Johnny Football

I haven't talked to much about football season.  Mainly because there really hasn't been much to report.  We've been pretty good.  Ranked #1 and all around kicking ass and taking names.  Until last week.  The tide headed to Baton Rouge, LA to take on the LSU tigers in Death Valley (or Death Stadium as Verne called it).  We knew it was going to be a tough road game.  We didn't play our best football but managed to keep the lead most of the game.  We were behind and in the last minutes scored to keep our repeat championship dreams alive. 

This past Saturday was one I was looking forward to.  You see, I'm a dork and I was excited to play Texas A&M in their inaugural SEC season.  I also knew that it was going to be a pretty good ballgame.  I knew they were a great team that had been overlooked and even though they had 2 losses they had greatly improved since then.  I'd also heard a lot about "Johnny Football" their red shirt freshmen quarterback.  His numbers were on par to beat both Tim Tebow and Cam Newton in their Heisman seasons and he's a freshmen.  I was excited to see him play. 

Amy and I left Birmingham around 10:30 for the 2:30 kickoff and traffic was a nightmare.  It was bumper to bumper for 30 or so miles.  We finally made it to the apartment and before long it was time to head to the stadium.  Amy helped push me to the upper deck.  We only had to rest once on the round ramp thing.  We actually made it to our seats for kickoff.

It started pretty rough and never really got better.  We went 3 and out on our first possession and they scored...a touchdown.  We couldn't do anything on offense and couldn't stop them on defense.  Before we knew it we were losing 20-0.  Not a place we are familiar.  I'd seen enough of this "Johnny Football" play.  I'm not going to lie, I still had a lot of hope.  I knew that A&M had an early lead on LSU and they ended up fizzling out in the 4th quarter.  Before halftime we managed to score 14 points to make the score 20-14.  I thought we'd come out swinging in the 3rd quarter and compared to the first quarter we did.  We kicked a field goal to make the score 20-17 going into the 4th quarter.  Texas A&M kicked a field goal then a touchdown and went for two and missed to make the score 17-29. They also missed a field goal and we had a fumble on a crucial play in here somewhere.  With 6 minutes left and a long pass we scored a touchdown.  24-29 Our defense came out swinging and we got the ball back with 4:00 minutes left. Another long pass put us on the 9 yard line.  At this point we were all convinced that this was going to happen.  I mean how could it not.  We had 4 chances to score from the 9 yard line.  Well you probably know where this is headed...It's 4th and goal from the like 2 yard line.  Pass play, it's intercepted, along with all our hopes and dreams for repeat National Championships.  All I could say was I'm just so sad.  Its so sad, and it was.  As the Aggies celebrated and little piece of me cried.  Being at the top is nice and all but you never get that feeling of elation when you beat a team you're not supposed to beat because you're always supposed to win.  I remember that feeling when we beat Florida in 2005.  We weren't supposed to win that game but we did and we won big.  We all literally floated out of the stadium we were so happy.  I could see that same elation on all the Aggie faces.  Don't get me wrong, I hate to lose and if we could go back and win I'd take it in a heartbeat. But I'm happy for Texas A&M.  

I wanted to get a picture of my pregnant self since it might be the last game I make it to this season.  We didn't have time before the game so I had to settle for one after the game.  We were so sad.

I loved watching both the Aggie band and the Million Dollar Band.

This was the sea of people trying to leave the stadium.  I didn't think we'd ever make it back to the apartment.  There were people everywhere. All in all it was a fun day.  I hate losing but it happens.  It's definitely not the end of the world.  I'm so easily reminded of my college days where we lost more often than we won.  These kids don't know what that's like. I wish I didn't know who "Johnny Football" was.  I hope he wins the Heisman.  He deserves it!   Roll Tide.