LARGETONY Blog

I swear football is going to be the death of me. My heart just can’t take it. Tennessee chalked up its second win of the season on Saturday. Just barely.

I’ve been under the weather all weekend, so I didn’t try to go to the game. That didn’t bother me too much because I thought , “It’s Air Force. Not one of the big games.” It wasn’t even being televised, except for pay-per-view. As much as I love winning big, the games where you run all over a team are actually less interesting to watch. So, I listened on the radio. I was late tuning in because I was trying to nap my way back to health. I was shocked to find that late in the first quarter, Tennessee had started slow and was now behind 10-3. What??? Maybe last week’s romping of California was just a freak thing. Maybe this was the same lackluster team we had last year.

But, no. Listening to the game, I found that Tennessee was actually playing very well. It’s just that Air Force was a better team than we had thought. Particularly their offense, who was giving Tennessee’s defense fits all night. And our defense is GOOD!

But, but by late in the third quarter, the Vols were beating Air Force Academy by two touchdowns (31-17) and about to make it three to put a cap on the game. Then it happened. Interception. Oh, my heart.
Air Force had the ball now…and they were likely to score…and there was just enough time for them to have probably one more possession (and score) which would tie the game if we did not score on our next possession.
They did manage a scoring drive after that and brought the game within one touchdown and an extra point. 31-24. Oh, my poor heart.

At this point Air Force just needed to get their hands on the ball just one more time. With a touchdown and the extra point, they would tie the game and send it into overtime. They needed to make sure we didn’t have a chance to score, and that they did. There was only one way to make sure of that. They had to be sucessful with an onside kick.

For those of you who don’t know (Most of you, I realize) I will put it in the simplest way I can. After a team scores, they kick the ball off to the opposing team to determine where on the field the receiving team starts it’s play. An onside kick is a short kick that would allow the kicking team to retrieve the ball, and maintain possession. Air Force was kicking, and wanted to have posession of the ball again, so…onside kick.

Everybody knew it it was coming. Everybody knew they would attempt that. That’s what anybody would do in this situation. It’s a pretty surefire way of getting the ball back. Everybody knew…Everybody except the Vols, it seems.

Air Force was successful with their onside kick, maintained possession, and set up a series of drives that took them downfield to score…or did they? Just as the ball was going into the end zone, there was maybe a fumble by Air Force. I say maybe because even though one of the referees signaled touchdown for Air Force, another ref was following a Tennessee defensive guy who was streaking back down field with the ball to cross the other goal line. Well..somebody scored. Them…or us? The play had to be reviewed and my heart pounded while we waited.

It was ruled that the Air Force player had control of the ball when he “broke the plane” of the goal line…which is all that matters in a touchdown. You just have to break the plane in control. If you lose control afterwards, it’s not ruled a fumble. That bullet hit us. Air Force scored. 31-30.

So now what? Does Air Force go for the extra point kick and tie the game at 31-31? That’s a risk because Tennessee still has enough time on the clock to score. Or do they go for a 2-point conversion (the ball is run or passed, not kicked) and jump ahead 32-31 and hope they can stop Tennessee’s final possession?

They decided on the 2-point conversion. Their offense had been very successful all night in these short yardage situations. They could all but gurantee themselves two points..so why go for just one? My heart was now crawling out of my chest. But the Vols defense stepped up and stuffed Air Force, denying them any more points.

Now with a minute and half left in the game, there is still time enough to score. Same situation as before. Air Force wants the ball back and wants to make sure Tennessee doesn’t get it. Go back to the onside kick scenario. Everybody knew it it was coming. Everybody knew they would attempt that. That’s what anybody would do in this situation. It’s a pretty surefire way of getting the ball back. Everybody knew…Everybody except the Vols, again! Just rip my heart out and step on it like a second grader with a ketchup packet.

Once again, Air Force easily gained possession from the onside kick, and had time to score and win. But what was that little yellow hanky on field? No, the refs are not into water sports. Well..I guess maybe they could be, but I don’t know. The yellow hanky in football represents a penalty. The penalty was an offsides call against Air Force. I won’t explain offsides…just suffice to say, that call helped Tennessee dodge the fatal bullet, because Air Force had to re-do the kick.

Thankfully, this time Tennesse was ready for th onside kick and took possession. From there Tennessee just ground out the last few seconds of the clock to go home winners. Barely.

During the game, they often give updates of other games around the nation. Particularly within the conference. I have to tell you, it was tough hearing how other SEC teams where stomping all over their opponents. Georgia shut out South Carolina 18-0, Auburn shut out Mississippi State 34-0, Florida shut out Central Florida 42-0, and LSU almost shut out Arizona 45-3. And we just squeaked by Air Force. But I do think we had the toughest opponent of all those games, and you know what they say..a win is a win. And it’s pretty typical of Tennessee to pull of the “ugly” win. I guess it shows our guys play with heart until the bitter end. But all that heart is destroying mine.

UPDATE: 6:30 Sunday Evening.

The polls are out and Tennessee dropped only two places in the AP poll from #11 to #13. Stayed at #17 on the Coaches Poll. Next week, we’re up against arch rival, #7 ranked Florida. No matter where either is ranked, it’s always THE game of the year. This game not only has impications in rankings, but also will go toward determining the winner of our division.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 10th, 2006 at 1:02 pm 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.