Collegefootballfan.com enjoyed our 40th straight season of attending as many college football games as we could this season, and it’s not over. Bowl season is upon. But let’s recap some of highlights of our 40th year traveling to our record-tying season in which we will have attended 27 college football games around this great country of ours.
Rack ’em up
Among the clashes we attended, we saw 37 different teams from among the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Football Championship Division, and Division 3. The teams represented 11 different conferences from the vaunted SEC down to the D-3 NEWMAC (New England Men’s and Women’s Athletic Conference). Three FBS Independents joined our frays. We traveled to five different venues where we’d never seen game before among the 583 games attended since 1979. And to think, we have three bowl games coming up. We’ll add six more teams we haven’t seen this season and add another major conference to boot. Enough about numbers now. Let’s hit some highlights and some lowlights regretfully.
Like the Pilgrims
We started with three games in New England on Labor day weekend. We ventured to the state of Maine to see a game there for the first time. To our surprise, not only did the host Black Bears defeat perennial FCS power and bitter rival New Hampshire that evening, but who knew they would go on to a 10-4 season. They won the always tough Colonial Athletic Association title, and they made it to the FCS semi-finals where they fell to Eastern Washington. Maine is hockey country. Farthest they ever made it in football.
Our second stop took us to see Springfield of the aforementioned NEWMAC host crosstown rival Western New England. It marked our first time attending a game there at small but packed Benedum Field. The Pride (7-3) beat WNE that evening 42-21, but the Golden Bears(8-3) went on to win the Commonwealth Coastal football title and earned a D-3 playoff spot. We finished the weekend at a great tailgate party at Alumni Field in Chestnut Hill with our friend Bob “Pops” LeBlanc and his pals where his Alma mater, Boston College, dominated UMass at home, 55-21.
Nautical Miles
For the third year in a row, we purchased season tickets at the Naval Academy as we’ve enjoyed seeing the Mids play good football over the last 15 years, running the triple-option, challenging for the American Athletic title, enjoying down town Annapolis, bringing other guys down for great “Boyz weekends”, and tailgating with the likes of fellow Navy fans Brian Donnelly, his fiance Laurie, and our pal Navy Al. Well maybe running the triple option now against the same conference foes every year might be catching up with the Mids. The struggled this season to finish the season at 3-9. The good thing for us was that all three wins were played at home, and we saw all three. In the first one in retrospect resulted in an upset. The Mids came from behind 21-9 to defeat the Memphis Tigers in a driving rainstorm, 22-21. Most thought this win would vault teh Mids into position to take teh AAC west. teh the contratry, they went nowhere and mempphis went 8-5, 5-3 to win the West title. They lost to underfeated No. 6 Central Flrida in the conference final. RB Darrell Henderson compliled 1,909 rushing yards and 22 TDs on 214 carries this season. He placed second in the nation for rushing yards.
The following week, we headed back to Annapolis to watch them play FCS Lehigh. We’ve followed the Mountain Hawks closely over the years. The usually have a good program and we love going to games at Goodman Stadium where we had season tickets for few years when Mike Groome, a player from our neighborhood starred for them at Linebacker. However, the Hawks have had a tough few years and this season turned into a low point finishing 3-8, 2-4 in the struggling ( except for Colgate) Patriot League. Navy decimated them, 51-21. We look forward to the day the Hawks will be back in top form to challenge for the Patriot League.
Later in the season, Houston came to town with a 5-1, 2-0 AAC record and scored 41 points or more in its last seven games. Cougar QB D’Eriq King exposed Navy’s slow secondary with four second half touchdowns. The visitors triumphed the only time we attended Navy – Marine Corps Stadium this season (we went to Delaware instead of the Temple-Navy game), 49-36.
At our last game at Annapolis this season, the Mids faced Tulsa who came in with the same identical records 2-8, 1-6 AAC. With Zach Abey at QB, the Mids got their triple-option going again to the tune of 389 yards on the ground. Abey completed only one of two passes for 15 yards while running for 128. The Mids defense played as best they did all year, but Tulsa struggled on offense all season long finishing the season at 2-10. They Mids won “liberty” for the entire Brigade that evening with a 37-29 victory.
“Living on Tulsa Time”
Speaking of Tulsa, not only did the Golden Hurricanes fall on our Navy season ticket schedule, but we just happened to catch them two other times this season. How does someone living in New Jersey get to catch on to see Tulsa play football three times in one season? First of all, we caught them on three road trips. Tulsa conveniently showed up on a Thursday night in Philly to play Temple as part of a double-header weekend plan for us. The plan included a flight to Nashville (where I think about retiring to)
from Philadelphia the next morning on the way to see Vanderbilt play at home for the first time. The Owls scored twice defensively – once on a 36-yard pick six and on a 50-yard fumble return to give them their winning margin in their 31-17 victory. Temple went on to an 8-4,7-1 season in the AAC East. They play Duke in the Walk-on’s Independent Bowl on December 27.
Two weeks later on a business trip to Houston, it just so happened the that the Hurricanes were also in town to play a Thursday night game against the Houston Cougars. With a lead of 26-17 early in the final period, Tulsa could not stop D-Eriq King around the right end for a 61-yard touchdown jaunt. The Cougars added three on their next possession to take a one-point lead. However, once again turnovers did the Cane’s in despite plenty of time left. Frosh QB Seth Boomers’s fumble on his own nine and a subsequent pick by CB Deontay Anderson to give the Cougars possession on TU’s 23 both resulted in quick and decisive scores for Houston’s 41-26 win. Like Navy, Tulsa did not go bowling with their poor record. Houston headed to the Lockheed Martin Armed Services Bowl to play 10-2 Army in Fort Worth , Texas last Saturday. Army-West Point set a record margin of victory for all bowl games with a 70-14 victory.
“It’s Vanderbilt!”
I have an ambition right now to eventually retire in Nashville, Tennessee. St. Laurie doesn’t see eye to eye with me on this, yet. Friendly people, moderate weather compared to good, old Jersey (birthplace of college football), lower taxes, great music of course, part-time work opportunities to keep the mind and blood flowing, day-trips to most parts of the eastern US, historic sites, beautiful state and national parks, pro hockey, pro football, minor league baseball, and major college sports stir my desire to move to this great part of the country when the hustle and bustle is done.
When it comes to college sports, Middle Tennessee competes in Conference USA in nearby Murfreesboro. Of course, you can see Vanderbilt University host the rest of the SEC in basketball, baseball, and football. That last item is kind of the downer. The Commodores have gotten a little better, but generally when it comes to football, they are still a the bottom of the SEC pile. This season, I figured I would get back down there and experience a Vandy football game to check the atmosphere and add Vanderbilt Stadium to my growing list of FBS venues. Hosting my daughter Alex’s Alma mater, the University of South Carolina, I figured this would be a convenient time to go and see the Gamecocks play again since she had graduated.
Well first impression made me wonder if the Commodores had any fans. I picked a little road side beer garden a few blocks away from VU Stadium. All is saw were Gamecock fans at the the bar and along the street tailgating. I met one retired gentleman at the bar with a Vandy hat on, but he was possibly “future-me“. He was a casual Vandy fan, but in reality an Indiana Hoosier fan who settled down in Nashville. He had a season ticket, but he said he was one of very few.
The parking lot near the stadium was sparsely populated as game time neared, and I ventured over to find a bargain ticket. Of course, one of the local ticket flippers approached me to inquire what I would be willing to pay for a ticket. I threw out a low-ball number knowing this drill. As usual, I was told I could get a 50-yard line seat at a price $10 less than the face value. I blurted out immediately, ” Are you kidding? It’s Vanderbilt!” I saw the lack of interest from the locals, and the Carolina fans primarily bought theirs from their school I imagined. I knew this was not the hottest ticket in Nashville today or any other day. Most people come to town to spend money here on the musical entertainment. I’m certainly the only person in town visiting besides Carolina fans that this vendor probably found coming to see this sideshow.
I’d also seen TV highlights when Vandy played Bama at home last season. One young VU fan was shown sticking it out all by himself in the Vanderbilt side during a 59-0 blow-out by The Tide. Coming in, the Commodores had a 3-0 record. Season over. They finished 5-7 in the end, though not bad for Vandy generally. My potential vendor and I agreed to disagree, but another local business rep approached me a few steps away, and we came up with an agreeable price. Damn, it turned out to be really on the 50 yard line as he said. The Carolina fan next to me asked what I had paid and disappointed to find out I had gotten mine for less than he did. It proved I knew my market.
Vandy trailed 20-14 in the third until a major thunderstorm came through to suspend play and for everyone to seek shelter. An hour later, play resumed. Two SC drives ended by fumbles kept the ‘Dores in the game until the Cocks finished them off with a 37-14 victory. It could have been worse. Same old Vanderbilt. Their 6-6 record got them into the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl against Baylor, also 6-6. The Gamecocks (7-5) play Virginia (6-6) in the Belk Bowl.
What did we at Collegefootballfan.com get out of this? If and when we retire to Nashville, most likely Vanderbilt home games will be back-ups to Middle Tennessee offerings and or any game we can attend in Atlanta, Memphis, Cincinnati, Lexington, Knoxville, parts of North Carolina, or any other trip to see a game we plan in advance somewhere near the eastern seaboard. I hope I can afford to do that this stage of my life. If not, I know I can find bargains in Nashville. “It’s Vanderbilt!”
Among the Ivies on Fridays
The Ivy League and ESPN have “partnered” on Friday nights to show the best of some traditional Ivy League clashes during the ten weeks of the shortest season of any sport played today. Ten games only. No championship game, tie breakers, or post season action of any sort after the staid League plays ten games only, seven against the same elite members of these prestigious institutions of higher academia.
We bit as teams among the Ivy League are within driving distances on Friday nights that allow us to plan to see them the evening before we venture on to another game the next morning. Our first took us to upper Manhattan (New York, not Kansas) where Princeton ripped Columbia, 45-10. The next day, we easily ventured out to State College, PA for an all-day tailgate before Penn State’s 8 pm White-out against Ohio State. However, watching Princeton play this year provided us the chance to see history in the making for the Tigers.
They went undefeated with a 10-0 record with an average score of 47-13 (easy to figure out when all you have to do is divide total points for and against by 10). PU QB John Lovett, who sat out the 2017 season with an injury, ran for two TDs and threw for two. Just as he had done in 2016, he won the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League’s MVP. The 470 points he led the offense to set an Ivy League record for most points ever scored in one season. The 10-0 record marked the first time since 1964 that the Tigers finished undefeated overall. He personally scored a touchdown rushing in 20 straight games he played in. Columbia finished their season at 6-4, 3-4.
Princeton Head Coach Bob Surace earned Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. He’s led the Tigers to the Ivy League crown in three of the last six seasons. At the end of the regular FCS season, Princeton ranked at No. 8. Their most competitive Ivy foe, Dartmouth (9-1) , stands at No. 15. The Tigers fought them off to a 14-9 win late in the season. Next year in honor of their 150th start in the first game of college football ever played (against Rutgers in 1869), these two will meet on November 9 at Yankee Stadium.
Two weeks later, we attended the Yale at Penn game at Franklin Field in Philly on Friday night on our way to Navy vs. Houston in Annapolis the next day. Yale triumphed 23-10 on the wheels of RB Alan Lamar, who rushed for 179 yards and two TDs. The Bulldog defense held solidly. Yale QB Kurt Rawlings suffered a serious leg injury late in the game and was removed. He never played the rest of the season. The Bulldogs lost three of their last four games to finish 5-5, 3-4 in the Ivy. The Quakers finished 6-4, 3-4.
GGA Brian Donnelly and I were most disappointed to see the effects of Ivy League football on Friday night television as the attendance already hurt by media coverage saturation does not bode well for bodies in seats to add spirit to these games. Neither Ivy league game we attended attracted many. Princeton’s final win at home over rival Penn to win the Ivy and finish their historic 10-0 season only attracted, 7,749 fans. Heck , we saw more than that back in 1987 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton when the Tigers defeated Columbia for the Lions’ record-breaking 38th loss in a row. It’s a shame to see the dwindling interest in college football at historical universities such as the Ivy’s. A college football game always enticed such great social gatherings for students, their families, and the alumni. School spirit isn’t what it used to be at these campuses.
To be continued…