SU’s offensive sagnificence in
Sunday’s 15-7 home loss to Big East rival West Virginia was inversely
proportional to the solid performance by the defensive unit. SU on
offense: naught for 15 on third downs and a grand total of 103 yards. SU on defense: five takeaways. SU
on offense: six points for, eight points
allowed (interception for TD and a safety).
Not sure whether it’s a sentiment shared by any of the other 45,417 fans at
the Carrier Dome watching the game today, but considering that it was Greg
Robinson’s first game as the head coach and considering that SU couldn’t have
played much worse on the offensive side, the Orange contingent should feel okay
about keeping the margin within reach until the very end. The game seemed
like it could easily have tipped our way had we been able to come up with any
sequence of positive yardage (even attempting a 10-yard gain now and then would
have been something, but it happened just a few times). Well, yeah, and one more
touchdown. But the unfortunate
combination of errant passes, drops and simple-seeming schemes…; brighter days
ahead, I think. That’s what I really want to say. Word around campus is that Robinson
is well-liked by the players, and I think he’s savvy to shoulder
some of the blame for the loss. The turnout and game atmosphere was
new-season festive (down to The Hyper-Bellowing Clapper one row behind us and
the Toxic Perfume-Cloud Mountaineer Fan one row up…an excess of cheering and
flower-scent).
Plus, I hadn’t attended a college football game in person since C. Mich v. Ball
State all the way back in 1991 (when the score was a whopping 10-3), so it was
all around fun just to take it in. We’ll have better results, I think,
when the Orange host Buffalo next weekend.
Added: Read
Collin’s take on today’s game.
Hey, if the Orange had to lose, it was good for them to lose to a noble opponent. Here’s hoping neither the Orange nor the Mountaineers have any losses for the rest of the season!
I was going to hold off on adjudging WVU “noble” until you fill me in on what the Mountaineer mascot was waving around. A gold rifle? A walking stick? 😉
Plus I heard at least one complaint about the team’s huddling on one knee in the middle of the field at game’s end; complainant called it “taunting.”
But you’re right. Only, um, I probably don’t have as much hope as you do about winning out the rest of the schedule.
That artifact, my friend, is a for-real muzzle-loader. The Mountaineer mascot is a mountaineer, get it? For years he (and occasionally she) would fire off a round after a touchdown, but opponents were unaccountably intimidated by that and perversely complained and were unjustly successful. So {sigh} the musket just gets waved now. But back in the Day, when it got fired after a touchdown–my oh my, it was a crowd-rouser.
Probably says something about our way-up-high seats that I couldn’t tell the difference between a muzzle-loader and a walking stick. But then mountaineers use long sticks too, don’t they? (Have I given it away yet that I’ve never set foot in W. Virginia?) All factors considered, in a match of whose mascot’s better I’d have to side with Otto the Orange; his round self was laying down some dizzying summersault loops on the sideline yesterday.
Could be the fans were booing bc the mountaineer didn’t fire the rifle?