[NU Sports] Eyewitness Account

[cherron604 at aol.com]

Notes from Oxford, Ohio (actually a hotel back in Cincinnati)
 
Perfect weather, a little breezy.  Surprising, since it was cloudy and drizzly on the drive up to Oxford, and it is pouring out there currently. (Perhaps some good karma from upstairs ?)
 
All of the tributes were very classy.  RW plaque behind the end zone, moment of silence (PA stated 'first time in 19 (I think ?) years that Randy Walker was not on the sideline for one of these two shools'), Flyover by 4 jets (I cant recall one of those since Air Force), Mrs. Walker at coin toss,  '41 WALK' decals on both helmets, WALK patch on NU uniforms, all the 'WALK' t-shirts from NGN.  A very nice video tribute at half-time (including some grainy old highlight films from RW's playing days).  Even looked like a Pat Fitzgerald video montage in the 4th quarter, but that might've been ESPN-U, they seemed to be showing the ESPN-U feed on the big screen.
 
The stadium is very impressive - broad concourses, a huge scoreboard, huge video board, excellent (and very loud) PA system.
 
It was all quite emotional (at points), but all very well-done.
 
Oddly, after the halftime video tribute, there was a never-ending stream of honored Miami athletes, including a championship 'synchronized skating' team.  Did anyone else realize that synchronized skating was a collegiate sport ?  The Miami band, about 150 strong and pretty loud, played a 6 minute half-time show, featuring the 2 greatest hits of 'Tower of Power'.
 
It was nice to see the Miami running game stopped all night (except for Kokal's scrambles), but I'll have to see if they had much of a running game last year.  Kokal did have the short pass available to him much of the night (except late when the score got out of hand).  The one long bomb was bothersome, but it was only one, and the receiver, Ryan Robinson, is a definite talent.  
 
I was a little concerned in the first half that our OL was not pushing their DL around to set up the running game quite like they should.  But things did improve after the punt block, it seemed, or maybe they had just worn down the Miami line.  Similarly, Kafka had some passing issues, especially some ground balls late in the first half, but he ran the game nicely in the second half.
 
The face-mask that gave them the field-goal drive was troubling, as was a late holding call, when we were trying to run out the clock, but overall, penalties were fewer than you might have expected in a first game with a freshman QB.
 
The 4th quarter clock-burning drives did have me flashing back to the mid-90's (or maybe that was just seeing Fitz out there on the sideline).
 
2 other karmic moments - in the 4th quarter, the TV people seemed to be interviewing John Pont on the sideline, right in front of the NU section and cheerleaders.  My initial impulse was to jeer Pont (still haven't forgiven him for the 80's), but he walked off the field peacefully, and Willie patted him on the shoulder.
 
Earlier, the Miami kicker (Parseghian) missed their second field-goal attempt.  Somebody said he was a relative of Ara's - maybe that was Karma for Ara leaving us too soon  ;-)
 
Nice too at the end, when the guys came over to the Northwestern section and sang along with the fans, and the fans kept chanting 'Fitz !  Fitz !'.  
 
Chuck Herron   Tech '85 
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