It is fall so as I have said before, it is road trip time. This road trip came with a little mother-daughter bonding, too – just an extra plus.

I took my 20 year old daughter to her first ever big time football game. She goes to basketball and hockey all the time at her university but they do not have football. My dad has season tickets to the Syracuse Orange games and I am West Virginia alum. Off we went up Interstate 81 to the Carrier Dome to see the Orange and Mountaineers play.

First off, Syracuse – West Virginia games hold many memories for me. It use to be, when I was at WVU, that this was one of the last games of each teams’ seasons. I would always find a ride home for Thanksgiving with a gang going up to the game. The game was always that weekend before Thanksgiving so blowing off a few days of classes wasn’t unheard of.

Second, I was in a unique position. Games at the Dome were like home games for me – though, as a 46 year old, I have come to hate the Dome. You would think something named after a ventilation expert – Carrier – would have some circulation in it.

My daughter has different memories of the Dome. State championship football games are held there. Her senior year in high school – with her twin brother and a lot of her friends on the team – the team took the state title. She knows nothing but winning in the Dome.

Well, as long as she was with her mother yesterday, she knew winning again! Syracuse did give me a scare. They took several kick offs for long returns. They even scored on their first possession. That about sums up the game for them, though. The Orange scored 14 points – the same as they did the week before against Miami of Ohio.

Unfortunately for ‘Cuse, WVU is not Miami of Ohio. The Mountaineers kept going. At half time, they were up 31 – 7. Then, after a tribute to the 1987 Orangemen who went undefeated, the Pride of West Virginia took the field – all 380 strong – and put the SU band to shame, also.

The second half was just as bad for ‘Cuse, with the final score ending up 55-14. The Mountaineer faithful – because when you travel that far for a game, you stay – were there til the end. The ‘Cuse fans – not even sure that is the right word but faithful would definitely only apply to a few – were leaving by the end of the third quarter. The 35,000 plus attendance was probably only about 1000 when the game ended. There were no great lines for the bus to get back to parking.

Go ‘Neers!!