For a moment, it seemed as though Oct. 11, 2008 would be one of those often unfounded yet signature upsets that defined the Greg Robinson era. The stage was set. Without All-American quarterback Pat White, the Mountaineers offense was potent, but not unstoppable. And for one of the first times all season, the Orange defense had its feet planted firmly on the ground.

But just as quickly as the positive sentiment grew in Morgantown, W.Va. that day, it was erased by one dominant 92-yard sprint from West Virginia tailback Noel Devine. With a little over four minutes left and the game still in contention, Devine took a handoff from the Mountaineers own 8-yard line and never looked back, leading West Virginia to a 17-6 victory.

‘He saw a little gap and we just couldn’t recover from it,’ said then-senior defensive tackle Nick Santiago. ‘As soon as he hit it, he was out the gate. There really is no catching that guy.’

The game didn’t start that bad for the Orange. Quarterback Cam Dantley led SU on a 16-play, 85-yard drive with a little more than five minutes left in the first quarter, and the team capped the drive with a Pat Shadle field goal to go up, 3-0.

The run game was strong, as Curtis Brinkley ran for over 144 yards on 28 carries on the day. Cam Dantley passed for over 204 yards, but neither Brinkley nor Dantley found the end zone and the Mountaineers’ offense eventually caught up.

‘We started out good, we just need to know how to continue that the whole game,’ Dantley said.

West Virginia struck. Quarterback Jarrett Brown finished off a seven-play, 63-yard drive by hitting Jock Sanders in the end zone from 12 yards out. The Mountaineers assembled a lead they would not relinquish despite four consecutive trips into WVU territory for the Orange, all which ended in disaster.

The first trip, Dantley threw an interception, and then SU was plagued by three straight turnovers-on-downs. SU’s offense simply could not find life.

Then, it happened. On third down with the Mountaineers backed up against a wall on its own 8-yard line, it looked as if the Orange would have one more shot with the game in reach at 10-7. But Devine took the handoff and found a seam.

Bursting up the sidelines, not one member of the Orange defense could catch the speedy tailback as he ran away to the game-breaking touchdown in front of 58,133 fans.

‘It really is unfortunate because it should have been stopped,’ Robinson said. ‘It’s just that simple. It’s that simple. We should have stopped that play. We would have had an opportunity.’

– Compiled by Conor Orr, asst. sports editor.

Published on October 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm