In spite of a lower-body injury he’s suffered from for a good part of the season, Rob Trudo’s pushed through, missing only one start this year and lined up at left guard next to Sean Hickey against Duke.

Persistence has been the story of the year for the SU offensive line, which somehow held up during the Orange’s (3-7, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) 27-10 loss to the No. 22 Blue Devils in the Carrier Dome on Saturday.

“Tough kids. They really are … For him to fight through what he’s fought through every week,” Hickey said of Trudo and SU’s offensive line, “just because he wants to keep playing next to me for as many games as he can, it means a lot.

“I can’t be more proud of them.”

At times, Syracuse’s front five was pushed to new limits against the Blue Devils. Omari Palmer made another start while right tackle Ivan Foy remains out. Sophomore Alex Hayes debuted at right guard due to Nick Robinson’s absence with a lower-body injury.

Junior Jason Emerich saw the majority of the snaps at center while starter John Miller was limited with a lower-body injury and two of Emerich’s first-half snaps were off target. The first one forced quarterback Austin Wilson to abort a jet sweep and take a 1-yard loss.

With less than a minute left before halftime and SU moving into Duke’s territory, quarterback Mitch Kimble couldn’t handle a high snap and had to take a 3-yard loss on second down.

Though the line was mostly able to create a pocket for its young quarterbacks early on and yielded just two sacks to the Blue Devils, SU only averaged 3.2 yards per carry. The inability to establish the running game made throwing the ball more difficult, offensive coordinator Tim Lester said.

“The combination of being banged up up front makes it really hard on those young kids going in,” Lester said. “Hopefully this bye week will help us get healthy and we can make the job for that quarterback easier.”

Hickey went down early in the second quarter after being “rolled up on” from behind, he said.

Sophomore Jamar McGloster stepped in at left tackle, and immediately Duke defensive end Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo had an easier path into the backfield on the first two plays.

Fortunately for SU, the captain was able to return to the game and fight through his pain, like so many of his fellow linemen have this year.

“It just comes down to, with the injury that you have, can you still do your job?” Hickey said. “If I could not do my job, I would’ve came out because if I can’t do my job then I’m hurting the team. They’re going about it the same way.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 12:12 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb