Northwestern – Syracuse Was (Almost) Everything We Love About College Football

Northwestern led Syracuse 35-13 before surrendering a ridiculous 28 straight points. We should probably thank Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcats for giving the college football watching nation it’s most exciting, exasperating and all-around ridiculous finish of 2012: basically it was everything that make college football Saturday wonderful.

Syracuse outplayed Northwestern. There’s no questioning that. The Orange struggled to capitalize on opportunities, though. To wit, SU was dominating the first quarter but mustered just two field goals. Venric Mark ran back a punt not long after the second SU score to give Northwestern its first lead. Dominating yet trailing — really indicative of the final result.

The Orange went for 611 yards, 479 of which were from quarterback Ryan Nassib. He threw a positively Houston-like 66 times, 16 percent of his entire 2011 attempt total. Northwestern can expect a lot more of that if today’s showing was a preview of how the secondary will be all season.

Nassib’s connection with Christopher Clark was the fourth of four consecutive Orange touchdowns, and the ensuing two-point conversion gave Syracuse a 41-35 lead. Perhaps Doug Marrone should have called for a slower tempo on that scoring drive, because a little under four minutes proved way too much time to leave Kain Colter and Northwestern.

Colter had flashes of brilliance but was limited because of a shoulder injury. In the same way Dan Persa’s injuries allowed Colter opportunities in pressure situations last year, Trevor Siemian came on and played well. He threw the game-winning strike to Demetrius Fields with under a minute left, and the Wildcat defense contained Syracuse’s last gasp effort.

Northwestern’s defensive showing was perplexing. The Orange were shutout for over 23 minutes of game time spanning most of the second and third quarters, though the Wildcats benefited from turnovers — I apologize, Nebraska fans, if that brings back bad memories.

There were other oddities distinguishing this game. The helmet rule in which a player must sit the ensuing play was a factor numerous times, once costing the Wildcats Colter on an important snap. NU also took advantage of rule enforcement, though, when ‘Cuse was hit with a 15-yard late hit penalty that kept the final drive alive. Referee’s decisions have had a knack for impacting Syracuse games, whether it was the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl or last year’s contest against Toledo.

Regardless of how it came, that did means Fitzgerald is still unbeaten in season openers. But is NU going to fine tune its defense enough to do something long eluding it and end the season in victory?