“Free Your Mind: Read a Banned Book” is the theme of the 14th annual Banned Books Week Vigil, which will take place Sept. 29 at the University of Toledo.
UT President Lloyd Jacobs will join faculty members and students, as well as a local author and newspaper reporter, to give short presentations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the second floor of Sullivan Hall.
“The right to read freely empowers us to learn about subjects some consider taboo or politically unacceptable,” said Paulette D. Kilmer, UT professor of communication and one of the organizers of the event. “The U.S. Constitution protects free speech because the unfettered flow of ideas keeps our democracy vibrant and encourages embracing cultural differences that enrich us as a nation.
“Most of us take for granted our reading privileges because we were fortunate enough to be born in a country where freedom of expression prevails,” Kilmer said.
In the fourth week of September, the American Library Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the American Booksellers Association and hundreds of other sponsors of Banned Books Week have inspired citizens across the country to hold events celebrating intellectual freedom.
During UT’s event, banned books, coupons and other items will be given as door prizes throughout the day. In addition, coffee, doughnut holes and bagels will be served in the morning, followed by a vegetable tray around lunchtime and mini-sandwiches later in the afternoon.
Topics and speakers for the vigil:
O 9 a.m. — “Greetings and Comments on a Favorite Book” by President Jacobs;
O 9:30 a.m. — “Thomas McGrath: Teacher Integrity During Embattled Times” by Glenn Sheldon, UT associate professor in the Honors College;
O 10 a.m. — “Sex and TV” by David Tucker, UT associate professor of communication;
O 10:30 a.m. — “Lying and the Invention of the Internet” by Paul Many, UT professor of communication;
O 11 a.m. — “We Are Strangers” by Warren Woodbury, Toledo author;
O 11:30 a.m. — “Who Might Silence Facebook and Social Media” by Sumitra Srinivasan, UT assistant professor of communication;
O Noon — keynote address, “Dumbledore’s Gay?! Ten Years of Religious Suppression of Harry Potter” by Sharon Barnes, UT associate professor of women’s and gender studies;
O 1 p.m. — “The Managed University: Muzzling Free Speech?” by Renee Heberle, UT associate professor of political science;
O 1:30 p.m. — “The Politics of Bad Ideas” by Carter Wilson, UT professor of political science;
O 2 p.m. — “Book Burning in Nazi Germany” by Larry Wilcox, UT professor of history;
O 2:30 p.m. — “How to Ban a Book!” by Benjamin Pryor, UT dean of the College of Innovative Learning and assistant vice provost;
O 3 p.m. — “The Lorax,” short film screening;
O 3:30 p.m. — “Steinbeck in Vietnam” by Tom Barden, UT dean of the Honors College;
O 4 p.m. — “Jeopardy!” with Randiah Green and Vincent Scebbi, editor-in-chief and managing editor, respectively, of The Independent Collegian; and
O 4:30 p.m. — “In Moderation: Censoring Public Website Comments” by Jason Mack, web editor at the Toledo Free Press.
Serving with Kilmer and Sheldon on the Banned Books Week Vigil Planning Committee are Linda Smith, associate dean of the Honors College; Arjun Sabharwal, UT assistant professor of general libraries; Cynthia Ingham, assistant professor of history; and Elaine Reeves, associate lecturer of general libraries.
Benefactors of the free, public event are the Society of Professional Journalists, the UT Department of Communication, Carlson Library and the UT Honors College.
Sponsors who contributed door prizes and food include Barry Bagels, Phoenicia Cuisine, Dunkin’ Donuts, New Sins Press, Toledo Free Press, Kroger, UT Business Technology Department, UT Dean of Students Office, UT Division of Student Affairs, UT Career Services, UT Bookstore, UT Credit Union, UT History Department, UT Marketing Office, University Communications, Glacity Theatre Collective and UT Theatre and Film Department.
For more information, contact Kilmer at paulette.kilmer@utoledo.edu or (419) 530-4672.

Coyle Funeral and Cremation Services has been a family business for nearly 125 years, which is why helping soldiers overseas stay in touch with their own families is important to them, said Megan Coyle Stamos, co-owner of the business.

The Coyle family’s funeral home became a designated drop-off center for the Cell Phones for Soldiers program in March. Each donated phone is sent to ReCellular, Inc. for recycling, earning $5 that is used to buy, on average, a 60-minute calling card. Coyle Funeral and Cremation Services became a part of the program when it was named a Certified Veterans & Family Memorial Care Provider. It is the only Lucas County funeral home with the designation.

“Our funeral home has always paid special tribute to the family of the deceased serving in the military and we feel it’s very honorable to make sure that part of their life is something that’s important in their ceremony. It’s always a sad occasion when people come to the funeral home so we thought the Cell Phones for Soldiers program would be a happy way to engage the community,” Coyle Stamos said.

Coyle Stamos met one of the recipients of a Cell Phones for Soldiers calling card when her neighbor’s son returned from serving in Iraq last year. “Being able to talk to his mom every week just really kept him in a good mindset,” she said, adding, “It’s one thing to get letters. It’s different to hear someone’s voice.”

Her father, Joseph Coyle, who owns the funeral home with his daughter, agreed. “In the last 10 years of the national conflict of wars, there’s just a general rise of patriotism and a stronger feeling toward those who are in service and people wanting to help out and reward [them] in some ways and this is one of the number of good ways.” he said. “There’s also the environmental aspect, getting those phones recycled that have been lying around or getting thrown out.”

Area residents have donated more than 850 phones so far, Coyle Stamos said, adding she hopes to collect 2,000 by March 2012.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was created by siblings Brittany and Robbie Bergquist in 2004 when they heard about a soldier who had a more than $7,500 cellphone bill from calling home. Coyle Funeral and Cremation Services is located at 1770 S. Reynolds Rd. Donations are accepted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or at the drop-box outside of those hours. To learn more, visit cellphonesforsoldiers.com.

Michael Miller and Tom Pounds

The Society of Professional Journalists has awarded Toledo Free Press the title of Best Weekly Newspaper in Ohio for the third straight year. Toledo Free Press competes in the circulation of 100,000 or above category.
“We are grateful to SPJ for the recognition and we are pleased to keep this title in Toledo,” said Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller. “There is a small group of people here who work very hard, and as we enter our seventh year, we feel like we are just hitting our stride in serving the local community.”
Toledo Free Press Star writer Kristen Criswell was awarded second place in the Best Arts Reporting category, under 100,000 circulation.
“For Star to make an impact at the state level during its first year is exciting and provides a challenge to improve that impact in the coming years,” Miller said.
Raceway Park award
Raceway Park named Toledo Free Press its Corporate Sponsor of the Year for its sponsorship of the Party at the Park concert series.
“We wouldn’t be able to have the level of success we had this year if it wasn’t for the relationship with the Toledo Free Press,” said John McNamara, director of marketing and guest services at Raceway Park. “It was a no-brainer this year. The partnership helped us take the concert series to a new level of awareness in the community, seeing how successful Toledo Free Press has become in this market in such a short amount of time. It’s obviously well-respected and held in high regard with the community as a reliable news and entertainment source.”
Tom Pounds, president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and TFP Star, said, “We have great resepct for Raceway Park and have been impressed with its community-minded operators. We look forward to seeing the impact of Penn National Gaming as it invests hundreds of millions of dollars in our community.”
The fifth year of the concert series featured performances by local bands such as Hoozier Daddy, Nine Lives, MAS FiNA, The Chris Brown Band and 56 Daze. Attendance at the track has increased by 40 percent on Saturdays since the concert series began.
“Because of the way the racing industry is and what a corporate sponsor allows you to do, it is an essential piece of marketing and bringing live racing to the public,” McNamara said. “Since we started partnering with local businesses, it’s helped us do a lot of fun stuff at the track. We’ve bucked the national trend of live racing attendance plummeting.”

Nextronex Energy System of Toledo has hit some significant milestones during the startup company’s first full year of making inverter systems for solar installations.
The most significant achievement could be that the company more than doubled its sales in the first eight months and exceeded $1 million in sales in August, said Chairman and CEO W. Bruce Larsen.
Nextronex has no long-term loans or government-backed guarantees but has more than $2 million in preferred investments from its shareholders to date, Larsen said.
“We’re doing it the old-fashioned way with investments from a not too large but very diverse group of private and institutional investors,” he said.
The company recently offered another $1 million stock option to potential investors to continue its pursuit of $70 million in prospects for new business. Larsen said the company has a good chance at landing a sizeable share of those opportunities.
“We’re looking for first movers who are willing to take the risk and try it,” Larsen said.
Nextronex began marketing and producing its exclusive Ray-Max Inverter System, which offers high energy output and lower installation costs for solar energy projects, in 2010.
Larsen said the company is awaiting issuance of two patents pending for an inverter system the company produces. He hopes that President Obama’s policies to accelerate the patent process may get them issued more quickly.
“Customers who have taken a chance on a new company and new inverter concept are now realizing the benefits of the system. … As much as a 14 percent higher energy output than similar arrays in the same geographic regions,” Larsen said.
He said Nextronex developed a “smart” system in which multiple inverters interact in concert to optimize efficiency as the solar plant generates more energy, lowers the cost per watt and extends the life of the core inverters.
The inverters are designed for maximum wattage output generated by each solar array on peak sun days, according to Peter Gerhardiner, vice president of technical sales.
Larsen said customers are getting more energy for their investment. A one megawatt installation produces about 7 percent more energy daily which translates into one full percentage point of return on investment.
“We’re helping to make solar energy more competitive by making it more efficient. We continue to push that technological edge in the inverter business and it’s not an easy technology to produce,” Larsen said.
Nextronex recently moved its headquarters and manufacturing operation to a new facility at the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex at the University of Toledo.
Larsen said the main metal components of the inverter’s frame structure are built in Ohio. The nearly 300 electronic components required for each inverter are stocked and assembled one at a time by two employees.
The firm currently has the capacity to build one inverter a day but can easily scale up based on demand. Larsen said they keep no inventory of inverters in stock and build them as needed for each order or project.
One of its latest projects was providing six inverters for the one-megawatt system for the City of Toledo at the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant. The solar field provides one megawatt of energy to the plant, which typically requires five megawatts for operation.
The inverters convert the solar energy collected by 12,904 77.5-watt thin film solar panels provided by First Solar of Perrysburg. AP Alternatives and Advanced Distributed Generation (ADG) provided equipment, installation and performance testing facilities.
The Collins Park project was the culmination of a $5.2 million public/private partnership and investment to bring clean, alternative energy to the city while reducing energy consumption costs for the plant.
The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority provided analysis, structuring and legal support with $1 million in long-term fixed rate bond financing for the project. IPS Energy Ventures provided additional equity financing with construction management for the facility it will own and maintain for the first 10 years of operation.
Kevin Moyer, executive director of energy efficiency and alternative energy for the port authority, said they chose Nextronex inverters due to their efficiency and flexibility.
Nextronex has provided more than six megawatts of inverter systems for projects during the past year, including its first international order for a one-megawatt system in Thailand. It also completed its first rooftop installation on the Toledo Museum of Art with ADG; completed its first industrial brownfield site for Pilkington with Hull & Associates; expanded the original solar site for the 180th Air National Guard at Toledo Express Airport; and participated in the ground-breaking for the five-megawatt Solar Vision project in Celina, Ohio.
Larsen said the company wanted “to establish a footprint in its own backyard” before venturing into other states and countries.
“We’re now poised to move outside the state,” Larsen said. “We are seeking business in states with aggressive alternative energy markets such as California, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Florida and New Jersey.”
Larsen was recruited to serve as the company’s CEO after taking early retirement from Owens-Illinois. He served as president of O-I’s $1.4 billion Plastic Products Division with 33 multi-national facilities and offices during his career with the company.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio is hoping to have a lot of people pulling for it Oct. 1.
Literally.
The charity’s annual fundraiser, OcTABerfest!, will include a new event this year: the Pull-A-Mac competition, where teams of 10 people will pull a 41,000-pound McDonald’s truck and trailer 50 feet as quickly as possible.

“We got the idea from some other houses in the nation that have done this,” said Mike Hill, development director for Ronald McDonald House’s Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan region. “Chicago pulls a 737 airplane, for example. Pensacola, Fla., pulls a fire truck. It’s the same concept, but we ended up with Pull-A-Mac, which kind of derives from the Big Mac.”

Hill said teams don’t need muscle-bound team members to compete in the bracket-style tournament.

“We did a test run to see if you can pull this thing from a stop to a finish line 50 feet away,” he said. “Our team did it in 8.8 seconds. … Once they got it going, they were able to keep it going.”
The charity needs pullers of both pop tabs and semi trucks to come out to the campus of Owens Community College, 30335 Oregon Road, Perrysburg, for OcTABerfest! on Oct. 1. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the truck-pulling competition set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Space in the contest is limited and teams must raise a minimum of $1,000 for the event.

Hill said the Pull-A-Mac event was added to OcTABerfest! to make the car show fundraiser more of a festival-type event.
In past years, the event has been hosted at Home Depot on Secor Road, but the truck-pulling competition required more space.
Teams can register by visiting www.firstgiving.com/rmhctoledo or www.rmhctoledo.org, where participants may register without making an upfront payment.
OcTABerfest! will also include a car show and kids’ area. Dave Holmes, sports director at 13abc, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Attendees are reminded to bring along pop tabs as part of Ronald McDonald House’s ongoing tab drive. OcTABerfest! serves as the region’s single-largest tab collection event, pulling in more than 1 million tabs each of the past two years.
The charity car, truck and cycle show is expected to feature more than 150 vehicles. Dash plaques will be provided for up to 200 vehicles. Owners may register the day of the show beginning at 9 a.m. for $10, or for $8 in advance.
The Kids Zone will feature inflatable bouncers, games and Ronald McDonald character.
All proceeds will benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio, a nonprofit organization that provides services for families of children with life-threatening illnesses who are receiving treatment at local hospitals.
For more information on registering for the Pull-A-Mac contest or the car show, email info@rmhctoledo.org or call (419) 471-4663.

Rob Wiercinski

If you are one of the many who visited the German American Festival and watch WTOL 11’s news, you may have seen a familiar face.  WTOL reporter Rob Wiercinski was proudly parading and dancing around in his lederhosen all weekend. He had a boot in one hand and an ax in the other.  Wiercinski embodies the spirit of Toledo, and we are lucky somebody gave him a chance.
Working at WSPD as a reporter for 10 years, Wiercinski tried numerous times to get hired by a TV station.  He was told he “was not what they were looking for” or he was not “TV friendly.” In other words, he is blessed with a face for radio.
In 2006, WTOL gave Rob a chance and hired him as a reporter, and has it paid off.  Wiercinski is Toledo’s best TV reporter and carries the same respect as any print journalist in town.
Wiercinski  is a first generation son of a Polish immigrant. A 1985 graduate of Whitmer High School, he is a true product of Toledo’s West Side. He dances with Toledo Holzacker Buam Schuplattler Group, although a back injury forced him out of  Echoes of Poland Folk Song & Dance Ensemble. His children, Sophia and Henry, are now dancing in the two groups as well.
Why does the above information matter about a TV reporter? It matters because Wiercinski is as invested in Toledo as he could be. Toledo has always been a proving ground for TV reporters and anchors. Wiercinski will likely never leave Toledo because of his roots, his family and his job.  I am surprised that he left the West Side and moved to Maumee with his wife; his mom must have cried for a month.
In a time where “If it bleeds, it leads,” Wiercinski covers stories that Toledoans should care about. Being 100 percent Polish can make Rob a hard person to work with — trust me, I know. We worked together at WSPD for almost four years. His blooper reel must be insane. But it’s that Polish passion and pride that make him Toledo’s best.
I challenge WTOL to feature more of Wiercinski’s work. WTOL is great at branding weather, Friday night football and establishing iconic anchors; just give this proud Polish kid that attention. Viewers should support and demand more homegrown products like Wiercinski. Who else could ever say “W” the way he does?

Email media columnist Jeremy Baumhower at news@toledofreepress.com.

Tim Conway

Whether he played the bumbling Ensign Charles Parker on “McHale’s Navy,” the shuffling old man or the irate boss Mr. Tudball on “The Carol Burnett Show,” or the bad guy Amos Tucker in “The Apple Dumpling Gang,” Tim Conway kept it clean.
“If you watch television nowadays, it’s pretty scary. You can’t sit and watch it with your kids; you can’t sit and watch it with your grandparents,” he said. “It’s insulting because they try to make it subtle and it’s so laid out there it’s ridiculous. To me, it’s just never been funny.
“I treat an audience and people with more respect than that,” Conway said during a call from Encino, Calif. “It’s so much easier to be funny and clean because people have a relaxed approach to laughing. When the punch line is a swear word, half the audience is embarrassed and they laugh out of embarrassment, and the other half they appreciate that kind of thing, I guess. But I was never comfortable with it.”
In fact, the comedian is careful when fielding requests for television guest spots.
“I look over the material before I do it to make sure I’m not getting myself in a hole,” Conway said. “Surrounding performers’ material I also try to watch because I don’t want to be part of that and it’s not fair to an audience who is tuning in to see me to have somebody else even using language.
“I’ve turned down a lot of things that people who have done them have gone on to higher heights.”
That’s not evident from his storied career.
“I started with Steve Allen with Don Knotts, Louie Nye, Tom Poston and all those guys who were always my favorites,” the 77-year-old recalled. “And then I went from [‘The Steven Allen Show’] to do ‘McHale’s Navy’ with Ernie Borgnine, who, we still remain friends, and then on to ‘The Carol Burnett Show.’ It couldn’t have been any better than that. I mean, 11 years with Carol, Harvey [Korman], Vicki [Lawrence] — that was a perfect playground.”
Conway said he just saw Burnett and they talked about how a variety show of that caliber wouldn’t be possible today.
“It would be too expensive because we were doing really a Broadway revue once a week, and you couldn’t afford to do it anymore. But also time-wise, Carol believed in doing the show as though it were live, so sometimes you came out with the wrong outfit on, you know, it was just that quick,” he said.
“A lot of stuff was created as we went, not much thought was given to it because we had three people who were totally capable of carrying on comedy because we all had the same sense of humor. Harvey was excellent, and Vicki was terrific. Carol was obviously the best, so away we went.”
Conway won four Emmy Awards for his work on the Burnett show — and two more for guest appearances on “Coach” and “30 Rock.”
These days, the Bowling Green State University graduate is working with Borgnine again; Conway is the voice of Barnacle Boy, and Borgnine is Mermaid Man on “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
“Ernie is a very kind, gentle guy,” Conway said. “He’s 92 years old; he still drives. He bought one of those little cars from Europe about the size that he is — he actually looks like he’s wearing the car when he’s driving it — and he just drives around the country and stops at people’s houses and sits on the porch for a couple of hours and just talks to people. He’s really a down-to-earth kind of guy.”
Conway will stop in Toledo for two shows at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at Stranahan Theatre. Louise DuArt and Chuck McCann will join him onstage. Tickets range from $30 to $75.
“It’s kind of a traveling Burnett show. It’s about six or seven sketches and some stand-up,” Conway said. “We don’t promise a lot, so [the audience’s] not disappointed.”

In the midst of Toledo’s 33-30 loss at Syracuse Sept. 24, the game was overshadowed by a missed extra point which was ruled as going through the uprights with just 2:07 remaining. The call was made on the field and was upheld by the replay booth. Toledo drove the field and kicked a 20-yard field goal to tie the game as time expired, but without the extra point the Rockets would have won in regulation by one.

Big East Conference Coordinator of Football Officiating Terry McAulay has issued the following statement regarding the officiating error:

“After studying the videos of the Syracuse extra point attempt at 2:07 of the fourth quarter, we have concluded that the ruling on the field that the kick passed between the uprights was incorrect, and that the replay official made an error in failing to reverse that ruling,” McAulay said. “In reviewing the video, we have determined that the angle from behind the kicking team shows conclusively that the ball passes outside the right upright. Our review of the process determined that the replay official mistakenly focused his attention on the sideline angle, which proved to be distorted. We are confident that our officiating staff will learn from this situation in order to prevent a reoccurrence.”

Visit the link below for footage of the extra point:

http://www.sportsgrid.com/ncaa-football/toledo-loses-game-because-of-referee-and-replay-official-blunder/

Update: http://www.toledofreepress.com/2011/09/24/big-east-admits-mistake-on-extra-point/

Let me start off by saying I never enjoy talking about penalties following a game. Officiating mistakes happen in every single contest. Sometimes they even out and on some occasions they may be more one sided for one team than another. We live with this system as long as one rule is followed – there should never be a blown call that directly impacts the game. Against Syracuse on Saturday, that call not only happened, but it was even upheld by the replay booth.

Saturday’s game felt eerily similar to Temple’s 2007 loss at Big East opponent Connecticut (video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Qiq32QOnE). Both plays were reviewed and both plays were upheld, despite video evidence.

Let’s catch up on exactly what happened on Saturday. With 2:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, Syracuse took the lead with an 18-yard touchdown pass and with the extra point went ahead 30-27. Upon further review, however, the extra point by 2010 Freshman All-American kicker Ross Krautman appeared to miss wide left, which would only have given the Orange a 29-27 advantage.

The call went up to the replay booth where replays showed the football pass in front of the goal post and off to the left side. After a few moments of discussion the officials upheld the original decision. Toledo tied the game at 30 with a 20-yard field goal as time expired, the same kick that could have given them a 30-29 victory in the Carrier Dome.

“I don’t know other than what they tell me in the box, and it looked like it was a little off to the left, “UT Head Coach Tim Beckman said to the Associated Press. “When you come into these games, I think we’ve learned as a football team, and as a coaching staff, it’s us against the world.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t give the touchdown up so they could kick the PAT.”

Beckman won’t say it, but I will. The blown call against the Rockets was literally the worst single officiating mistake I have ever seen – if mistake is even the right word. There is no excuse for a play to be replayed and still upheld despite undisputable evidence. At least Temple fans five years ago could question whether another replay existed not available to the television audience that could have proved the incompletion. In Toledo’s case, the call is cut and dry – umpires in baseball make this call from 350 feet away every week. If the NCAA produces some replay that can prove the call was correct then I will gladly admit fault, however, the ball clearly passes off to the left in front of the goal post. Unless the laws of physics have changed overnight, it’s safe to say that replay doesn’t exist. Toledo is owed a serious apology by the NCAA, which in the end means nothing.

It’s a shame for the Rocket faithful. Between FIU’s T.Y. Hilton’s 4^th and 17 “first down” in the Pizza Bowl (http://www.foxsportsohio.com/common/medialib/265/351006.JPG), to Ohio State’s punt return touchdown by Chris Fields which appeared to include a block in the back (http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/296416_890798176452_30119258_39939873_301021272_n.jpg) and finally Syracuse’s phantom extra point, Toledo fans have endured a lot of heartache in the past five games.

In the end, Toledo still had a chance to win and could have done so in both regulation and overtime. The bottomline is, however, that their final drive should have been enough.

Visit the link below for footage of the extra point:

http://www.sportsgrid.com/ncaa-football/toledo-loses-game-because-of-referee-and-replay-official-blunder/

Austin Dantin

Trailing by 30-27 with just 2:07 remaining, Toledo charged down the field to tie Syracuse as time expired, but ultimately fell in overtime 33-30 in the Carrier Dome.

“It was a tough loss, there’s no question about it,” UT head coach Tim Beckman said. “These last three opponents we played have been very good. I think Syracuse deserves some credit. They fought for four quarters and ended up with the victory. We have a couple guys bumped and bruised, but we came in here to win a football game and came up a little bit short again.”

Toledo (1-3) junior quarterback Austin Dantin battled illness all game but threw his first interception of the season in overtime to help the Orange (3-1) clinch the victory.

Dantin passed for 258 yards on 22-of-32 passing, with one touchdown and one interception along with 15 carries for 42 yards. He was on the field for all 30 UT points. Sophomore quarterback Terrance Owens played just two drives, completing 6-of-10 passes for 42 yards.

“Austin Dantin was throwing up all night,” Beckman said. “We had to IV him this morning. He was questionable to play. T.O. tweaked his back slightly, so Austin stayed in the football game. I think that shows what kind of a young man Austin Dantin is. He fought until the end. He’s still sick. I think he’s over there getting sick right now. He willed himself to try to get us the win and I think that speaks a lot about the character of Austin Dantin.”

After Syracuse took a 29-27 lead, sophomore kicker Ross Krautman appeared to miss left but the kick was ruled good. Despite replays showing otherwise, the referee’s call was upheld by the replay officials.

“Upstairs in the box, they said it was no good,” Beckman said. “I don’t know anything other than what they tell me in the box. They said it was a little bit off to the left. When you come into these games, you learn as a team and coaching staff that it’s us against the world. We have to make sure we don’t give the touchdown up, so they can’t kick that PAT.”

Desmond Marrow

The Rockets also were hit hard by injuries. Senior running back Adonis Thomas broke his arm on his first carry of the game and did not return, watching the game from the sidelines with a soft cast. Thomas will miss the next three to four weeks.

Senior cornerback Desmond Marrow left the game in the third quarter after he needed to be carted off on a stretcher. His cat scan came back negative but his status for next week’s matchup at Temple (3-1) now appears in question.

“He was talking when I was out there on the field, so he felt like he was okay,” Beckman said. “He was moving his hands and legs. The lack of movement had more to do with the concussion than anything else.”

The Rockets opened the game with a 22-play, 75 yard drive lasting 10:34. The offense stalled inside the 5-yard line and senior Ryan Casano made a 20-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.

After a fumble recovery by senior defensive lineman T.J. Fatinikun, senior running back Morgan Williams took a direct snap 21 yards for a 10-0 lead with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Syracuse scored the next 13 points to take the lead on a 31-yard field goal from Krautman with 1:06 remaining in the half.

Dantin completed a 14-yard pass to junior wide receiver Eric Page to set up a 52-yard field goal attempt for freshman Jeremiah Detmer. Detmer made his first career attempt to tie the game at 13-13 heading into halftime. Page finished with 13 catches for a career-high 158 yards.

“I don’t think you can ever stop a player like Page,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said. “He’s a talented kid. We were trying to take away the little bubbles jail break screens, but they ended up hitting us with play action pops, and things like that down the field where he was able to get open.”

Eric Page

The Rockets broke the tie with a 29-yard pass from Dantin to sophomore David Fluellen with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter. Fluellen filled in for Thomas, rushing 12 times for 62 yards and catching four passes for 43 yards.

“I had big shoes to fill in coming in for Adonis,” Fluellen said. “But I had to do my best for the team. It’s going to be hard the next couple of games without him. But our team believes in ourselves and our ability to get the job done. Everybody was looking at me to step up.”

Syracuse tied the game on the ensuing possession with a 20-yard rush by Antwon Bailey and took the lead 2:23 into the fourth quarter with a 29-yard field goal.

Williams scored on another direct snap from three yards out to give UT a 27-23 lead with 10:54 remaining.

Ryan Nassib threw an 18-yard touchdown to Alec Lemon to give Syracuse the lead with 2:07 remaining. Krautman missed the extra point to the left of the goalpost, but it was called good and upheld by review for a 30-27 lead.

Dantin drove the Rockets 65 yards for a 20-yard field goal by Casano to force overtime. The Rockets started overtime on offense, and Dantin was intercepted in the endzone by Kevyn Scott on the first play.

“We were trying to take advantage of something we have been doing with the bubble game,” Dantin said. “We thought the defender would knife out. He obviously didn’t. I had some pressure in my face so I couldn’t get it out like I wanted to. I was trying to put it outside where he could get it or no one else could. It was tough. I thought I had a play.”

Krautman made a 27-yard field goal to give Syracuse the win.

The Rockets open Mid-American Conference play with a 7 p.m. kickoff at Temple.

“We know what kind of a team we have,” Dantin said. “We have played a lot of great teams, and Syracuse is a great team. We played with them, we had our opportunities. But at the end, we didn’t do it. Our goal is still intact with the MAC Championship and we start conference play next week against Temple. We are looking forward to that. I can’t wait to get back on the field and start preparing.”