NEW YORK Patterson takes over QB role; Syracuse beats Bearcats, 19-7

Struthers' Walter Reyes and Hubbard's Anthony Smith were instrumental in the win.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Tailback Damien Rhodes caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Perry Patterson early in the fourth quarter and Walter Reyes ran for 117 yards and a TD to lead Syracuse to a 19-7 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday.
Patterson's first career touchdown pass couldn't have come at a better time for the Orange (2-1), who had sputtered on offense in a 51-0 loss at Purdue and a 37-17 win at Buffalo.
Patterson, who played most of the game after relieving freshman starter Joe Fields in the first quarter, was 10-for-16 for 156 yards and the two interceptions.
Orange opportunistic
The Bearcats (1-2) were victimized by an opportunistic Syracuse defense that intercepted four passes and blocked a punt.
The Orange scored all the points they would need in the closing minutes of the second quarter. After Cincinnati was forced to punt for the fifth straight time in the scoreless game, Landel Bembo was flattened by Antoine Horton before he could field the kick, and the penalty gave Syracuse the ball at its own 41.
Reyes, who had only 92 yards rushing in the first two games, gained 28 yards on two runs to move the ball into Bearcats territory. Andre Fontenette then made a nice adjustment to catch a 17-yard pass down the right sideline from Patterson and Reyes scored on the next play to give Syracuse a 7-0 lead with 5:28 remaining.
Collin Barber made it 10-0 with a 37-yard field goal with 68 seconds left in the half.
Scoreless third
After a scoreless third, the Bearcats finally broke through early in the fourth on a 45-yard drive that was set up by Doug Monaghan's second interception of the game and a costly roughing-the-quarterback penalty against Syracuse defensive tackle Kader Drame.
Still, it wasn't easy against the fired-up Orange defense, which limited Gino Guidugli to 155 yards passing and never allowed the Bearcats to mount a sustained scoring drive.
Cincinnati, which managed just 293 yards on offense, needed six plays to score from the 14, including a faked field goal. Backup quarterback Earnest Jackson gained 3 yards on the fourth-and-1 fake from the 10-yard line. The Bearcats faced another fourth down at the goal line and Guidugli rolled left and hit tight end Brent Celek with a 1-yard TD pass with 13:41 left to make it 10-7.
Rhodes, who also had 82 yards rushing on 11 carries, quashed any hope of a Cincinnati comeback right after the ensuing kickoff. On second down, he caught a pass out of the backfield near midfield and raced untouched down the left side into the end zone to make it 17-7 with 12:43 left.
Makes an impact
Anthony Smith, who blocked two punts last week against Buffalo, notched his third block of the season after the Bearcats failed to get anything going, and Quinton Brown was credited with a safety when the ball bounced through the end zone. The block was the fifth of Smith's career, tying him with David Tyree for the school record.
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