The end: It seems like just last weekend I was having a heat stroke during zero week at Jacksonville State in obscene temperatures. And now, the end is here with the final game of the season in the books. The Michigan Wolverines behind a stifling defense bested the Washington Huskies in Houston Monday to win the 2023 season National Championship. Michigan proved that keeping a team mostly together for three to four years paid off. It goes without saying that they had incredible leadership from their upperclassmen and excellent coaches. Unfortunately, I did not make it to any postseason game this year as life happened.
Here is a recap of my season:
14 D1A college games attended
6 first-time schools, 8 repeats with one new stadium (CSU)
1 high school game
Next season so far:
Zero Week - Eastern Illinois at Illinois
Labor Day - Lafayette at Buffalo, Ohio at Syracuse
9/28 - Oklahoma at Auburn
Appalachian State home game
Family Weekend in October - Colorado
11/23 - Alabama at Oklahoma
12/7 - Army vs. Navy
The rest will be scheduled as conference schedules unveil, but I am looking at Tennessee, MTSU, East Carolina, UTSA and Rice
Bieber: I know this won’t be popular with some of my audience, but this week’s winner is Michael Penix Jr. (MPJ) for his antics before, during and after the Natty. First of all, the attire he arrived in with his look-at-me Elton John shades and assassin’s balaclava that he continued to warm up in was alien like. During the game, he became a drama queen in the fourth quarter when it was apparent that UW would lose. By grabbing every part of his body and wincing after each play, he was essentially stating, ”I’m hurt and that’s why we are losing.” No doubt he took some hits, but so did a lot of other people that night, including his more severely injured running back Dillon Johnson who gritted the game out with three lower body injuries. Then after the game, MPJ had an assortment of rags draped over his head covering his face under his helmet as he sauntered off the field — again saying, “Look at me even though you can’t really see me.” For a six-year super senior, he showed a lack of maturity the entire time whilst in Houston. And yes, Houston, UW did have a problem in the vessel of their QB1. It pains me to award the Beibs to him as I have been a fan of Penix (oh yeah, pronounced “Penn Ex”) since his days at Indiana. MPJ, you did not win that sought after Natty, but take pride in your new bieberware and good luck at the next level.
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| The invisible man .....all night long |
Ginger: We all learned this week that the GOAT of CFB coaches, Nick Saban decided to retire after perhaps one of his best coaching jobs ever this season. Much of what I ranted about last week are some of the things that weighed on his decision to exit stage left from the game. College football has lost a huge asset and a pillar of its community. Even if you had “Bama fatigue” over the last 15 years, you can’t disagree that he did it the right way, unlike some unnamed others in the Bieber HOF. He won seven Nattys, six while at Bama, and countless SEC titles. His accomplishments will probably never again be matched with the way the game has changed (refer to last week’s rant) https://dantailgate.blogspot.com/2024/01/post-seasons-greetings.html . Through the years, I saw Nick do his magic live in three national championships and a handful or two of regular season games. This past season when I was in Tuscaloosa for the LSU game, I saw him on the sideline in person and realized the end may be near. My respect for his accomplishments grew that night. He will be missed by the CFB world, but he gets to take his Ginger hardware with him into his golden years and keep on singing Dixieland Delight!
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| The two GOATS |
The off-season: Mrs. Tailgate and I will be splitting our time between Florida and Cali getting rested and ready for the 2024 season. I will continue to work on the Tailgate Connect business, which had a record year this season, and I thank those of you who helped make it happen. With that, I bid adieu for the next seven months.
Click on link: https://youtu.be/PgWyvnBHyOw?si=G0OsFworKZy9iJUC
Happy Tailgating!
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