SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The numbers don't lie. Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib has thrived in the Orange's no-huddle attack. He's having a standout season throwing the ball and he has national attention for it.
But there have been mistakes — plenty of them — and the Orange are just 2-4 regardless of his statistics.
He knows something must change ... soon.
"This half of the season is going to make or break us," Nassib said as he prepared for Friday night's matchup against Connecticut (3-4, 0-2 Big East) in the Carrier Dome. "You can't do anything about the first half now."
After six games, Nassib is 162 of 250 with 11 touchdowns passing and eight interceptions. He ranks eighth nationally in completions per game (27) and passing yards per game (318.8), and is ninth in total offense (330.7 ypg). Last year, Nassib passed for 2,685 yards to set the school season mark and matched the school record for touchdown passes with 22. His passing yardage total at the midpoint of 2012 is just outside the top 10 all-time at Syracuse with six games still to play.
Nassib also has completed passes to 11 different receivers — Marcus Sales leads with 37 catches — and yet Syracuse (1-1 Big East) is two games below .500. And one of its wins came against Stony Brook, which plays at Division I's second level.
What has hurt most is that three of the Orange's four losses have been decided by a total of 16 points, victories that slipped away through lost fumbles, interceptions and a sputtering red-zone offense that has scored touchdowns on only 13 of 24 drives inside the opponent 20-yard line.
"I've definitely made some mistakes turnover-wise," said Nassib, who has lost two fumbles this season. "I've just got to try not to do too much, just get back to taking the easy plays and not try to force stuff."
Easier said than done in the fast-paced world he lives in on the field.
"It's tough," Nassib said. "One thing different about this year is we're putting the ball downfield more. You can see that from all the yards we're putting up. You can't put up yards like that if you don't make risky throws. That's something that I haven't done in the past.
"A lot of times I'd take the down when I could have maybe taken a shot. I've got more confidence in myself and my receivers to make those plays. Sometimes they don't go our way. It's the nature of the beast."
Last week, in a 23-15 loss at Rutgers, Syracuse finished with a 418-237 advantage in yards and its defense limited Rutgers running back Jawan Jamison to 64 yards rushing, snapping his six-game streak of 100-yard games.
Nassib connected on 25 of 42 passes for 356 yards, completing passes to eight different receivers, including a 40-yard scoring strike to Christopher Clark. But he was intercepted twice, two of four Orange turnovers.
So, it's back to the drawing board again.
"Ryan's responding like a lot of our players and a lot of our coaches, including myself," coach Doug Marrone said. "I'm not going to lie. There's obviously a high level of frustration after these first six games where you turn the ball over. We're at minus-11 (on turnover ratio). That's not very good.
"And that's why our record is 2-4."
For his part, Nassib is taking the adversity in stride, and his teammates are shouldering some of the blame.
"I think he's held himself accountable for all the things that have happened, but there's a lot of things that we've put on ourselves — the offensive line — that put him in bad positions," center Macky MacPherson said. "It's really kind of happened all year. We've put him in tough situations and it's ended up hurting (us)."
Left tackle Justin Pugh concurred.
"Ryan's a great player," he said. "You see what happens when he gets time. We give him time, he's going to find his receivers downfield and they're going to make plays."