LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eric Dungey lay squirming on the ground at Louisville’s 24-yard-line. His arms curled at his chest, ignoring a teammate’s hand hoping to help the quarterback to his feet. His legs flinched on the turf. His pain induced a familiar hush from the 46,158 making up the sea of red.

It’s not the first time Dungey has tried to go for a couple extra yards when he probably shouldn’t have. It’s not the first time he took too hard of a hit because of it. It’s not the first time he’s trudged to the locker room to be examined. But it’s the only time the scoreboard showed a 31-point Syracuse deficit with 4:21 to play.

And It’s the only time he had no justifiable reason to be in the game.

“We were still fighting to go down the field and see if we could get a couple more touchdowns and try to make it a great comeback,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said of a team that has scored 31 points in just six of the 34 games he’s coached. “I feel horrible that he got hit.”

Dungey had already endured the worst game of his Syracuse career. His three turnovers led to two Louisville touchdowns and he completed only 15 of his 30 passing attempts. In turn, Syracuse turned in one of its worst performances of the season, a 41-17 loss to Louisville, at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium on Saturday.

The freshman is the quarterback of the present, but he’s also the quarterback of the future. He’s already suffered an “upper-body” injury that caused him to miss a game. A week after he returned, he was the victim of a second targeting penalty. Against Pittsburgh seven days later, a hit to his head forced him to the locker room for concussion testing.

“It’s the way it happened,”offensive coordinator Tim Lester said. “He had 60 other snaps, it could happen on any snap.”

It’s an unfortunate result that can happen on any play, and has happened on several plays this season. He’s a quarterback that, by Lester’s own estimation, sometimes puts himself in bad situations. His presence in the game wasn’t worth the impossible, senseless comeback attempt. Nor was it worth it for him to get his rhythm back after a lost game.

Lester said Dungey wouldn’t have been in the game had Louisville not muffed the ensuing punt. It gave Syracuse possession right after the Orange had lost it. And out trotted Dungey.

“If I had 20-20 hindsight, I would have taken him out that play or the play before that,” Shafer said. “But I didn’t. I feel bad about that. Hopefully he’ll be OK.”

It’s a decision that doesn’t take hindsight to know that it’s wrong. It takes foresight to know what’s possible. The game’s final result was inevitable.

Syracuse threw two interceptions and fumbled it twice more. It was tackled for a loss eight times, including two sacks. It was as ugly as ugly gets in a game that SU couldn’t afford to lose.

Syracuse could have protected its quarterback, boarded up the plane distraught from a bad loss — licking its collective wounds in the process. Instead, a senseless decision added injury to insult. And now, the season, and possibly the career of a promising, young quarterback could be in jeopardy.

“It’s just understanding when to go down,” Lester said of his quarterback’s run, “when not to do too much.”

Dungey’s decision to run may not have been smart, but being in the game wasn’t a position he put himself in.

Sometimes it’s just understanding when the reward isn’t worth the risk.

Published on November 7, 2015 at 6:31 pm