LARGETONY Blog

You all know that old saying that good things come to those who wait. Well, I have waited for four Saturdays, plus two extra days (postponement due to Hurricane Rita). I have waited through two and a half games (that’s ten quarters of of football) for the Vols to play like a team that held a pre-season ranking of #3.

The Vols went down to Baton Rouge to play LSU Monday night and immediately fell into the lackluster and self-destructive style of play of the previous two games (one of which they barely won over AUB and the other which they lost to Florida.) Once again, Sophomore quarterback Eric Ainge was given the starting quarterback position even though backup quarterback Rick Clausen is more proven in actual games (apparantly Ainge has been superior in practice). And by halftime LSU was on their way to shutting out Tennessee with the score at that point 21-0.

Following halftime, that eleventh quarter (of the season, the third of this game) became the eleventh hour and finally the Vols showed up ready to play. Ainge had been benched and the backup, Clausen, was leading the huddles. I won’t bore all you non-football fans with the details, but by the time there were only 2 minutes left on the clock, Tennessee had come back to tie the game 24-24. The boys in orange didn’t just roll over. The played with enough grit and determination to force a team that held a 21 point lead for most of the game into overtime. Actually the Vols could have won the game on their last scoring drive if one of the receivers had not dropped a pass in a wide open field. He has a clear shot to run for a touchdown, which would have put Tennessee ahead instead of tying it with a field goal. Tennessee’s receivers have dropped so many passes this year (6 in this game alone) that I would swear that they are having fisting parties in the locker rooms, and just didn’t manage to clean all the Crisco off their paws.

While it would have been great to score the touchdown and let a grueling game (apparantly it was miserably hot and humid in baton Rouge) finallly come to an end, having the fourth quarter end with a tie made it all the more exciting. Besides, I been waiting for Tennessee to make the big plays for a month now. I could wait another ten minutes. (Or more….The NCAA changed the rules a few years back and there are no longer tie games in college football. They must play series of overtimes. If the tie is not broken after each team has a possession, then it goes into the next overtime. )

Those of you who don’t undertand football can think about it like this: Say you see at hot guy in a bar and you want him, but your friend wants him to. So you both agree to allow the other once chance to score with him. If all you manage to do is get his number, then it’s like a football team getting a field goal (3 points….a score, but not in a big way). If he invites you home, then it’s touchdown, baby! (6 points and the chance for an extra point—like maybe you get to stay for breakfast). So, if you both only get his number, then you’re still even, and you don’t want to deal with a player, so you move to the next guy (another overtime). Same thing if he rejects you both (no points) or he invites you both home (you both score, but you’re still even.)

So, in overtime, LSU had the first possession. They got real close to a hot tumble on a stranger’s sheets, but Tennessee held them back (i.e. cock-blocked them) and all LSU got was the digits. They get their 3 points for the field goal and it’s 27-24, LSU. Now, it’s Tennessee’s chance. They need to get the invite home or it’s on to another stud. LSU did some powerful cock-blocking of their own and it came down to what would be the last play of the game. The easy explanation: you have a certain number of plays in which to score a touchdown. If you don’t manage to, you have to attempt a field goal kick. (i.e. “you have to get up early? I understand. But can I get your number?”) Even though LSU danced all night with the stud while Tennessee couldn’t even get a second glance, in the end the Vols pounded their way to a touchdown. Yep, the Vols came back from 21 points behind to win it 30-27!

This is fucking movie material. And if the big comeback isn’t enough for Hollywood, then consider this: Rick Clausen, the backup quarterback who led the Vols to victory, actually started his college football career at LSU, but transferred from there to Tennessee because he was not thought to be good enough to play for the Tigers. And two years later, he beats them on their home field (breaking an 18-game home winning streak). Ain’t that something. I swear, irony gives me a bone. I love shit like that!

It probably ain’t really irony that primes the pump. There must be something about the rush of adrenaline I get from watching a game that makes me want to go out and do some damage. It makes sense…I know that after I work out, I wanna nail somebody. After I play basketball I wanna nail somebody. Oh, who am I kidding…I take out the trash and I wanna nail somebody. So when there’s adrenaline pumping through me, I really, really wanna nail somebody.

And this game reminded me of why I love college football. It’s not just because we won. I was the passion and excitement behind it all. Even if, after going into overtime, we had not managed to win, just the come-from behind determination made it a great game to watch.

I can only think of one other game that was as thrilling a win. It was when Tennessee beat Florida in 2001. Interestingly, that, too, was a game where Tennessee broke an opponent’s long home winning streak on their own field. It, too, was a game with a close score (34-32, Tennessee). It, too, was a game where Tennessee was the underdog. It, too, was a game quarterbacked by a Clausen (Rick’s older brother, Casey). And, it, too, was a game postponed from it’s original date. (The WTC disaster happened a few days before and all college football was cancelled that week.) Lordy, any more irony and I’m gonna bust my seams.

If we had lost, sure I would have been dissapointed. In fact, even before the season began I expected LSU to win this game. I thought this would be the one loss Tennessee suffered. Now, I just hope that the loss to Florida last week is the only one.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, time to empty the nail gun.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2005 at 3:19 am and is filed under football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.