By Thursday morning, Tim Lester knew he wouldn’t have quarterback AJ Long for Saturday’s game.

He went to sophomore backups Mitch Kimble and Austin Wilson, and let them cross out whatever they didn’t want in the playbook. He came back to them with an updated list and had the signal-callers circle their 16 favorite plays that they were most comfortable with.

The offensive coordinator had to make the playbook as simple and comfortable as possible for them, but the adjustments only yielded one offensive touchdown for Syracuse.

With Long sidelined due to a nerve issue and Terrel Hunt’s return nowhere in sight, the Orange (3-7, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) rotated Kimble and Wilson — sometimes due to injury, sometimes not — during its 27-10 loss to No. 22 Duke (8-1, 4-1) in the Carrier Dome on Saturday.

Kimble accounted for SU’s only touchdown with an 8-yard run in the third quarter, but wasn’t accurate enough with his throws. Wilson tossed two interceptions in the defeat.

“I thought there were some butterflies in those kids’ bellies coming into it,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said. “But I was very pleased with the way both of them responded to the challenges in front of us and the opportunity to play.”

They were relatively opposite in their performances; Kimble better on the ground — tying running back Prince-Tyson Gulley for a team-high with 42 rushing yards — and Wilson better through the air.

The two underclassmen kept the Orange in the game for three quarters, but their collective effort was not near enough to defeat the Blue Devils.

“They were going to make us throw it,” Lester said of Duke. “That puts some pressure on the young guys to read coverages and make great throws in tight windows and I knew they were going to struggle with that from the get-go.”

On SU’s second possession, Wilson threw for a pair of first downs and even got downfield to block for a Gulley 20-yard gain that moved the Orange inside the red zone. Then Kimble stepped in and on third down, lofted a throw for Jamal Custis in the back of the end zone, but it lacked touch and sailed out of bounds.

Kimble’s issue recurred early in the fourth quarter when he threw behind Custis on a go route and overthrew senior receiver Jarrod West, who avoided having to moonlight as Syracuse’s third-string quarterback for the day.

Kimble had a “great” week of practice, Lester said, but added that he needed to be more patient and let plays develop before getting rid of the ball.

“Mitch, every decision he made was the right one,” Lester said. “He just needs to throw better balls. He led a couple guys too much and a lot of that could be nerves.”

Wilson, unlike Kimble, completed more than 50 percent of his passes but still threw for an underwhelming 68 yards.

His first interception resulted from throwing into double coverage and an athletic grab by Duke cornerback Breon Borders, who just got his right foot down before falling out of bounds. Borders kept running downfield while West stopped his route short on a fourth-quarter pass that resulted in the second pick.

While the defense kept the Orange in the game through three quarters, the offense didn’t provide enough to make SU anything more than a temporary threat.

Both quarterbacks were nicked up — Kimble was treated for an upper-body injury and wasn’t available to the media after the game and Wilson held his midsection on the sideline after coming out.

But taking their licks — in the form of injuries and learning experiences on the field — is part of the learning process.

“I’m proud of the way they worked at it and worked at their game-planning,” Shafer said, “and all of a sudden going from a scout-team player and a backup scout-team player to playing a big portion of the game. It says a lot for the future of those kids.”

Published on November 8, 2014 at 7:21 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb