The good and bad from Saturday's Lehigh win over Central Connecticut State

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Still digesting Saturday's 51-44 double-overtime win by Lehigh over Central Connecticut State in one of the most remarkable games I've covered in 13 years on the Lehigh beat.

The players said after the game that they never gave up and always believed they would win, but I have to admit that I didn't share their enthusiasm.

When CCSU went up by 17 and then 20 in the fourth quarter, I was thinking that this was going to be perhaps the worst season-opening loss Lehigh has had since I've been covering the team and I was thinking it could set an ominous tone for the season.

But in a span of about 10 minutes on the game clock and 30 minutes in real time, it went from being a crushing opening day defeat to the type of win that could catapault this team to another good season, one that might be better than expected.

Here's what I took away from a most memorable day.

THE BAD

*Coach Andy Coen's concern about the inexperience of his front seven on defense proved to be justified because there wasn't much of pass rush. There were no sacks, only one quarterback hurry and just three tackles for losses. Some increased blitzing provided a bit of a spark in the second half, but at the moment this team seems to lack the playmakers and fast closers -- Nigel Muhammad and Noah Robb among the exceptions -- on defense it has had in abundance over the years. Coen also noted poor tackling in his post-game comments.

*An inability to get CCSU off the field on third and fourth down, at least through the first three quarters. The Blue Devils converted seven times on their first 10 third-down attempts and also were successful on two of three tries on fourth down with the only time they failed to move the chains being on the last play of the game. Things improved later in the day, but for the majority of the time, the CCSU offense had the upper hand on the Lehigh defense.

*The back-to-back interceptions by first-time QB starter Brandon Bialkowski that led to consecutive touchdowns by CCSU and opened up a 34-17 lead midway through the third quarter. Lehigh's defense was struggling so much that the last thing it needed was a short field to protect and the turnovers set up that scenario.