The Bonus Game
With a business conference this week in Atlanta, I was able
to plan my annual SEC trip with my Seneca Valley Class of 81 High School Posse
to Mississippi State. More on that later. Knowing that I would be in Atlanta, I
broke out the DFT “game detector flux capacitor” in search of week night games.
The needle went green, and I noticed that Georgia Southern was hosting
Appalachian State on Thursday. So, naturally, I made plans to attend another
first time school with a meaningful matchup.
Georgia Southern was an FCS DI AA power much like North
Dakota State is now, having won 6 National Championships. In 2014 they moved up
to FBS Division 1A and joined the Sun Belt Conference. They have fared quite
well even winning the Conference Championship in 2014. Georgia Southern is in
the town of Statesboro, not too far from Savannah. The football program has
been active since 1981 after a 40 year hiatus. The team plays in Paulson Stadium
named after a well heeled donor. It was built in 1984 and currently seats 25,000 fans.
This would be a special night in Statesboro as they have a big rivalry with App
State who also recently matriculated from the FCS to the FBS level. App State
was just ranked #25 this past week in the latest poll. This is a rarity for Sun
Belt Conference teams.
Tailgating on a Thursday I am told does not truly represent
the “GA SO” vibe that you would get on Saturday. However, because it was their arch
rival and nationally ranked APP State coming to town, there was no shortage of
spirt and excitement. More on the overall experience in the Bieber section
below.
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| Starting with the Top Left and going clockwise, supporting breast cancer, the Eagle Walk, Freedom the eagle, on field action. |
The hatred is strong with these two teams as in Texas/OU or
OSU/Michigan strong. The student section I am told was as fired up as many a
fan have ever seen. Freedom the bald eagle circled the field and landed on his
handler’s arm before the game in an imitation of Auburn’s War Eagle. App State
All World QB Zac Thomas unfortunately was knocked out of the game early leaving the reigns
to two backup QBs who were inept at best. The Georgia Southern D had an answer
for every scheme and shut down the powerful mountaineers. Behind dual threat QB
Shai Werts, the Eagles put up 17 pts to the Mountaineers 7 pts in both halves.
Final score was Georgia Southern 34-7. More on the game in the Bieber section
below.
The Main Event
On Friday afternoon, our group linked up in batches in Birmingham
(where they do love the Governor hoo hoo hoo) and made the two plus hour trek
over to Starkville, MS aka “Stark Vegas”. As is typical for these epic weekends
we rented a house through airbnb® in close proximity to the stadium and
yep you guessed it, the houses of Worship. It is not a good idea to drive in
these towns after being filled with spirits errr…… I mean the spirit. I have
been friends with this gang for 40 years now and one of them for almost
50. Nothing much changes as far as the
insults, the stories, the laughs, and the new memories that are made. This
group has always been extremely comfortable in their own skin and there is no
pretentiousness despite all of us being rock stars in our own minds. We have been
doing these reunions ever since matriculating through the hallowed halls of
Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, MD many moons ago. Only in recent
years did we start holding them over a randomly picked college football
weekend, although exclusively in the SEC. This year we were missing one of
our core guys who had a crocheting festival to attend in Annapolis, MD narrowly
escaping notice from the Bieber committee. The opponent the mighty Bulldogs
from “Hail State” would be hosting none other than the Aggies from Texas
A&M.
After stocking the house with essentials for the weekend and
having our traditional cocktail hour, we made our way over to Dark Horse Tavern
and then the Cotton District (college bar corner) for some Friday night revelry.
It is a testament to our youthfulness and stamina when we were the last ones
standing at the college bars as the closing bell rang. We furthered our
endurance by heading back to the house to watch the marathon World Series game
until the clock struck 3:30. As the saying goes, “What happens in Stark Vegas,
stays in Stark Vegas.”
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| Friday Night Sights |
With kickoff at 6 PM Saturday evening, we awoke mid-morning
to a home cooked breakfast by the Anderson Lads, complimented with a batch of Bloody
Mary’s to get the horses galloping again. We could not have dialed up any
better weather for game day as it was another Chamber of Commerce Day with blue
skies and temps in the high 60’s. Shortly after our morning rituals, we bounced
over to campus after noon to take part in the event we call tailgating. The
main tailgating spot at MSU is set up in an area called The Junction. There was
a sea of maroon and white tents covering the space on the south side of the stadium.
We anchored at the Faulkner’s True Maroon Bulldogs Smart Ass Tailgate in a
prime spot in the junction about 30 steps from the south entrance to the
stadium. A cooler of necessities was dragged to their tent for our afternoon
hydrating session. We sampled various libations and chow throughout the
incredible afternoon. Michelle and Stacey Faulkner were top notch people and
hosts to us. More on The Junction in the Ginger section.
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| The boys from SVHS |
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| Getting the day started. |
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| A father - son moment. |
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| Our hostess with the mostess Michelle Faulkner |
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| Go ahead, I dare you to knock it off! |
The match would be played in the venerable Davis Wade
Stadium. Wade was built 104 years ago and is named after Floyd Davis Wade who
made a generous donation 20 years ago. It is the second oldest FBS stadium in
the country. After many upgrades, current seating capacity is 61,000 and is
absolutely spectacular inside. In each end zone are two of the most massive
video screens in CFB, both panning over 110 feet wide. Several of us who are
wiser than some and more clear headed, entered the stadium in time to see the amazing
400 strong marching band and their pre-game performance. They were simply outstanding
as this Nerd loves a great marching band.
“We need more cowbell"- If you have ever been to a game at
Mississippi State, you know what this means. Over 60,000 fans will ring
cowbells all game long. I was wise and brought some field artillery ear plugs
and others in our band of brothers provided ear pain medicine that tasted a lot
like 80 proof Titos and lemonade. I can hear in my head, the great Christopher
Walken saying over and over again “We need more Cowbell!” with Will Ferrell
dancing around with his nasty midriff showing.
We were seated in row 19 around the 20 yard line. For added
entertainment, the Texas A&M Yell Leaders and Mounties were directly in
front of us. They provided many gits and shiggles for us all game long. If you
are not a Texas A&M Aggie, one can be quite amused if you are not clued
into what all their hand signals, noises
and motions mean.
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| There are no words to explain |
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are led by their 6’5 Senior
athletic QB Nick Fitzgerald who was coming off of a thumping at the hands of
LSU last week. Texas A&M ‘s QB is Kellen Mond who is equally athletic. From
the start, the Bulldogs jumped out with more energy than the favored Aggies.
The Defense inspired by lineman Marcus Swett kept Mond in check all afternoon. The
Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on a pass from Fitzgerald to Stephen
Guidry. The Aggies would respond with a touchdown and a field goal to take a
10-7 lead into the locker room. The second half belonged to the team from
Starkville as they would go on to score 21 points to the Aggies 3. However, the
last score came with a little over 2 minutes left in the game when Fitzgerald
broke away for a 76 yard insurance TD. Final score, MSU 28 -TAMU 13.
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| Hail State and Hail Yeah! |
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| The Bulldog Defense on the move. |
Around the Country
Florida Georgia Line – It seems as though former Hail State
head man Dan “Cousin Eddie” Mullen has righted the Gator ship after their
surprising early season loss to Kentucky. With Georgia having lost to LSU two
weeks ago, this year’s rivalry game was for SEC East Supremacy. College Gameday
even made its way for this year’s edition of the World’s Largest Outdoor
Cocktail Party (It will always be called that to me). Despite the buildup to
the game with both teams being relevant again at the same time, Georgia got the
W, as QB1 Jake, Fromm State Farm put the Dawgs on his back. In the Big Ten,
watch out for the Northwestern Wildcats as they pulled off the upset win over
the favored Wisconsin Badgers. The Wildcats are now in first place in the Big Ten
West. Up on the Heights in Chestnut Hill, MA, in ACC action, the BC Eagles
soared all over the Canes from South Beach on Friday night for another
impressive victory. In Big 12 Country, the Oklahoma State Cowboys and their
Head Coach Mike Mullet Gundy, who is now in his fifties but still a man,
shocked the country by upsetting the heavily favored Longhorns of Texas. Out
west in Pac 12 country, Oregon State gets it’s first win of the season by
knocking off a sliding Colorado team. Army continues with its impressive campaign
picking up its sixth win of the season. In group of five news, San Jose State
also got their first win of the year by scoring more points than UNLV, and Houston
knocked off previously undefeated USF. In DIII news, Frostburg State scored
mandatory retirement age on Hampton by allowing them only a three point shot.
Ginger Award – Again
this new award goes to someone or something for doing something or being
something simply “Bad Ass”. Our first winner snuck a five liter keg into a
stadium and our second winner was Purdue Superfan, Tyler Trent. This week the
Ginger goes to The Junction at Mississippi State. The Junction is Hail State’s
answer to Ole Miss’s Grove. While the Grove is in a world unto its’ own in the
uniqueness category, the Junction is no slouch. In fact, one may argue that in
many ways it even tops the Grove (Did I just commit blasphemy to my Ole Miss friends?).
The Junction is aptly named so because years ago the area where it now sits was
a railroad junction along with multiple roads all intersecting in that spot. In
similar fashion to the Grove, there is a Friday afternoon land grab where Bulldog
fans claim their spot for the next day. As we arrived shortly before 1 PM, all
tents were up and running and tailgaters were beginning to amass on these
hallowed grounds. Tents everywhere, some
with live music, some with home brewed kegs, most with flat screen TVs. Various
forms of protein and other snacks in every tent. As Ole Miss is known for it’s
future Miss Americas the consensus is that Hail State could produce an equal
number. This ain’t yo momma’s tailgate! We are talking about ladies dressed to
the 9s that could be walking right into fashion magazines. They apparently take
great pride in walking the Junction and appreciate being noticed. Now I will
stop right there as I value living in my house. The people are just outright
friendly. Young people look you in the eye and call you sir or mam and offer up
a drink or food without blinking an eye. The sheer size of the tailgate area in
my estimation appeared to be a good bit larger than the Grove. Free stickers
and cowbells were being given out on sidewalks with high traffic patterns. So,
for the second time this year, I have a new entrant into the DFT top echelons
of tailgating: Along with Penn State last month, Hail State now joins this rarefied air. Get there soon before the country finds out about the best kept
secret in college football.
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| The Junction. |
Bieber – This
week the Bieber does not go to one person but goes to an overall experience.
The experience was mine, so I am partially complicit in this week’s nomination.
As indicated at the start of this week’s write up, I attended the Thursday
night game at Georgia Southern. The bad omens started before I ever stepped
foot in the state of Georgia. I had requested press credentials as I do
periodically for some of the schools I attend. I was denied by the athletic
department with the answer that this was their biggest game of the year and
thus there would be no passes. Who the hell wouldn’t want a positive write up
on DFT? Slightly shaken but not deterred, I decided to soldier on and purchased
a ticket online. I had joined the Georgia Southern facebook fan page and had
connected with several people who invited me to their tailgates. After driving
the 3.5 hours from Atlanta, I parked my car and walked into the tailgate area
in search of my new friends. However, after traversing the lot multiple times
and stopping to inquire as to the whereabouts of my supposed tailgate hosts,
they were nowhere to be found. Thus, the most important reason for me to go to
a game would not take place on this night. Next, I went to the ticket office
and inquired about exchanging my printout for a real ticket as I have a collection
of them. Once again I was denied. Now feeling like a big zero, I decided to
head into the stadium almost an hour early. Being somewhat hungry since I
sampled no fare at a tailgate, I ordered some petrified chicken smeat non
tenders. I chewed and chewed like a dog with a mouthful of peanut butter until
the substance was finally dissolving. No sooner did I find my seat, the
clouds opened up and the rain commenced. Along with the wind and the dropping
temps, the conditions were not ideal when one is not dressed properly. Now it’s
time for the National Anthem to be played which is of the utmost importance to
me. If you really want to piss me off, don’t stand for it, or don’t remove your
hat, or talk to your friends or look at your phone while it is being sung or
played. It just so happens I had the only
two losers in the whole stadium who would not stand for the Anthem. I gave them
the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they were disabled and could not rise.
This option was dismissed as they sure as hell stood the rest of the game a
mere 5 rows in from of me. The next time I see this, I will pour a drink on you
to ensure you will stand for my country’s anthem. The next part of the Bieberlicious
night was simply me, sitting alone in the rain. I am pretty sure people all
around me were making the L sign with their thumb and forefinger. Last, I must
throw myself under the bus and admit that because of being wet and cold and
faced with a long drive the next day, I bailed at halftime to head back to my
hotel. So, for all of this, my experience at Georgia Southern will go down as a
Bieber experience. My personal experiences are a huge factor in my view of each
school, and unfortunately I did not have a great one on this Rainy Night in
Georgia ♬♬♪♪.
Next Week –
Making the 75 minute trek up to Davis, CA for the UC Davis/Northern Arizona
Game with parts of the East Bay DFT Crew. Later that evening, there will be a
watch party at DB&G for all the big games of the day.
