Seen 'em all – 136 FBS teams in action! In 2025, we added both the CFP Championship game, Indiana 27 Miami 21 and the FCS Championship, Montana State 35 Illinois State 34. We've now attended 740 games since 1979. Please order and review our book on Amazon.com: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly to enjoy this great, unique lifetime adventure. We look forward to the 2026 season!
Troy, AL – Texas State Bobcats QB Jordan McCloud threw for three TDs and ran for one as they defeated the Troy Trojans, 38-17. With the departure of former HC Jon Sumrall to Tulane, the atmosphere and talent witnessed at Troy’s Veterans Memorial Stadium fell far from what we experienced here last season. Following a 24-2 record and two Sun Belt championships, new HC Gerad Parker’s takeover appears to be a work in progress.
Bobcats fast forward
Texas State DE Jo’ Laison Landry sacks Troy QB Tucker Kilcrease to force a punt on first series.
A sack by DE Jo’Laison Landry halted Troy’s opening drive. The ensuing Bobcat possession resulted with a one-yard TD run by Ismail Mahdi. Texas State’s next score followed a fumble by QB Tucker Kilcrease. The Bobcats drove 64 yards as McCloud (20 for 29, 252 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs) connected for his first TD on a 10-yard pass to Jaden Williams for a 14-0 lead at the end of one.
Troy made some noise in the second. An interception bounced off a lineman’s helmet fell into the hands of LB Jordan Stringer for the turnover. Kilcrease connected effectively with WR Landon Parker on the following series. They connected from ten yards out to cut the Texas State Bobcats’ lead, 14-7. The Trojans tried to keep up the rest of the half, but to no avail. A roughing the kicker penalty on TXST’s next drive put the Bobcats on their 49. McCloud connected near the end zone with Kole Wilson for a 51-yard touchdown. Troy responded with Scott Renfroe’s 40-yard FG to trail, 21-10.
WR Jaden Williams made a diving catch for Texas State Bobcats second score to put them up, 14-10, in the first quarter.
Bobcats Halt Valiant Trojan Try
A Bobcat pass and 15-yard penalty put State at the Trojan 45. McCloud threw 28 yards to Joey Hobert to extend the lead 28-10. Troy moved the ball deep into Bobcat territory before the half ended. WR Peyton Higgins raced toward the end zone for an apparent score but fumbled the ball and S Ryan Nolan recovered at the two to end the scoring threat. The Bobcats closed leading by 18 at the half.
The Bobcat secondary surrounds Trojan WR Peyton Higgins before forcing him to fumble before he crossed the goal line to narrow the score before the end of the second period.
Only real fireworks for Troy
In the third, Mason Shipley’s 52-yard FG put the Bobcats up 31-10. A turnover on downs ensued over to Texas State. This time, McCloud scored with his legs on a 42-yard TD gallop. The Trojans countered with a 75-yard scoring drive as Devonte Ross hauled in a 25-yard scoring pass. The Veterans Memorial Stadium scoreboard set off some fireworks, literally, before the fourth period started. However, only the Texas State Bobcats lit up the scoreboard in the fourth following another Trojan turnover on downs. Final score: 38-17 in favor of the Bobcats.
TSXT QB Jordan McCloud (3) got great protection in the pocket as the Bobcats were the ones lighting up the scoreboard at our 692nd game attended this evening.
Next up!
Troy travels to Mobile, Alabama to play South Alabama in two weeks. The Texas State Bobcats (3-2, 1-0) will host Arkansas State Red Wolves (3-2, 1-0) in what will be an early, key conflict between both for Sun Belt superiority in the standings. Last season, ASU trounced TXST, 77-31. Revenge will play a factor in this one. Collegefootballfan.com drives on the see Kennesaw State (0-4) host Jacksonville State (1-3) in a Conference USA dispute the following evening. KSU starts it inaugural season in the FBS and CUSA. Despite a very sure end result, we’ll check the box as the Owls Fifth Third Bank Stadium becomes our 93rd FBS venue. After that, Auburn at Georgia on Saturday.
Texas State in our future
We still continue to monitor the Sun Belt Conference through the end of this year. We anticipated a big improvement at TXST since HC GJ Kinne took over last season and guided the Bobcats to their first eight-win season since 2008. Much is still expected as having an experienced, strong-armed QB from a winning program like James Madison joined his team. However, the competition anticipated comes from a different group of foes than expected.
Among the most anticipated contenders in preseason, several have fallen out and several have stepped in unexpectedly. We watched Appalachian State (2-3, 0-2) falter big to South Alabama already, 48-14. James Madison (4-1, 0-1) dropped this weekend from the ranks of the undefeated to surprising UL Monroe (4-1,1-0), 21-19. The ULM War Hawks’ (4-1, 2-0) only loss thus far came against No.1 Texas. In addition, Arkansas State coming up stands as a formidable opponent. Louisiana (4-1,1-0) looks formidable as usual, and South Alabama (2-4, 1-1) offers an end of year challenge. We still consider attending this one in Mobile if it coincides with our Thanksgiving weekend plans to visit the USS Alabama in Mobile.
East challengers
This season, the two top Sun Belt conference teams in regular season will play for the title. Also looking strong among others playing within an “East Division,” Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern and Marshall have gotten off to strong starts in the Sun Belt. The balance of the season looks conjure up some pretty big battles to win the SBC. Stay tuned.
-Ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America
Birmingham, AL – Navy QB Blake Horvath threw two TD passes and ran for one with 225 passing yards and 84 rushing to lead the Mids to a dominant 41-18 over the UAB Blazers. In the American Athletic clash, Navy led a balanced offensive attack and the Mid defense kept the pressure on UAB QB Jacob Zeno applying pressure and recording three sacks early. The Mids left town with a 4-0 record, 3-0 in AAC play. The Blazers under second-year HC Trent Dilfer, have not made much progress since last season’s 31-6 loss to the Mids in Annapolis. They struggle at 1-3 and start 0-1 in the AAC.
Guest Game Analyst Mike Malinack (USNA) has attended all four Navy games thus far and seen improvement. He attributes it to new Offensive Coordinator Drew Cronic and Horvath who is healthy this year. Cronic comes to Navy after being HC for FCS Mercer in Macon, Georgia. Horvath played four games last season before injuring his thumb. He brings back what Keenan McReynolds and Mason Perry brought to the Midshipmen quarterback position in past seasons.
Navy DE Landon Robinson sacks Blazer QB Jacob Zeno on fourth down to take ball over on downs.
Navy defense penetrates and punishes
Midshipman DE Landon Robinson halted the first UAB possession with a sack. The Mids took over on downs from their 39. Horvath finished the first Navy possession with a 20-yard TD run. Navy’s other DE Justin Reed sacked Zeno on the next UAB series to force a punt. In the second period, the Mids drove 84 yards with FB Alex Tecza taking it in from the five for a 14-0 lead. UAB got on the board with 1:10 left in the first half on Jonah Delange’s 35-yard FG.
Navy retaliated quickly through the air. Horvath connected with WR Nathan Kent for 77 yards as Kent raced the final 35 yards to paydirt. This was right after a UAB fan sitting behind us showed up late with friends and commented to another, “No wonder why UAB isn’t that good, these players look like a bunch of high school players.” The friend replied, “We’re sitting behind the Navy bench. It seems he figured clean-shaven guys with short hair don’t know how to play football. It just demonstrates how some people just don’t understand the military of U.S. academy football. He finally left in the third quarter when he realized things weren’t going to go UAB’s way.
Navy QB Blake Hovarth (11) picks up a first down for the Midshipmen on a first quarter touchdown drive.
Relentless Navy attack
Leading 21-3 to start the second half, Navy received the kickoff as they deferred on the coin toss. Horvath lit up the scoreboard once again. He found WR Eli Heidenrich on the fly for a 77-yard scoring strike. The Mids performed dominantly. They took over the next punt at their 23. They moved downfield to set up Nathan Kirkwood for a 45-yard FG and a 31-3 lead. A glimpse of former NFL QB and successful Lipscomb Academy (TN) HS HC Trend Dilfer along the sideline portrayed a baffled look on his face. He must have figured out something eventually. The Blazers started their next drive from the 20. In four plays that included a facemask penalty against the Mids, Zeno hooked up with Iverson Hooks for a 39-yard score.
Despite trailing now 31-10, the Blazers seemed to have some momentum taking place. They held navy to a three and-out. UAB started to drive. Rolling to his left under pressure, Zeno tossed a long, errant pass down field and Navy CB Mbiti Williams made a diving catch. The Mids took over from their 5.
Finishing touches
Entering the final period, Navy marched down the field once again. With 10:32 to play, FB Daba Fofana broke tackles up the middle and put Navy on the board once again with a 16-yard jaunt. The Blazers kept rolling again, too. After a 67-yard pass completion to Terrell McDonald, Lee Beebe scored from the two with 9:09 left. A two-point conversion pass to Kam Shanks made the score 38-18. Navy controlled the ball on its next drive taking 6:55 off the clock before Kirkwood extended the lead 41-18 with his 46-yard FG. The second teams came in for game-time experience, and that was the final.
Midshipmen QB Blake Horvath (11) brings back the run/pass versatility needed to run a Navy offense as other quarterbacks did for successful Mid teams in the past.
Week Six College Football Action: Think Army Navy game
UAB takes on another American Athletic contender next Saturday when Tulane (3-2, 1-0) comes to town. This may be our alternative game if we don’t see our other option that’s up in the air right now for next Saturday (see below). Navy has a big archrivalry game next week when it visits Air Force out in Colorado Springs. Air Force (1-3) comes off a loss to winless Wyoming for this one. We saw the Cowboys bounced by No. 19 BYU the week before. However, the Mids can’t take the Falcons lightly. Both teams compete for that Commander-in Chief Trophy. And with Army also at 4-0, the Mids will have to get a leg up for more than just that Hardware. A lot of pride exists to outdo Army in anything. They want to outpace the Cadets in the win column, conference game or not.
There’s even more riding on that game now that the two play in the American Athletic. We’ll see the Mids again on October 26 when they battle Notre Dame in the Meadowlands for our Game 700! One fan also going recently said to me, “We may still see an undefeated team play in that game. Not the one we expected tough.” Besides Air Force, Navy plays Charlotte after them at home. As we know, the Fighting Irish have already fallen to Northern Illinois of the Mid American, now 2-2, 0-1.
Collegefootballfan.com goals to be achieved
Big weekend coming up. We hit three games in three days in order to basically assure that October 26 is officially Game 700. On Thursday night, we go to Troy, Alabama to see The Trojans (1-4, 0-1) host Texas State (2-2) in a Sun Belt showdown. TXST lost their last two non-conference games to Arizona State, 31-28, and a last-minute comeback loss to Sam Houston, 40-39. Head Coach GJ Kinne will have his Bobcats looking to make some noise against Troy and their first-year HC Gerad Parker.
Our Friday night game will feature first year FBS program Kennesaw State (0-4, 0-1) hosting Jacksonville State (1-3, 1-1). Got to go with the JSU Gamecocks here. KSU Owls fell to FCS UT Martin on Saturday. We hope this will be a battle between these two flocks. We go to add the Owls’ Fifth Third Bank Stadium for our goal to attend as many FBS venues as possible. When they get better, we’ll find a more competitive opportunity in the future. For now, we have objectives to achieve. The sooner the better to get this opportunity closed. Like Navy OC drew Cronic, Midshipmen HC Brian Newberry also cut his teeth as a KSU assistant.
Thanks to Conference USA weekday night games like Liberty at WKU last season shown here, Collegefootballfan.com finds these and MACtion opportunities to build up our schedule to capture long-term goals.
Option play?
We are working on arrangements to see an old-fashioned SEC rivalry on Saturday when Auburn visits No. 5 Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens. This would be only our second time there. The Dawgs (3-1, 1-1) are reeling now from last Saturday’s loss to Bama. What better way to come back by beating up on Auburn? The Tigers (2-3,0-2) come in looking for some way to turn this season around. What better way, but do they have to horses to do it? They played Oklahoma last week closer than expected in their 27-21 loss. This will be the first game for Auburn on the road. Could be a rocky one. If we don’t get to see this tussle, we’re on our way back to Birmingham for Tulane visiting UAB.
CFF.com September Poll Rankings
For fun, we’ve decided to rank a Top Ten among the 41 FBS teams on our Tentative Schedule in 2024. For now, all intents and purposes, the teams on it are basically set in stone except for aforementioned Georgia. We’ll keep them in our ranking until our October poll comes out late next month. We’re shocked already not only by how many undefeated teams remain in our poll, but by how many we’ve already seen that remain undefeated. Definitely some surprises here:
Ohio State 4-0
Georgia 3-1
Penn State 4-0
Oregon 4-0
Notre Dame 4-1
BYU 5-0*
Navy 4-0*
Duke 5-0*
Boston College 4 -1*
Liberty 4-0
*Seen play already
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America
Boone, NC – South Alabama (2-2,1-0) took a 28-0 lead before the ASU Mountaineers could answer with a score as the first half ended. After that, the Jaguar defense held the favored home team in check during the Sun Belt Conference opener for both schools. In the second half, the visiting offense continued to pour it on. Similar to the first half, the Mountaineers scored in the final minute of play as the Jags took the victory, 48-14.
South Alabama QB Gio Lopez runs against ASU Mountaineers for a gain on a first half scoring drive.
South Alabama QB Gio Lopez passed for 154 yards and two TDs. On the ground, he traveled for 105 yards and a TD on seven carries. RB Fluff Bothwell rambled for 166 yards and two TDs. The Jaguars outgained the Mountaineers in rushing, 320 yards to 119. They averaged 7.4 yards per carry. Guest Game Analyst Al Di Vite noted early on that the South Alabama offensive line just dominated ASU at the line of scrimmage.
South Alabama takes charge from the start
The Jaguars made it look easy. Following a 50-yard run on USA’s first possession, Lopez tossed a 10-yard scoring pass to DJ Thomas Jones on the sixth play. The next South Alabama series also finished after six plays over 60 yards with Bothwell’s 22-yard score. The Jaguars took a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. At this juncture, Al, our other GGA Sharon Di Vite, and I all agreed that Appalachian State could not tackle. ASU fans around us were livid at our 689th college game since 1979.
South Alabama CB Jordan Scruggs (far left) on the way to set up another Jaguar TD on his INT return to Appalachian State four-yard line.
In the second period, Appalachian State went to the South Alabama 41 and punted to put USA on their five. Again, the Mountaineers displayed poor, arm-tackling techniques. South Alabama drove for 95 yards over seven minutes. Lopez ran right up the middle for 31 yards to build the Jaguar lead, 21-0. Appalachian threatened to score on the ensuing drive taking it all the way to South Alabama’s seven. However, Jaguar CB Jordan Scruggs read Joey Agular’s pass perfectly in the left flat to break on it and race all the way to the Mountaineer four. A horse collar tackle added two yards more to place it on the Appy two. From there, RB Kentrel Bullock took it in for a 28-0 pounding.
Appalachian State students started mud-sliding in the end zone SRO areas before halftime. GGA Sharon Di Vite exclaimed, “It’s more fun watching that than watching this game!” Astute observation by our first-time GGA.
Appalachian glimmer of hope…
At the end of the half, ASU finally mustered a score with a 47-yard desperation pass by Aguilar into the end zone. WR Dalton Strohman circled back slightly in the end zone to remain over the line for the score to stand, 28-7, going into halftime.
But South Alabama would not yield
Desperate, with the first possession of the second half, Appalachian gave the ball back over on downs on their 47. Lopez followed through and connected for his second TD pass for 18 yards to Jamaal Pritchett. The PAT was missed. Later in the period, Bothwell scored on a dash from 20 yards away for a South Alabama lead, 41-7.
The South Alabama defense dominated the ASU Mountaineer defense all evening that caused concerns for their fans in attendance.
In the final period of play, Jaguar Iverson Celestine completed a 55-yard drive with his six-yard TD. The Mountaineers’ Maquel Haywood ran it over from the two with :52 left. The South Alabama Jaguars routed the Mountaineers (2-2,0-1) at Boone, in surprising fashion, 48-14, to finalize the score. We thought that Appy would head to the Sun Belt Championship on December 6, but it looks like they’ll have a tougher road ahead than expected.
Next Up!
South Alabama heads to Baton Rogue to face No. 16 LSU. Appalachian State remains in Boone to take on Liberty (3-0), favorites to win ConferenceUSA. It didn’t sound like many ASU fans seemed excited to attend the “white-out” planned for Kidd Brewer Stadium among the 34,133 in attendance last night.
For Collegefootballfan.com, this Saturday we will see Duke (3-0) visit Middle Tennessee (1-2) for a 3 pm kick-off in Murfreesboro.
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers association of America
Laramie, Wyoming – The BYU Cougars bested the struggling Wyoming Cowboys (0-3) to win its tenth straight contest in the 80-game rivalry, 34-14. Cougar QB Jake Retzlaff completed 22 of 36 passes for 291 yards and three TDs. With Brigham Young now a member of the Big XII, this will probably be the last game of this series for a long while. However, with the recent announcement of four other Mountain West teams joining to form a new PAC 12 (6?), who will Wyoming and other MWC foes play on a regular basis? Several options remain open, but for the short-term, this will probably cause a mess for college football teams once again.
BYU QB Jake Retzlaff fires a pass on a first period scoring drive.
BYU stumbles; recovers quickly
Brigham Young University got off to an awry start. Cowboy CB Wrook Brown made a diving interception on his back to halt the Cougars’ first possession. However, it put the Wyoming offense at a disadvantage. They started from their one-yard line. As the first of many three and outs for the Cowpokes, BYU started again at the Wyoming 44. QB Jake Retzlaff connected with TE Jeanu Hill for a 20-yard score. Wyoming punted once again after three plays. The BYU Cougars drove 74 yards and into the second period. This time, Retzlaff passed three yards to WR Kody Epps to go up, 14-0.
Wyoming responded with a 75-yard scoring drive when QB Evan Svoboda ran it in from the two. Later in the period, BYU extended the final score at the end of the half on Will Fenner’s 49-yard kick, 17-7.
There was big news for the Wyoming Cowboy Marching Band shown here at halftime. They’re already invited to march in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade.It doesn’t look like their football team will be joining them.
BYU fireworks in the third, then tough D
BYU opened up the second half with an explosion. Keelan Martin took the kick two yards deep in the end zone. At about the 25, he veered left and took it the distance fending off a couple of tacklers to give BYU an early 24-7 to start the third. The Cougar defense stifled the Cowboys through the second half. Brigham Young forced an immediate three-and -out. They followed with Ferrin’s 27-yard FG. The next Cowboy series also lasted only three snaps. BYU stopped the next on fourth down to take possession on their 35. Retzlaff’s third TD pass of the day went 20 yards to Darius Lassiter to go up, 34-7.
Because of our very low seats at War Memorial Stadium, we had to follow a lot of the action on the videoboard. We watched BYU PK Will Ferrin practice on the sideline before making two field goals against the Cowboys. This kicking net, BYU players and sometimes the mobile television camera crew got in the way of taking good photos.
Fourth period – building for the future
After that, BYU HC Kilani Sitake replaced his starters with players in clean jerseys. At that point, his defense yielded only 147 yards of total offense and eight first downs to the Cowboys. With Wyoming HC Jay Sawvell leaving his first team in, they drove 76 yards and gained four first downs before Svoboda dove in from the one to finalize the score, 34-14. BYU takes its home its 3-0 record into Big XII play just like they did last season.
The BYU defense held Evan Svoboda (17) to 14 of 31 passes for 140 yards and one INT.
Cowboys need to wrangle in their season – fast
At 0-3 following a 9-4 season that filled the faithful in Laramie with optimism this season, the remainder of this season looks rather bleak now. The retirement of former HC Craig Bohl seemed to assure the program with continuity. Naming his four-year Defensive Coordinator, Jay Sawvel, who has 21 successful seasons with an impressive array of mentors seemed like a great start. In addition, Bohl’s son, Aaron, stepped up to take over for Sawvel at DC. However, it seems the drop in optimism probably stems from this coaching change. For Sawvel, he serves now as HC for the first time. Maybe the leap comes too early. We’ll watch with interest to see what happens to the Cowboys over the balance of 2024.
We saw Mountain West foe New Mexico open our season with a last-minute 35-31 loss to FCS power Montana State. Wyoming also lost to FCS Idaho a week ago, 17-13. From this objective viewpoint, the Lobos showed indications of a much better team than the Cowboys. New HC Bronco Mendenhall brought in years of experience as a head coach to UNM. These two teams will meet in Albuquerque on November 2.
Despite trailing late in the third, 27-7, Wyoming fans, especially students, hung around and still seemed to have good time. At many other schools, we’ve seen the student body whittled down to go party elsewhere by halftime. Good for them!
Next Up
On Saturday, Wyoming visits North Texas State (2-1) who fell big to Texas Tech, 66-21. After the Mean Geen, the MWC slate lies ahead for the Pokes. Things have to change quickly if Sawvel’s squad still wants to challenge. Hard to believe after what we saw from this offense. BYU immerses itself the next nine weeks against Big XII competition. It begins at home in Saturday against No. 13 Kansas State who defeated Arizona on Friday night, 31-7. The Cougars look to improve their initial 2-7 conference record from a year ago. They also look to qualify to get back in the bowl business with six wins overall.
Collegefootballfan.com has two games on our docket this week. On Thursday night, we’ll see South Alabama (1-2) visit Appalachian State (2-1) in the Sun Belt opener for both. On Saturday night, we’ll see two teams we saw play a few weeks ago. Duke comes to Murfreesboro with a record of 3-0 to play Middle Tennessee (1-2). It’s unusual to see a Power Four program visit a Group of Five team, but we’d like to see this happen more often.
Extra Points
Special thanks to the Groner family in Laramie for hosting me this past weekend. I worked with Gary about 20 years ago at AlliedSignal. His wife Susie, sister Shawna, daughter Bailey, son-in-law Keenan and friends attended the game with me. Keenan, a Wyoming grad, like Gary, gave me a tour around the Wyoming campus not far from the Groner residence.
You may think this is a display of an old football helmet, but it’s not. It’s the skull and tusks of a Wooly Mammoth at the U of W Geological Center on campus.
Not only did Keenan take me to some sites like the University of Wyoming Geological Center, with locally excavated dinosaur bones, and the book store, but we also toured the Wyoming Arena and Auditorium know to Wyoming fans as “The A-A.” There, the basketball team practiced as Keenan helped guide me in my quest to find some kind of tribute to my fellow Boonton (NJ) High School alumnus, Jim Kiick, who played football at Wyoming from 1965-1967. We found his name and action photo on their wall depicting the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 1966, Kiick led Wyoming in rushing and won the MVP award for the 10-1 Cowboys in the Sun Bowl that season. Wyoming defeated Florida State, 28-20. I remember watching that game on television with my late father, Allen. We had seen Jim play for the Boonton Bombers in high school a few years prior. He played under the same football coach that I would eventually, the late Joe Molotoris. A season later, Wyoming with Kiick finished 10-1 again. They lost in the Sugar Bowl, 20-13, in comeback fashion late in the game against LSU. Both seasons, the Pokes as they are also known, averaged about 35 points per game while allowing only 10.5 per game. In ’67, they ranked No. 6 in the final Associated Press poll.
Super Kiick
Kiick played for the Miami Dolphins in three consecutive Super Bowls including the unprecedented 17-0 Super Bowl VI team. He scored a TD in that game in the 14-7 win over Washington and the following year in Super Bowl VII win over Minnesota, 24-7. He and his FB Larry Csonka earned the moniker of “Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid,” named after the Western movie adventure featuring stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Jim passed away in 2020 at 73 years old from complications due to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Fond memories of him are still shared by many of his fellow classmates and alumni from Boonton High School. Jim was inducted into the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Thanks to Keenan Mumm for helping me to follow up on such great memories in Laramie.
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America
Jonesboro, Arkansas – Arkansas State and Tulsa changed leads five times on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 19,316 at Alison Park at Centennial Bank Stadium. The final lead took place with 3:30 remaining in the third period on WR Corey Rucker’s five-yard reception from Jaylen Raynor. The play capped a 79-yard scoring drive by the ASU Red Wolves. Both defenses stiffened throughout the balance of the contest. A Hurricane blunder hindered a last-minute comeback by the Visitors. The Red Wolves held TU to only 14 yards for the balance of the game. The Golden Hurricane allowed 86, but 44 by ASU resulted in a missed field goal.
With 1:48 left, Tulsa looked to force a punt when they halted the Red Wolves for a loss on third and six on their 35. However, Golden Hurricane LB Gavin Potter negated an ASU punt when called for a flagrant and poorly-timed unnecessary roughness penalty. It extended the Red Wolves possession. With no time-outs left for Tulsa, Arkansas State ran the clock to seal their second victory of the season for a 2-0 start.
Red Wolves force Tulsa QB Kirk Francis out of pocket in second period scoring drive. Taken from a phone, this is the only picture taken today as the camera battery died before the game started. So Sorry!
Red Wolves and Golden Hurricane engage in see-saw battle
Arkansas State overcame Tulsa’s early three-point lead with a 35-yard pass from Raynor (21 of 32 passes, 255 yards, two INTs and one INT) to Adam Jones before the first quarter ended. In the second, Tulsa S Dayne Hodge picked off a Raynor pass to take over on the TU nine. The Golden Hurricane drove the length of the field ending with Kirk Francis’s touchdown strike to WR Kamdym Bejamin (six catches for 131 yards and one TD). Later in the period, a Tulsa punt bounced off Red Wolf Courtney Jackson. Tulsa’s Zion Steptoe pounced on it to recover it at the Tulsa 31. QB Cardell Williams came in to run the ball over for a one-yard score to put Tulsa up, 17-7 at halftime.
Red Wolves retaliate
To start the second half on Tulsa’s first possession, Red Wolves’ S Trevian Thomas intercepted a Francis pass. From the ASU 37, Raynor directed the ensuing drive to the Golden Hurricane 15. From there, he carried the ball through the middle for a 15-yard score. Following a five-yard loss on third down on their next series, Tulsa punted from their 19. The Red Wolves’ Jackson, who had erred earlier leading to a Golden Hurricane TD, redeemed himself. He fielded the punt, broke a few tackles and running left, he sped around the left side all the way to the end zone for a 77-yard TD. The Red Wolves jumped back ahead for a 21-17 lead. The third quarter action heated up.
On the next Tulsa possession from the 35, Francis (16 of 28 passing, 199 yards, one TD and one INT) connected with Benjamin for a 45-yard pass to the ASU 20. That set up Anthony Watkin’s two-yard scoring run. The Golden Hurricane took back the lead, 24-21. On the subsequent Red Wolves’ possession, however, they ran six minutes off the clock to lead once again with Rucker’s previously reported touchdown. This week’s Guest Game Analyst, Rick Selak said, “I would have taken the over on this (66). With over three minutes to play, I responded, “Rick, this will be the final score.” For once, I was right! The defensive battle endured for the final 18 minutes in a hard-fought game with a bitter ending for the Golden Hurricane. Final score: Arkansas State 28 – Tulsa 24.
Extra points: Red Wolves and Hurricane movin’ on up
The Red Wolves travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face No. 17 Michigan (1-1), fresh off their 31-12 loss to Texas at The Big House on Saturday. Good luck to the Red Wolves. Arkansas State introduced four starting players from Michigan among their starters last Saturday. Their Homecoming will not be heart-felt by over 100,000 Wolverine fans. Tulsa takes a bus trip over an hour away to Stillwater, OK to play No. 13 Oklahoma State (2-0). The Cowboys return from their 39-31 double-OT win at Arkansas.
As for our continuing saga
BYU defense seen in action against Virginia in the Cougars 66-49 win when we attended at Provo in 2022.
We at Collegefootballfan.com take our first football excursion on a flight for our first time to see another team of Cowboys play. These Cowboys from Wyoming got off to a slow start his season. At 0-2, they fell hard at Arizona State, 48-7, in Week One. Despite the lower score, the fell even harder at home to FCS Idaho last weekend, 17-13. Their incoming opponent is no slouch. BYU comes calling with a record of 2-0. They won over Southern Illinois and SMU, a top 25 team in many preseason polls.
Like Arkansas State last week, this will only be our second game seeing the Wyoming Cowboys. In 2005, St. Laurie and I watched them play UNLV on cold night in the desert at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. A botched extra point was their downfall to the Rebels in overtime, 49-48. This lasts as a very memorable excursion. You can read about it in my book, Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. Click on the title to enjoy that adventure and all the others over so many years!
Agriculture and the school itself dominate the Jonesboro aura. Arkansas State sits on a beautiful campus with very nice athletic facilities. Allison Field at Centennial Bank Stadium is a great place to watch a ballgame. Sorry to say my camera battery died for some reason before the game even started. Very disappointed here that I could not record the action and the beauty of a game here in photos on a crisp, clear evening. The school seems to be building a fun game atmosphere on game days in the stadium. The Red Wolves will be a team to be reckoned with in the Sun Belt after its next two games at Michigan and at Iowa State.
My host Rick Selak (Auburn ’80) and I enjoyed the local good ole Buffalo Wild Wings® despite not getting to watch his alma mater’s game on TV there. Nixed by the ESPN contract to show certain games outside their primary markets. We did enjoy the spirit of the Arkansas Razorback fans who cheered their team into OT against Oklahoma State there. They left right after the loss to Oklahoma State. It was fun for us while they lasted. In the end, Rick wasn’t too happy either. His Tigers fell to the Cal Bears at home, 21-14. Still on the Pacific Coast, the University of California of Berkley near San Francisco Bay plays now in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Geography is no longer essential to college education.
Jonesboro, Arkansas – This non-conference Group of Five showdown tops no lists of essential games for Week Two of college football. However, based on the results of both teams’ openers last week, excitement could fill Centennial Bank Stadium from start to finish in this contest. Both squads play for coaches who both stepped down from Power Five programs the last few years. In his fourth season, Arkansas State HC Butch Jones looks to resurrect his reputation after stints at Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Tennessee. His Red Wolves (1-0) improved in 2023 from 3-9 to 6-6 before a Camellia Bowl loss to Northern Illionois, 21-19. Kevin Wilson coached Indiana from 2011-16 and returns for his second season at Tulsa. There, he looks to revive The Golden Hurricane from a 4-8 season a year ago. Both have hit the recruiting trails hard. Jones is probably ahead in that race with a two more years at ASU. He may be feeling the pressure now to bring the Red Wolves to challenge for the Sun Belt title this season.
Last week, the Red Wolves took a lead over FCS Central Arkansas early in the fourth at home by a score of 27-10. However, The Bears scored on an 81-yard TD run, finished off an 83-yard scoring drive, and recovered an ASU fumble. They drove 33 yards to take a 31-27 lead with 0:55 left to play. Led by QB Jaylen Raynor, the Red Wolves stormed back 70 yards polished of by a seven-yard TD pass to WR Corey Rucker for the victory with :02 remaining. We hope to see something similar at our first game in the state of Arkansas.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane breezed through these Demons
On the other hand, at Skelly Field in H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Frosh QB Kirk Francis completed 23 of 30 passes for 299 yards and four TDs. Tulsa triumphed in a 62-28 win over FCS Northwestern (LA) State. The win may not sound impressive, but Francis played the last four games of 2023 finishing 1-3 to allow him to redshirt. He returns this season with skilled position players like RB Anthony Watkins, WR Kamdyn Bejamin and TE Ethan Hall. However, they virtually anticipated playing behind an inexperienced line to start 2024. Maybe some questions were answered last week. Regarding special teams, the Golden Hurricane scored twice. One came on Benjamin’s 66-yard punt return for a TD in the first period. A second lit up the stadium on a 100-yard kickoff return by Lloyd Avant. We hope to see the same excitement this Saturday night at CB Stadium.
In 2018, Tulsa WR Jarion Anderson was met by a host of Temple defenders after this short reception.
Our Tulsa and Arkansas State history
This will only be our second game seeing the Red Wolves in action. Our first and only came at a big tailgate party against Army at West Point in November 2005. We ran a bus trip for our local Lenape Arrows pee-wee football program. A lot of families with 12-year-old players attended. The Cadets won, 38-10. As for Tulsa, we saw them play for the first time a year later. They defeated Navy in Annapolis, 24-23, in the first overtime game we witnessed. Though we’ve seen them play much more often than Arkansas State, they have not won their second game since. Their record in front of us stands at 1-5. Maybe that will make them hungrier on Saturday – if they only knew. Come back and read our game review on Monday!
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America ; Author of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. Please click on the title for more information to read reviews, buy this book about a fun, unique story of a lifetime, and then to also submit a review. Appreciate it! Thanks.
In the same season a few weeks later, we saw Tulsa QB Seth Boomer make his debut on the road again against the Houston Cougars.
Tallahassee, FL – The BC Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead over No. 15 Florida State (0-2) in the second period. Had not Treshaun Ward dropped a pass when wide open for a first down on a third on BC’s first series, the lead could have been, 21-0. Didn’t matter! However, what did matter occurred when FSU went three-and-out in its first three possessions. The Boston College defense held the Florida State offense to 21 yards on the ground on 16 carries. In the end, the BC dominated the game clock, aka “time of possession.” They held the football for 39:01 compared to the Seminoles’ 20:59. That’s big!
In the first quarter, though DJ Uiagalelei’s receivers look to get open here, the Seminoles went three and out on their first three offensive series. This pass was beautifully broken up by a BC Eagle defender.
The game ended more one-sided than the final score indicates. The BC Eagles refrained from another score at the end by holding back from scoring easily on its final drive. Once they took a knee and, on several occasions, fell to the ground just to keep the clock running. By the way, we hate the two-minute warnings. All these do are add six more minutes for advertisements. Enough! This isn’t the pro game, yet.
Read all about the BC Eagles!
As stated in preseason reports regarding this game, we envisioned new BC Eagle HC Bill O’Brien and QB Thomas Castellanos as reasons the Eagles could challenge this highly-rated Florida State team. Also noted was a comment by a friend close to the program saying O’Brien’s camp methodologies had the Boston College players mentally prepped for their opener.
BC Eagle QB Thomas Castellanos gets good blocking up front by his offensive line loaded with potential pro talent. Behind them, the team ran for 263 yards and two TDs. Castellanos completed 10 of 16 for 106 yards and two scores. He ran for 73 yards.
Despite Ward’s early drop, he, who played for the Seminoles from 2019-2022, rushed for 77 yards, caught passes for 101, and crossed the goal line once. The BC Eagles also feature a very strong offensive line. As reported in Phil Steele’s College ’24 Football Preview, they have three potential pro draft picks up front – C Dave Kendall, LG Logan Taylor and RT Ozzy Trapilo. There may be some more potential Sunday prospects among other current BC Eagle linemen.
And more…
Our further preseason analysis of Florida State also rang true. We mentioned that their QB DJ Uiagalelei did not impress us when we saw him play for Clemson in 2022. This evening’s performance did not impress us once again. He misfired many times, completing 21 of 42 pass attempts. His 272 yards and one TD could have improved had TE Kyle Morlock not have muffed several very catchable passes. Bad night for him.
Boston College DE Donovan Ezeiruaku recorded two of three sacks of Uiagalelei in this ACC contest.
At 0-2 already in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Seminoles look done as prospects for the brand new 12-team playoff format. Despite only one game thus far, Boston College could be considered for contention. They’ll face No. 9 Missouri in two weeks. In conference play, Louisville and SMU look like their two most formidable obstacles for a shot at the ACC title game.
Eagles start second quarter scoring
After a scoreless first quarter, two consecutive BC Eagle drives of 71 and 68 yards resulted respectively in a five-yard scoring run by Castellanos and his 18-yard scoring strike to Ward. A shanked BC punt by Sam Candotti granted great field position to FSU at the Eagle 35. From there, they netted only eight yards, however. They settled for Ryan Fitzgerald’s conversion from 31 yards out. He then closed the first half scoring with a 24-yarder with 25 ticks left it the first half to trail, 14-6.
Castellanos (1) breaks the ice with the first score of the game on his four-yard run early in the second quarter.
BC Eagles finish third quarter scoring
The second half started with an errant pass by Uiagalelei. Boston College CB Max Tucker picked it off and raced 58 yards to the FSU seven. RB Kyle Robichaux took it over from there. Florida State finally put six points on the board with three consecutive pass completions. The last two went to Kentron Poitier for 29 yards each, the second for the score.
BC came right back. They ran the ball for all 60 yards following a 15-yard unsportsmanlike added to the touchback. Robichaux took it over again from five yards for his second score among 85 rushing yards. The score stood, 28-13, at the end of three. The BC Eagle defense held the FSU Seminoles deep in their territory with a turnover on downs and forcing two punts after being held to short drives. Though considered an upset with FSU as a heavy favorite (-16.5) the BC Eagles demonstrated they were the better team early in 2024. We believe it’s a credit to Bill O’Brien. He’s learned much as an assistant under Nick Saban as his offensive coordinator.
Another great college football tradition witnessed by Collegefootballfan.com this weekend: Florida State’s Chief Osceola on his horse, Renegade.
Week Two Action coming up
FSU has a bye next week. They’ll host Mike Norvell’s previous program, Memphis. With QB Seth Henigan returning for his senior year after a 10-3 season in Craig Silverfield’s fifth year there as head coach, they will challenge to be a top program among this year’s Group of Five. Over-rated FSU could be 0-3 after this one. The BC Eagles host FCS Duquesne before their big meeting at SEC contender Missouri.
Collegefootballfan.com finished its fourth game in five days! Next Saturday seems so far away now. We’ll see Tulsa (1-0) of the American Athletic Conference at a much-improved Sun Belt Squad, Arkansas State (1-0). Both defeated FCS schools in their openers, but the ASU Red Wolves only bested Central Arkansas by a score of 31-28. This will be our first game in Jonesboro and only our second witnessing the Red Wolves. Also, it will be our first game in the state of Arkansas. We look forward to the 6PM (CDT) kickoff.
Extra Points
We just attended our first game ever at Doak Campbell Stadium on the FSU campus as well. Once inside the brick façade, the infrastructure underneath and the floor layout look exactly the same as Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.
Comfortable bleacher seats with individual taut, but flexible, netting over aluminum seats was a nice touch for fans. Never experienced these before. Colder climates in the north may not be able to accommodate the same.
Doak Campbell brings us up to a total of 90 FBS stadiums attended to date. That number is among 182 overall that we’ve attended including D2, DIII, FCS and neutral site venues. With two more schools joining the FBS next season, we have 45 more to visit. One of the two new FBS upstarts will be Delaware. We’ve been at UD Stadium many times, but now we’ll have to see an FBS contest to add it to our “official” count. Will we ever be able to attend every FBS venue? Only the Good Lord knows for sure.
Good questions
It was mostly a game of futility played by the Seminoles against the BC Eagles. Seminole fans are already disappointed and frustrated.
Met a few fans at the game sitting who took note of my long-time adventure. One asked if I thought of all the games I attended (685), was this possibly the worst performance I’d seen by a ranked team at home. At first, I said that I couldn’t remember any others similar to this, but it could be in the top five. There might be a Penn State game in there, but there are so many. I may have to give this more thought, but the more I think about it, this was pretty bad. As the home team, Florida State came out playing poorly right from the start for a highly ranked preseason favorite. I still want to review history and see if anything else jumps out. Now, I doubt it.
A woman amongst them, a self-proclaimed great sports fan, asked me who was the greatest play I’d ever seen. Well, there are so many, and one jumped into my head that no one would have recognized. Besides, my mind went blank remembering only the player had a very unique name. And it was about 20 years ago, but the general story was there, but I couldn’t come up with details. Now at home on the computer, I knew right where to look. That stood out. It’s remembered only because it was just the most outstanding performance by an individual that always stuck out. My young son Eric at the time (9 years old) and his cousins and my brothers-in-law joined me for one of my Thanksgiving Saturday games after we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast in Rhode Island.
Over from the Rough, then Ready
DB Diamond Ferri of Syracuse made tackle after tackle against this same Boston College program in the first period in November 2004. Later in the first half, after two starting RBs sidelined due to injuries, he went out on offense and had a big day replacing them. He ran 28 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Ferri also continued to play defense. He intercepted Freshman QB Matt Ryan’s pass in the fourth quarter. He returned it for a 44-yard touchdown. Definitely the best overall performance I’d seen by one player in a game. SU defeated BC, 43-17, in a big upset that Thanksgiving weekend and knocked the BC Eagles out of Fiesta Bowl contention.
Putting that memory in perspective, I gave her a different answer based on a player she would know. Based on his Heisman performance blasting Oklahoma in the CFP Peach Bowl of 2019, 63-28, I told her Joe Burrow. Maybe these two aren’t the GOAT’s (yet in Burrow’s case), but they were both outstanding individual performances I will never forget.
Pregame Seminole cheer at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Back to the future
We will see both teams again later this season. As a matter of fact, on two consecutive nights. On Thursday October 17, we head to Blacksburg, Virginia for see the BC Eagles take flight against the Virginia Tech Hokies. The following night, we head back down to Duke University in Durham to see FSU take on Duke. And to keep the Navy-Notre Dame on target the following weekend as Game # 700, we will attend a Division 2 game on the afternoon of October 19 for Game # 699 – Tusculum at Mars Hill in North Carolina. Definitely two first timers on our slate.
Ed. by Steve Koreivo -Member of Football Writers Association of America
Murfreesboro, TN – For the sake of time, this finished in thrilling fashion and Middle Tennessee won, 32-25. The game started just before 9 pm. The 3-hour delay came after much rain and thunder boomers. I woke up to leave Durham NC at 5:15 am that morning. Plane left late, of course. Got back to HQs after 9:30 am. Worked on reports for our two previous games.
Headed out to a pregame meal in Murfreesboro with St. Laurie to catch up on action at Sam’s Sports Grill. Got to Red Floyd Stadium on the MTSU campus in time to find people already waiting under cover for inclement weather. Teams came out at 6 pm to stretch. Emergency alerts announced went right back in. Everybody sought cover. We sat in the MTSU Coliseum until after 7:30. The band entertainment turned out to be pretty boring.
Outside, too went to take notes. Didn’t come prepared for foul, wet weather. Stayed, watched, we saw. No time to report the details. Got home past midnight. Need to do other things on Sunday. Packed and planned for 7-hour drive on Monday To Tallahassee.. Taking a rain-check on writing about this one.
Middle Tennessee cheerleaders of previous seasons.
On to Tallahassee. MTSU plays four more games on our slate this season. We will write more then. Looking forward to Boston College at Florida State on Monday night. Hopefully, we’ll be back on the ball Tuesday night!
Durham, NC – The Duke Blue Devils recorded eight sacks, and its first team defense held the FCS Elon Phoenix to merely 86 total yards and no points. Duke’s second team defense allowed 54 yards and a field goal in the final two minutes of play. Until then, the Blue Devil defense dominated under New HC Manny Diaz to win, 26-3. The new HC served as former Defensive Coordinator at Penn State the last two seasons.
The “Manny” of the Hour (in white shirt): the Duke Blue Devils introduce their new Head Coach, Manny Diaz to his first Game Day at Wallace Wade Stadium. Our first game here, too!
Offensively, the Blue Devils struggled behind their vaunted, Texas transfer Maalik Murphy at quarterback. He missed many open targets and threw one interception despite completing 26 of 40 for 291 yards and two TDs. Many passes sailed over or past open targets. To Elon’s credit, their defense hit hard and kept the Blue Devil offense in check for most to the game.
Blue Devils score first, but start slowly
Murphy’s first drive as a starting college QB began from the 25. It resulted in a 32-yard FG by Tom Pelino, his first of two this evening. Pressure against Elon came early and often from Duke’s defensive front. Multiple sacks of Phoenix QB Matthew Downing came from their entire front seven, but DE Vincent Anthony downed him for key losses twice. They held Downing to 11 completions for only 72 yards. The entire unit reordered 16 tackles for losses while holding the Phoenix to 30 rushing yards. Guest Game Analyst Joe Massimilla and I noted the Phoenix averaged 1.7 yards per play before the second teams scrimmaged at the end.
Elon punter Jeff Yurk punted magnificently to keep the Blue Devils out of better-than-expected position. On seven kicks, he averaged 51.9 yards. Three fell inside the 20, and he boomed one for 60 yards. Midway through the second period, Joe stated, “This doesn’t seem like a 3-0 game. Duke should be winning by much more.” Despite their backs to the wall and no offense generated to overcome the Duke D, they allowed yards but no Blue Devils’ TDs. Combined with Murphy’s errant passes, they held Duke to 59 rushing yards.
A familiar scene at Wallace Wade this evening: a Blue Devil tackle for loss and pressure on Downing (12).
Devils’ details
In the second quarter, it even looked like the Blue Devils caught a break on a bad snap to Yurk. They took over at the Elon 45. However, stingy Elon held. They took the ball back over on downs at their own 28. The Phoenix offense failed to deliver, however, as PK Jack Berkowitz’s 49-yard FG attempt bounced back off the crossbar. With 1:44 left in the first half, the Elon scoring failure seemed to spark a flame under the Blue Devil offense. Murphy finally connected on a long pass play for 55 yards to Eli Pancol to the EU seven. From there, Jacquez Moore swept around the left end for a score to put Duke up, 10-0 at the half.
RB Jacquez Moore sweeps left for seven-yard TD near the end of the first half for a 10-0 Duke lead.
To begin the second half, the home team started the second half same as the first. Pelino converted from 42 for three more and a 13-0 lead. After exchanging three punts, and Elon losing four yards on consecutive drives, the Blue Devils took over at their 49. A 47-yard pass from Murphy to Jordan Moore put the Devils on the Elon one. There, he connected with TE Jeremiah Hasley for the score. A two-point conversion pass failed.
Duke QB Maalik Murphy lofts a long pass to Jordan Moore that sets up a third quarter score.
Fight to the finish
Behind 19-0, Elon lost four yards once again before punting. Defensively, they still held Duke in check. They forced a turnover on downs and DB Caleb Curtain picked a Murphy pass at the Duke 45. Of course, the Blue Devil defense allowed the Phoenix to go nowhere and forced a turnover on downs as well. They took over from their 37. They drove to the EU seven where Murphy connected with Eli Pancol for the score to make it, 26-0. Thereafter, clean uniforms came in to play and with fourteen seconds left, Elon avoided the shutout, 26-3.
Blue Devil cheerleaders had a lot to smile about this evening. We plan to see them and their team two more times this season – once more here and another time on the road.
Nobody asked, but…
I’m not a coach but a great fan, and student, of college football. Joe and I had ongoing conversations about what we saw. Granted, Elon football at the FCS level does not have the funds to compete with Group of Four teams regularly. Talent recruited is not equal. However, as a coaching staff, you need to give your players tools to challenge as best they can. The Phoenix defense stepped up to the challenge in our view. Offensively, the play calling was unimaginative. Basic running plays and short passes – sometimes successful if thrown quickly. QB Downing was constantly under pressure. Sometimes staying on the ground seemed more effective, but eventually fizzled. They never used the runs to set up passes.
Maybe I oversimplify things. It just seemed no strategy came to light to use “play-action.” I would think that some of these plays would already be in a team’s portfolio. Fake the hand-off, make the line hesitate, relieve the pressure and find open receivers. Nothing like that ever happened. There seemed to be a solution, but there was not strategy for this situation at all. I couldn’t understand that.
Not only did Rushawn Baker pick up positive yards on this play for the Phoenix, but a first down as well. More of this with some play action would have been nice to see from an offensive perspective for Elon.
Extra points
Duke travels to play Northwestern (1-0) at their temporary home stadium somewhere near Evanston, Illinois next Saturday. Last season, Duke whipped them, 38-14. Elon (0-1) returns to Durham on the road to face the North Carolina Central Eagles at nearby O’Kelly Riddick Stadium. Yesterday’s attendance, our first game ever at Wallace Wade Stadium on the Duke campus, totaled 18,466. We will return there again to see Duke play Florida State on October 18. However, we see the Blue Devils play again before that on September 21. They make an unusual Power Four visit to Murfreesboro against Middle Tennessee State where we have a season ticket package. Speaking of which, that is where we head next. MTSU opens there Saturday against Tennessee Tech.
Luck with Blue Devils
First, our trek to Durham met with clouds, rain and thunder. When I met GGA Joe Massimilla at his home, he spouted, “Where’d this coming from?” It hadn’t had rain in the area in weeks. The showers arrived unexpectedly. Nothing reported on our cell phones prior. On our way over to Wallace Wade together, the rain subsided. On the beautiful Duke campus, we found to our astonishment, actual “free” general parking. We took the shuttle bus from there closer to the stadium. We had yet to come upon the greatest “luck” of all.
Not the best of pictures, but it shows one aspect of Wallace Wade that Joe noted did not change since he’d been here: the distance of the visitor locker rooms from the stadium. It probably gives the Blue Devils a five-minute advantage during halftime meetings.
We had to ask directions to find the main ticket office. Joe hadn’t been to a game there in 20 years when his kids were in grade school. Much had been changed and upgraded. Joe was even shocked to find that paper tickets were no longer available. I was shocked at that. One reason I decided not to buy in advance for this one was to avoid those overpriced fees. I was even ready to pay cash, but I never found out if that was an option.
Thanks Josh!
As we joined a very short line for tickets, Joe and I were approached by a Blue Devils fan who asked if we needed tickets. In this day of advanced technology wiping out paper tickets, I never experienced being approach by someone with tickets available. It turned out that Josh Toman had several tickets he couldn’t use because some friends and family members weren’t available because they attended a high school game. He asked for no money and was happy if someone would use them. I’ve had that happen a few times. I’ve felt the same way – somebody can use these. I hate to see extras go to waste. I provided him my email, and Joe and I had two tickets thanks to Josh for this game.
Of course, he made sure we were rooting for his Blue Devils. Of course, I turned my Wake Forest hat on backwards and smiled, “Sure.” I didn’t explain that I wore that this evening in case it rained. My “collegefootballfan.com” hat has been battered through the last five-six years and it’s time to be replaced. I have to update the “130” count any way. Also, my WFU buddy Bug had recently told me, referring to his Deacs, “Nobody hates us!” Probably because of all those lean years of Wake Forest football. This evening, I figured the WFU hat wouldn’t offend the denizens of Wallace Wade Stadium.
Go Duke Blue Devils, this evening
Funny thing, my cell battery was low, so I told Joe let’s just go right in. We toured around a little and headed into the stadium to check our seats. We entered our gate and kept going down and down to the tenth row – on the 50-yard-line! I fumbled around with my light jacket in case of rain and transferred camera, pencils, notepad and phone etc. between it and all my pockets for recording this adventure. As doing that at my new-found seat, I heard someone behind me at field level yell, “Steve!” Who the heck from Duke here knew me? There, walking behind the bench was Josh. At first, I didn’t recognize him. He had this big smile on his face and we exchanged waves. As you can see from the photos here, we had great seats! Unbelievable.
Another benefit of the seats Josh gave us – we got to meet Duke’s “Hard Hat Guys.” Matt, in the foreground here, told us they’d been to every Blue Devil game, home and away, except for two since 2014. Nice guys, maybe we will catch up at a future game as well.
You never know who you’ll meet at these games. Like Josh, we’ve met so many other great people randomly at college games over the years. It’s what really makes this adventure going to all these games for so many years an incredible journey! It’s really been worth all the time, money and effort spent to do this. Enjoy these tales in my book, Fifty years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly! Warning: It’s mostly about the Good and the Fun.
-ed. by Steve Koreivo Member of Football Writers Association of America
Winston-Salem, NC – After sitting out his team’s first offensive series, QB Hank Bachmeier earned his place as starter for the Demon Deacons. Michael Kern preceded him with a three-and-out. Thereafter, Bachmeier passed for 263 yards and three touchdowns to put the Deacons past the Aggies in openers for both teams, 45-13. WR Taylor Morin performed as his top receiver with six receptions for 100 yards.
However, Morin turned Wake Forest’s momentum early in the third period with his exciting 73-yard punt return to lead, 24-10. He cut all the way across the field from the right sideline and set sail along the left to cross the goal line. On the next Deacon possession, Bachmeier connected with Morin for 51-yard pass to the Aggie 22. With that, Bachmeier’s five-yard TD pass to diving Horatio Fields built the Wake lead, 31-10.
Taylor Morin (2) electrifies Demon Deacon fans as he finished 73-yard punt return for a 24-10 lead early in the third.
Bachmeier leads Deacs to the end
Later in the third, the Demon Deacs capped a 90-yard drive with Bachmeier’s four-yard scoring pass to Horatio Fields. NC A&T broke the Wake scoring string with Andrew Brown’s 51-yard FG for the Aggies to get 13 on the scoreboard. Bachmeier played to the end. RB Tate Carney closed out the final score to 45-13 with a two-yard TD run. Demond Claibourne led the Deac running attack with 17 carries for 135 yards. He scored the game’s first TD on a seven-yard run to finish Bachmeier’s first drive under center.
Kenji Christian and Wesley Graves tallied 121 and 70 rushing yards respectively for A&T. Christian’s 21-yard score in the first and Brown’s 38-yard FG early in the second gave the Aggies an early 10-7 lead. Once Bachmeier found his rhythm on offense, the Deacs started to control. They led at the half, 17-10, before Morin’s explosion. Junior S Nick Anderson led the Demon Deac defense in tackles with 14, nine solo. Guest Game Analysts Jim “Bug” (Wake Forest) and Courtenay Harton noted that Anderson made their team as a walk-on. He played soccer in high school. Never played football prior to playing for the Deacs.
QB Hank Bachmeier leaves the pocket for one of his few rushing attempts in Friday night’s game.
Extra points
Wake hosts ACC foe Virginia next week in another night game at Truist Field. NC A&T hosts the Winston-Salem Rams in nearby Greensboro before their first Colonial Atlantic game against Delaware. Collegefootballfan.com would continue its first weekend ACC road trip to see Duke host Elon on Friday night.
Before Taylor Morin’s big punt return, “Bug” insisted he is “fearless.” Every time he fields a punt, he’s ready to catch it and go! Exciting punt returns ahead this season for Wake Forest fans.
Regarding QB Hank Bachmeier, we saw him perform last season for Louisiana Tech in a loss, 31-23. Wake Forest gives him more weapons to work with than LT. Friday night, we saw him run the Wake Run-pass option more like Sam Hartmann did two years ago than the QBs we saw face Florida State last year.
North Carolina A&T Marching Machine and Dance Line perform at halftime at Truist Field.
The NC A&T “Marching Machine” and Wake Forest’s Old Gold and Black performed together at halftime. The Machine impressed on its won and seemed to be the crowd favorite – loud and entertaining with their danced moves.
“Oh, here’s to Wake Forest!”
As their fight song starts… Their Deacons won their 12th game of 14 I’ve attended. Granted, A&T did not give them the challenges that many other squads witnessed did. However, I found that my dedication to the Wake Forest program paid off nicely. Bug’s buddy and fellow Wake alum “Goober” provided his ticket for me since he had hip surgery ten days ago. Hope he’s recovering well. At our pregame tailgate in the shadow of Truist Field, Earl Beasley (with 47 WFU nicknames) introduced Bug, his wife Courtenay and me to Mike Brown. Mike just happened to have tickets available for each of us in the Tower. Seats on the 50-yard line in the Flow Lexus Club atop the stadium. Great seats as guests of Wake Forest fandom! Can’t thank all involved enough.
Wake Forest HC Dave Clawson (in white shirt) returns to his sideline after meeting with his team. We first saw him coach Fordham in the FCS playoffs against Northeastern in 2002.
It talking with Mike near the end of the game, he noted that RB Tate Carney who scored is his neighbor. Tate’s brother Cade also played FB for the Deacons during the past few years. Mike mentions that their father pays HC Dave Clawson with the highest compliment a coach could ever have. He said he was told if there is any coach a parent wants their son playing college football for, Dave Clawson is your man!
