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Haunted Saturday for the Orange
It was fitting that this last game versus Cincinnati fell on Halloween. There were all sorts of ghosts, goblins and other assorted scary images that can easily be tied to this game. I have a lot of tricks and treats in my bowl to hand out after this one, so let’s get right to it.
Bearcats spook Cuse (AP/Rivoli)
First off, I want to pass out some treats. I’ll start with Offensive Coordinator Steve Spence. Spence gets little mention around here, but I really liked his game plan. We had some really nice drives and the Orange was able to mix up the run and pass, keeping the Bearcats offbalance. I liked how we got some straight handoffs for Antwon Bailey as he did a nice job averaging nearly 5 yards per carry. Throw in solid 7-14 on third down it was a nice day for the OC. Give Spence a 100 Grand bar for the effort.
I also want to recognize our own HC. It was nice to see Doug blow a gasket out there on the officiating crew in the first half as he was trying to remind them that there were two teams playing out on the field. It was frustrating to see some of the terrible calls – Doug Hogue’s penalty being the worst and still think the Bearcat Oline strays over the line of scrimmage on every pass play including the botched field goal. I think we all needed to see some intensity out of Mr Tremendous Standpoint. Plus his decision to ice the UC kicker at half saved us 3 poinits. I’ll give him a Reese’s peanut butter cup for his tremendous contributions.
Another guy who is deserving of some props is Art Jones. Jones played inspired on Saturday. Got a sack, was denied another on the Hogue penalty and was generally moving the middle of the Bearcat line all day. sets the tone for the improved play of the rush defense. Hershey bars a plenty for Art.
I want to hand out one more treat and that is for the Orange XC team that came in first in the Big East for the first time ever. As a former harrier, it’s great to see the Orange have success as the amount of effort required year round is truly astounding. A payday bar to all the runners and Coach Fox.
Now of course it’s time for some tricks. I’d award the butterfingers to Delone Carter, but that is actually a tasty treat, but it is very fitting as DC3 fumbled a critical redzone carry with the game still in question. What made the turnover so terrible at the time was that the Orange had already blown an opportunity to tie the game at 14 at when Greg Paulus overthrew Mike Williams (we’ll get to that in a minute). The staff was probably going to get some grief over abandoning the run on that redzone drive, so they stuck with it only to be rewarded with the miscue. Black cat award to DC3 who seemed to be off his game somewhat on Saturday.
Now back to MWill. That was a pretty lackluster effort on the interception toss in the endzone. Yeah he may have gotten bumped, but #1 lacked energy all day and that was a ball he needed to go up and get. He seemed very sluggish and I guess we need to give Cincy credit for the scheme they through at Mike. It’s just a play he needs to make and he didn’t get it done. Very similar to the ball he dropped against PSU, he doesn’t miss many but the ones he doesn’t really hurts the Orange. He was the skeleton in the closet for sure this week.
Someone must have broken a mirror in the Casullo household, because ST Coach Bob Casullo has taken the brunt of the pain in the last several weeks. This week’s torture came in the form of a botched field goal turned into 6 points. The whole unit came up on the play and there was no one home to cover Collaros’ pass in the endzone. Max Suter must have had the deep spport but he was a good 5 to 10 yards in front on the play. A crushing mistake that was magnified by the offense’s TO on the next possession.
Finally there is ol’ aluminum problem. There was no one in the stands for a top 10 team despite the university’s best efforts at basically giving seats away. The game was not going to prevent you fans from getting home and making sure junior got his junior mints, sweet tarts, airheads, suckers and candy corn. The crowd shows just how far casual fan is willing to go for this team. And it is clear at this point that football team has mostly casual fans and a fickle student body support. Apparently there must be too many home games this season. The team deserves better – the effort is there on their part. And you don’t boo our players. It’s too bad we aren’t holding our end of the bargain. Most of us deserve to have our pumpkins smashed or our windows soaped.
