It’s been 72 hours and I’m still wondering what the heck I just saw.
Yes, having season tickets to Texas A&M Football has its perks. I’ve always joked I am a glutton for punishment for having them, but no matter what, like every good football fan I continue to believe and return to experience whatever happens in 60 minutes of timed play.
And the occasional seven overtimes that follow.
Again, what in the world did I just witness at Kyle Field? Aggies 74, LSU 72.
In five words: the greatness of college football. There is no matching it. The NFL can’t touch it. Movies are scripted. All-out craziness and improbability are not.
Several have asked me if this was the greatest college football game I have ever seen. In some ways it was, to a large degree. The Bonfire Game vs. Texas in 1999 still ranks No. 1 on my list, an emotional experience I was able to watch in the stands with my father that was more than football. The 2012 Aggie victory at Alabama was incredible as Johnny Manziel had his Heisman Moment. But those two games had expectations and hope for something special entering the contests. This one came out of nowhere.
Little did I know that midway through the fourth quarter, when my Battered Aggie Syndrome flared up (yes it’s a thing) as LSU took a 31-24 lead, that we were about to witness history. And some good old-fashioned fun.
I thought the turning point in the game might have been the LSU muffed punt in the third quarter. Then it looked like the Tigers’ scoop and score on a Trayveon Williams fumble early in the fourth might be it. The truth is that this one had about 18 turning points, all parts of a game that will be remembered for years.
With only 36 ticks left in regulation and no timeouts, Kellen Mond’s knee grazing the grass on a dropped snap nullified an interception seconds later. The play sent many Aggies quickly to the exits prior to knowing it would be reviewed and reversed. Thousands more turned their TV off or changed the channel, and many of them missed parts or all of what was to come over the next hour and a half. Here’s just one of many posts from the TexAgs.com message boards of people who turned the game off:
“I had to drive from Houston to Corpus at 4AM. When Mond threw the int, I closed my laptop and went to sleep pissed off at another missed opportunity. My phone was on the charger on silent so I missed all of the notifications. Got up at 3:30 and saw on the ESPN push notification A&M 74 LSU 72. Immediately I thought did the basketball teams play last night as well? Looked at texags and proceeded to wake the wife up with an assortment of expletives from the closet… I watched the entire rest of the game on DVR right then. I would have had a stroke if I had stayed up to watch in real time. Glad we won.”
My son Bobby was having none of that; we weren’t going anywhere. Of course now he takes complete credit for why we stayed, and I’ll let him have that. Anyway, back to the game.
Officiating in the game has been questioned by some (many from LSU), and I get it, I’ve been there – but show me someone who is complaining about calls in a game that was lost and I will show you a loser. Jackie Sherrill once said, “If you’re not good enough to beat the stripes then you weren’t good enough to win the game.”
By the way, LSU is still off-sides from the 2014 game. Get over it boys. I did.
You Tigers had us at fourth-and-18 late in the fourth quarter (first down). Then you allowed another first down catch to the 19 with five seconds left (not three – watch the tape). Mond did, in fact, spike the ball to beat the clock out; maybe instead of complaining about one second left or not, try stopping us from scoring to tie the game? Mond, Jace Sternberger, Quartney Davis, Otara Alaka, Daylon Mack and Kendrick Rogers simply said no. And kudos to LSU for bringing a stellar effort themselves, especially Joe Burrow (that guy is tough as nails). These teams traded blow after blow in the overtimes; it was a marathon boxing match waiting for someone to flinch. The Tigers finally did.
Saturday night was epic. I managed to take a step back in the middle of the craziness (say maybe a timeout in the fifth overtime), smile as I looked around Kyle Field and realize that this is why we watch. This is why we spend the money. This is why I drive three hours down from Dallas and three hours back.
It’s the camaraderie and tradition. It’s singing the Spirit of Aggieland and making noise on every defensive snap. I’ve never really graduated and it certainly didn’t seem like that game was ever going to end.
But it did. Somehow the Aggies won that game. It happens every year and it should teach you never to leave the game early or turn the TV off. You just might miss history. But witnessing it makes singing the Aggie War Hymn with your son a little sweeter at midnight.
Thanks and Gig ‘em.
