saying, 'I hope he throws me the ball.' I was just praying," said Bembo, who beat Thomas Whitfield on the play and finished with five receptions for 65 yards. "I knew I was going to be open."

A 17-yard run by Fields set up a 37-yard field goal by Krautman and narrowed the defense's lead to 25-17 with 8:25 left.

But just over two minutes later, A.J. Brown intercepted a deflected pass by Fields over the middle and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown to give the defense a commanding 32-17 edge.

Matt Hale, who redshirted in 2003 and did not play at all last season, then took over at quarterback and acquitted himself well.

Despite one interception, Hale was 5-for-9 for 76 yards and threw two TDs in the final 69 seconds - the first to Kyle Bell on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 and the second a 24-yarder to Richard Abney with 8 seconds left.

The Orange pretty much stayed basic on both sides of the ball. The intricacies will be installed in August.

"We stayed very, very conservative," quarterbacks coach Major Applewhite said. "We didn't want to show a lot. We knew that coming in. We knew we were holding back defensively and offensively. We put them behind the eight-ball a little bit and I thought they responded well. The great thing about it was everybody was on the same page. The kids understood that."

Robinson said he could not comment until he reviewed the tape.

"To tell you that I really have a feel for it, I'd be kidding if I told you I do," said Robinson, who was a defensive coordinator at Texas last season. "But I think, all in all, we were flying around, working hard, and good things are going to come."

Apparently, good things already are at hand in the box office after three years of dwindling attendance.

"We're way ahead of where we were (in season ticket sales) last year. There's a lot of interest," said Pat Campbell, managing director of the Carrier Dome. "When the team returns in August, I expect things will really be rolling."

Especially inside the Carrier Dome. Expect a new artificial surface to replace the worn-out field the team has coped with for years while opposing coaches have used it to lure away potential recruits.

"It's a safety issue," athletic director Daryl Gross said. "We want to make sure it's the safest place for our student-athletes. We're going to try to do the right thing."