I don’t think I could have summed up this game any better than freshman kicker turned hero Ryan Lichtenstein.  But then again, in order to get over the proverbial hump, sometimes you have to slay the dragon more than once.  It sure seemed that way Saturday night.  The game had more twists and turns than any rollercoaster at Darien Lake.

The Cuse looked like it was going to get the W in convincing fashion by racing out to score the first 17 points.  Northwestern then turned their high speed offense into overdrive and it seemed it was scoring as quickly as a barrel over the Niagara.

So many huge plays, so many moments.  For me, I was personally watching on delay on ESPN 360.  I was probably about 15 minutes behind the actual time.  With about 3 minutes left in the game, the actual game finished and my connection shut down.  I think I was going to have a coronary while I waited for the feed to sink up.  Should I “cheat” and see how it played out?  Luckily I got it back working and you couldn’t have scripted the ending any better.  Kafka could do anything wrong most of the night, except when we threw the kitchen sink at him, which was the only way the defense was going to make a play.  I credit Scott Shafer’s play calls to go after the QB, generating 5 sacks, numerous pressures and what ultimately led to the game changing pick by Max Suter.

Tons of helmet stickers to give out after a game like this so let’s just get to it after the jump

Doug Marrone – for installing the winning attitude and never say die intensity that has been sorely missed these last four years.

Max Suter – the dude just sticks his head in and makes play after play after play.  Great job on the interception.

Ryan Lichtenstein – an area on the team that would be an understatement to call a huge question mark when the season started.  He’s been fantastic.

Shamarko Thomas – How many huge hits did this kid have?  We’ve got him for three more years people.  Destined for stardom.

Mike Williams – Played like the Mike Williams we all hoped to see.  200 yards receiving?!  Awesome!

Greg Paulus – finest game of the year, kept plays going with his quick thinking and pump fakes.  The guy just gets better and better with each game.  Last week I complained when he didn’t put his head down and run for endzone, this week he finds his way to the pylon.  I wonder if he wishes he would have majored in football and minored in basketball?

Cody Catalina – ripping that ball out from the Northwestern defense.  I know the champion lax team has a phrase for that play HHH – head, heart and hustle!

Delone Carter – DC3 ran like a man possessed.  80+ yards including his 3 yard TD run.  He has led by example all year.

Mike Jones – The kid has become a special teams demon.  And he goes and makes 3 nice plays running and receiving the ball.  The future looks good in the backfield.

The crowd – yes you the fans – all 40k of you!  You got a great game and you came out and got behind your team.  Let’s keep it going these next 5 weeks!

And now there is some hope for more Ws on this homestand.  Beating Maine will get us to 2-2.  USF could be ripe for an upset with Matt Grothe out for the season with an acl tear.  Is there hope now for 6 or more wins and a bowl bid?  The Big East is playing really well, especially Cincy and UConn sure surprised this week.  However it’s clear that this edition of Orangemen football is ready to start to have their say in conference.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 6:52 pm by LvilleOrange . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.