The game relapsed into a cruel flashback. The Syracuse defense was reeling, the clock was ticking, and hope was fading.

Each clutch pass by Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka rekindled memories of two weeks ago. Against Minnesota in the season opener, Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone was pacing the sideline begging somebody to make a play. Nobody did. Minnesota put together a last-minute drive to force overtime and stunned Syracuse.

On Saturday, Marrone’s plea was answered by Max Suter. After the game – in his black suit coat and light pink tie – the junior strong safety sighed and smiled. There would be no defensive meltdown this time.

‘I just read the quarterback, read his eyes there, and he threw it right to me,’ Suter said. ‘That was it. He threw it right to me.’

Syracuse will take it.

On third-and-10 and with less than a minute left, Suter’s interception of Kafka’s pass T-boned NU’s momentum. Six plays later, Ryan Lichtenstein kicked a 41-yard field goal to seal a dramatic 37-34 win for Syracuse (1-2).

Kafka enjoyed a record-setting day for the Wildcats (2-1), coolly dismantling Syracuse with a potpourri of short-range bullets.

Shootouts like these typically boil down to which team has the ball last. Syracuse and Northwestern combined for 937 total yards, 71 points and 48 first downs. Both offenses moved at will. Kafka and Paulus traded kill shots, like a pair of heavyweights.

While Kafka clearly exposed a major soft spot in the Syracuse defense, the Orange stepped up in crunch time. The first interception of Suter’s career couldn’t have come at a better time.

‘For a team that throws the ball every down, they’re bound to get something,’ said SU linebacker Doug Hogue, who finished with a team-high 11 tackles. ‘But we all stuck together and all pulled through.’

Syracuse wasn’t shy with its pressure. Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer blitzed linebackers throughout the game. It worked early. Middle linebacker Derrell Smith had two sacks – both forcing fumbles that SU recovered. Syracuse had five sacks as a team, mounting a commanding 17-0 lead.

But as the game progressed, Kafka heated up.

Finally getting his shot as the NU starter, with the graduation of C.J. Bacher, the Northwestern senior shattered a 47-year school record for consecutive completions. He hooked up with a bevy of receivers for 16 straight hookups, mostly on high-percentage routes underneath. Kafka finished 35-of-42 for 390 yards with five total touchdowns. All of his 35 completions were less than 40 yards in length. The damage wasn’t sudden and surprising, rather steady and automatic.

With an instant classic knotted up at 34-34, it looked like Kafka would get the last laugh. After a Syracuse offensive possession stalled, the Wildcats got the ball back at their own 41-yard line with 1:38 to play. The drive started with a bang. Kafka hit Demetrius Fields over the middle for 12 yards, inching Northwestern within field goal range. He threw incomplete twice – the latter bouncing off Andrew Brewer’s hands – to set the stage for the third-and-10 play.

Suter stayed in his zone, read Kafka’s eyes and the quarterback tossed him an early Christmas present. One blemish, in a nearly perfect game.

‘We got a good rush on the quarterback, causing (Kafka) to the rush to his left,’ Smith said. ‘He’s a right-handed quarterback, so it’s pretty hard to throw across your body. Max made a good read.’

Said Suter: ‘It felt so great. I knew once I got that pick that Greg and the receiving corps could get the job done.’

They did, and Syracuse escaped with a win for the ages. Kafka victimized Syracuse’s secondary with surgeon-like precision all game. Surely, fellow Big East foes took note. But for this game at least, it didn’t matter.

Afterward, Hogue admitted he jumped the gun on Lichenstein’s game-winning kick. He cued his celebration a split-second before the kick actually traveled through the uprights. Understandable. Because in reality, Hogue knew this game was over the moment Suter intercepted Kafka pass.

‘Yeah, most definitely,’ he said. ‘When Max picked that ball off, I was at a lost for words.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2009 at 12:00 pm