SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Doug Marrone is halfway through his fourth season at Syracuse, and he's still searching for that elusive elixir — the one that will lead to more wins.
And what has to happen is not a big secret — stop giving away the football.
The numbers game goes like this: Rutgers (6-0, 3-0 Big East), which held off the Orange 23-15 on Saturday, is ranked 19th this week in the AP Top 25, and the Scarlet Knights lead the conference and are tied for the national lead with a plus-2.17 turnover margin (17 turnovers gained and only four lost).
Syracuse (2-4, 1-1) has lost seven fumbles and suffered eight interceptions while gaining just five turnovers and is tied with South Florida for last in the conference in turnover margin with a minus-1.67 mark.
That's better than only Virginia and Auburn among the 120 FBS teams in the nation.