SYRACUSE - At least Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson has one thing going for him: 11 more games to pick up the pieces from the Orange's season-opening debacle.

Robinson offered few excuses on Sunday for the Orange's disheartening 42-12 loss to Washington on Friday night in the Carrier Dome, opting instead to shoulder much of the blame.

“I think Washington, quite frankly, maybe was a better team than what I was expecting to come in here,” said Robinson, whose record at Syracuse dropped to 5-19 one game into his third season. “They'll match up with probably anybody that we play. I give them credit.

“But I like the young people that we have in this program,” he said. “I think there's a lot of character. I would be very surprised if we didn't respond in a very positive way.”

At the outset against the Huskies, Syracuse seemed up for the challenge, taking the opening kickoff and marching downfield behind quarterback Andrew Robinson, who was making the first start of his career. The drive finally stalled, but Patrick Shadle kicked a 42-yard field goal for an early lead.

The Syracuse defense held the Huskies without a first down, but a 43-yard punt return by Bruce Williams deep into Washington territory was nullified by a penalty that put the ball back at the Syracuse 26, erasing another chance to score and setting the stage for what would follow.

“We had a 3-0 lead, had a punt return to the 30-yard line, but shoot ourselves in the foot with a blocking-in-the-back (penalty),” Greg Robinson said. “It was a legitimate call, but moved us right out of field position. I really felt that early in the game it was us as much as it was the way Washington was playing on defense.”

Although the Orange defense started out well, forcing Washington into consecutive punts without gaining a first down, the Huskies slowly settled down and took command behind redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Locker and tailback Louis Rankin.

Rankin, a senior and the only Washington tailback with college experience, took advantage of some sloppy tackling by Orange linebacker Ben Maljovec to reverse field and gain 17 yards on a play that seemed destined to lose several yards. Rankin gained another 15 yards on the left side before scoring on a 13-yard run up the middle to give Washington the lead for good early in the second quarter.

“The discipline of our defense broke down there,” Greg Robinson said. “What happened from there was things proliferated, be it a breakdown here or a breakdown there. That's what lends itself to more plays. When you keep having to regroup and restart, eventually something is going to give.”

Despite the defensive breakdowns, Syracuse trailed just 14-6 at the half. But it didn't take the Huskies long to send the crowd of 40,329 streaming for the exits. On the fifth play of the second half, Rankin had a stunning 47-yard touchdown run that gave Washington a 21-6 lead. He ran the entire distance around the left side and up the sideline without being touched by a Syracuse defender.

The Huskies then forced Syracuse to punt after three plays and quickly scored again, going 70 yards on five plays in just 74 seconds. A victory that was within reach at halftime suddenly was gone for good.

“I should have done a better job in there (the locker room) at halftime,” Greg Robinson said. “It was a 14-6 football game and we needed to go out there and get it done, and we didn't. I take that on myself. I don't think I did a good enough job.”

The bad news doesn't end there.

The offensive line, which was ranked 116th last year and allowed 45 sacks, continued to play just as badly, if not worse, with virtually the same starters. Andrew Robinson was sacked seven times and the Orange netted just 8 yards rushing on 29 carries.

Although Greg Robinson said he wished he had tried more people on the offensive line when things began to fall apart, he was noncommittal about possible personnel changes for this week's game at Iowa.