Dan From The Tailgate

 

We Are Family

In the midst of a three-week travel gauntlet of work, family, friends, and football, I found myself once again in my birth state of Maryland. My DFT game committee did a search of FBS programs within a five-hour radius where I had not yet been to a home game, and they settled on Temple University.

Temple is situated in the city of Philadelphia and plays its home games at “The Linc”, where the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles play. It’s also the site of several Army–Navy games I’ve attended over the years. Because Temple plays in an NFL stadium, it’s been low on my priority list of places to visit for a home game.

Temple plays in the American Athletic Conference and was hosting conference foe East Carolina University. Both teams have been moderately successful this season with winning records.

I was joined by two of my siblings for an afternoon of laughs and practical jokes. We tailgated on the east side of the stadium and feasted on Old Bay wings, Old Bay deviled eggs, Old Bay steamed shrimp, brownies that probably had Old Bay, Natty Bo (a Maryland beer—and yes, you can put Old Bay on the rim of your cup), and bourbon. The tailgate scene overall was fairly spartan, as Temple does not typically draw big crowds for home games. Regardless, we had a DFGT!

Presenting Sis with two of her favorite products!

Old Bay All Day!!

The stadium felt more cavernous than usual, as paid attendance was announced at 13,000—but I’d guess no more than 7,500 actually showed up. The game started with both teams trading scores rapidly before ECU took a 21–14 lead early in the second quarter. ECU kept scoring while Temple did not, resulting in a decisive Purple Pirate drubbing—a 45–14 win over the Owls.

TL- R, no quarter given, when you can't find your seat, just look for the......, the Temple Marching band was excellent.

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Around the Country

ACC: This year’s Power Four Cinderella, Georgia Tech, lost her glass slipper in Raleigh, falling to the NC State Wolfpack. Whether they’ll still be invited to the ball is the big question. In Dallas, the once-overhyped Miami Hurricanes lost for the second straight week—this time to the Mustangs from SMU. In true college fashion, the exuberant fans stormed the field and celebrated as they should. Anyone who disagrees with me on this—we can’t be friends anymore!

SEC: In Knoxville, the Oklahoma Sooners—behind the bare leg of emerging superstar kicker Tate Sandell and a recovering QB1 John Mateer—rocked the top off Neyland Stadium. Down in Jacksonville, at the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party, Georgia escaped with a narrow 24–20 win over a feisty Florida Gator squad.

Big 12: College GameDay traveled to Salt Lake City in advance of the Big 12 matchup of the week between the Utes of Utah and the Bearcats of Cincinnati. It didn’t appear as though the Bearcats got off the bus, as the Utes dominated with a decisive 45–14 win. In Houston, the Cougars were upset by a heavily favored Mountaineer team from Morgantown, West Virginia. Could Rich Rod be infusing hope back into a program that hasn’t been the same since he left 20 years ago?

Big Ten: Perhaps the most competitive game in the Big Ten saw USC travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, and edge the Cornhuskers 21–17. This win takes some of the heat off the much-maligned Lincoln Riley, head coach of the Trojans.

GO5: Navy finally went down in defeat for the first time this year, falling to a surprising North Texas Mean Green team. There are now no more undefeated Group of Five schools, making it a wide-open race for the playoff bid.

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Bieber Award

I’d like to give the Bieber Award to the situation at LSU, but something else has been bothering me even longer than the current Baton Rouge soap opera. Over the past few years, most of us have noticed players’ pants getting shorter and shorter. No longer do players wear knee pads—or even cloth covering their knees.

The pants have been creeping up their thighs to the point where they almost look like 1970s NBA basketball shorts. As much as I hate to call out someone from one of my favorite teams, Kirk Herbstreit did the honors, pointing out Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell’s almost R-rated version of football pants. His pants are so short I’m sure his mom and female relatives were blushing as they watched him perform.

Maybe he was so effective and accurate because Tennessee’s defenders didn’t want to get too close to his bare legs! He’s not the only one, but he’s the most recent poster boy for a trend that’s gotten worse each season. Commissioner DFT will soon submit a decree requiring all college players to wear knee pads again and cover their damn knees and thighs.

In the meantime, any player dressing like Larry Bird in 1979 will receive a complimentary copy of the Bieber Hardware.

He wears short shorts...

Ginger Award

Both NC State and SMU, after pulling off major upset wins, were treated to fans storming the field in celebration. At SMU, they took it one step further—tearing down the goalpost, carrying it across campus, and dumping it into a campus fountain.

Why do I consider this a Ginger-worthy accomplishment? Because storming the field is part of college football’s soul, and students absolutely should do it after a big win. The icing on the cake: both schools were fined $50,000—and probably couldn’t care less.

Those are victories that fans will savor for years. So, to the ACC governing authorities who issued the fines—you and I can’t be friends either. But SMU and NC State are now proud members of Ginger Nation!

Hell to the yes kids!!!

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Next Up

I’m off to Clemson, South Carolina, for my annual football weekend with my high school crew from Seneca Valley, Class of 1981. What looked early in the year like a marquee matchup between Florida State and Clemson has become a nightmare for the network airing it—both teams are beyond hope this season.

Happy Tailgating!