Syracuse was a terrible experience.

We last played @ Minnesota in 2002 and lost 31-21, but we had a very good chance to win this game. We were tied at 21 in the 4th quarter and we had a 4th down at midfield. We faked the punt and threw a pass to WR Terrance Hudson who took it all the way for a touchdown. However, the Big Ten officials threw a flag and called Toledo for an illegal man down field.

As it turns out the pass was thrown behind the line of scrimmage so there is no illegal man down field on this play. Minnesota ended up scoring on their next drive to go up 28-21 and then we ran out of time. They kicked a field goal late to put it out of reach after we failed on a 4th down conversion with only a minute or two left in the game.

A few days after the game, Toledo received an official apology from the Big Ten Commisioner's office for the blown call. Who knows if we would have won the game if they made the correct call, but we might have.

Anyway, sometime you have to play above the officiating to win and we obviously didn't. They got their paybacks for our 38-7 victory over them in 2001 and now this fall it is our turn for paybacks!