LARGETONY Blog

One of the things I love most about football games is how momentum can swing back and forth from one team to the other. One of the things I hate most about football games is how momentum can swing back and forth from one team to the other.Lordy, how those momentum swings become mood swings.

I swear being a Tennessee football fan is going to make me a candidate for bipolar disorder.

At halftime Saturday night, the Vols were not just ahead in the score. They were winning. It was a 21-point game. Tennessee 21, South Carolina 0.

Two quarters later, by the time the game was a minute and a half from the clock running out, South Carolina had come back and were winning 24-21. The manic had become depression as we watch Tennessee fritter away what has looked like a sure win.

There is nothing higher than a football fan who’s team is winning. And the only thing lower than a fan who’s team is losing is a fan’s team that is losing when they’d had it won.

It’s a very surreal thing to see 100,000 people who, an hour before were grinning, high-fiving, and cheering, now frozen with shock in their bright orange wardrobe and painted faces; their paper shakers limp and silent in their fists.

The particulars are different for different fans, but we all tend to pass pretty quick through the first few stages of grief - shock, denial, bargaining, anger - and leap straight to depression. (Some get stuck on the bargaining stage. You’d be surprised how close to God some people become when football is on the line.)

The game was going to be our last chance at being in the hunt to finish first in our division. We had the chance last week at Alabama, but we blew it. But, earlier in the day, Mississippi State had taken care of Kentucky and Georgia had taken care of Florida. Tennessee needed to take care of South Carolina.

But every drive Tennessee had in the last quarter was “three and out.” (If you follow football, you know what that means. If you don’t, I ‘ll just say that the Vols were getting nowhere fast, and leave it at that.) That is until the final drive (that included a fumble that we recovered, a sack, and a penalty–talk about manic depression) that took us down field to 4th and 17 on the 31-yard line and down to 9 seconds on the clock. (For non-footballers, if we do not score on the next play, the game is over because either the clock will run out or South Carolina automatically gets the ball back and they will run the close out.)

The safest bet for scoring at this point would be to attempt a field goal kick(ball goes between the goal posts). That would tie the game and send it into over time and give us (unbelievably!) one more last chance. One more last chance that hinges on a 48 yard kick by a Freshman kicker when the game is on the line.

And it he did it! Tie game, 24-24.

The game went into overtime and Tennessee had the first possession. (In college football, each team gets one possession in overtime). Yet again we could not get a touchdown drive going, but scored on another field goal. This time a much easier one of 27 yards. Tennessee 27-SouthCarolina 24.

South Carolina then had possession and we teetered on the fence between manic and depression. South Carolina had been moving the ball well on us the last half of the game. A touchdown would win them the game. Somehow, Tennessee’s defense mustered the stops when it counted most and South Carolina was forced to go for a field goal, as well. If they make it, they tie the game again, and we go into second overtime.

Their kicker, Ryan Succop (yeah, it sounds like you think it does…can you imagine having a name like Succop and play for the Cocks [gamecocks]? The jokes are endless.) had a 40 yard attempt. He had done longer ones before, including a 49-yarder that had put the Gamecocks ahead of us in the first place.

My needle started drifting toward depressed and away from manic again, knowing he would nail the kick.

But he missed! The kick was no good!

Tennessee wins! (It’s interesting how the first stage of euphoria is the same as the first stage of grief: shock!) The depressed became the manic and the manic became the depressed.

And it became even harder to be a Succop.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 1:27 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.