2020 Season Primer

 

Usually by this time each year I have already sent out my annual “welcome back DFT Nation” blog post with a flavor of optimism. However, with the uncertainty facing the season, and more so our country, I have been lacking proper motivation to begin this ritual. Rona, the burning of our cities, hurricanes, fires, murder hornets … I think I hear the first four trumpets of the revelation. However, this  blog has never been about politics and has been a place where all of us can escape our differences and focus on college football and tailgating. This year, I promise it will remain as such, unlike ESPN which insists on being a voice for political discourse. This makes it hard for many of us to truly enjoy the game we love.

I originally had a lineup of 12 road games, including a trip to Ireland for Notre Dame v. Navy and a few local games for a total of 15 games. I was also looking forward to watching our local high school football team play and my daughter cheer them on for her senior year. Well, that isn’t happening in Cali this fall . So, I am faced with a very skinnied down DFT lineup this fall. Two Power Five conferences (Big Ten & PAC 12) and two Group of Five Conferences (Mountain West and the MAC) have all canceled their seasons. We are also uncertain of how many fans can attend the games of the schools who, at this point, have decided to play. More importantly, tailgating may be off the table at many schools. Here is a link with the latest information on this subject.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2020/08/27/college-football-attendance-and-tailgating-plans-during-covid/3429660001/

Where does all this leave me? In addition to a plethora of backyard tailgates for some marquis games, I am planning on finishing off the SEC and the Big 12 this year with games at Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State. Additionally, North Dakota State is hosting Central Arkansas on 10/3, and I plan to attend and tailgate. If the country is still in tact in December, I will make my pilgrimage back to the city of brotherly love for the pageantry of the Army Navy game. I will post my schedule when things firm up but for now, it is very fluid.

Off-Season Ginger – goes to my brother Chuck who we lost in May after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Chuck was a Marine combat veteran and an avid Notre Dame fan. He was one of the first followers of this blog 13 seasons ago and always encouraged my writing about the sport we both loved. Your fight and ability to stay positive was an inspiration to all who knew you. We will win one for the Gipper this fall in your honor big bro and hoist one up at a tailgate. Simply put, you showed us how to ride tall in the saddle this past year and face whatever was thrown at you. 

                          The Donnelly Six with our big Leprechaun Chuck on the far right.
  

Off-Season Bieber - Rona. You screwed up college football for all of us, you invisible virus! No other words needed here.

Next Week – We will be watching games and barbecuing in my backyard on Saturday evening. The first FCS game was played last night, and the first FBS game will be this Thursday night.

Happy Tailgating!

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Season Recap

Greetings DFT Nation, 

My apologies for going dark since the Thanksgiving weekend recap, but life got extremely busy. So, let’s recap what happened:

LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma won their respective conference championships and made it to the CFB playoffs. The Pac-12 got left out as Utah was scalped by Oregon in Santa Clara. Clemson edged out the Buckeyes in a great comeback win, and sadly, Oklahoma forgot to get off the bus as LSU boat raced them in Atlanta. It was more of the same in the Natty. After Clemson got off to a fast start, the LSU Tiger machine kicked it into high gear and laid waste to the team in need of a more realistic tiger mascot. Congrats to LSU, as this was truly one of the best seasons any team has had in years. In the FCS, North Dakota State won their eighth national championship in the past nine years. The amazing part is this is the third coach they have done so with. Props to West Florida and North Central for winning the division II and III championships respectively. For the first time in years, I was not able to make a bowl game or Army/Navy due to circumstances beyond my control.

My season in the rearview mirror:

13 division 1A college games

8 new cathedrals

7 epic road trips

8 Monte Vista High School games

2 NFL games

This was the lowest amount of college games I have attended since 2014, but an overall large number of all levels of football games attended.

We also saw massive growth with our Tailgate Connect business this year. Thanks for helping spread the word.

Next season I will close out the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC with games at Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri. This will leave the ACC as the only power five conference that I have not conquered. In 2021, that will be my focus. As of now, it looks like my quest of attending a game at all 130 division 1A schools will be completed by 2023 or 2024, God willing. I am planning on making Hawaii my last venue. We will do that tailgate up huge and all blog followers are invited to attend. Planning will commence in 2022, and I will need a committee of volunteers to help with this. Other games next fall will include the University of New Mexico – now that the Ass Clown known as Bob Davies is gone, it is clear for me to attend, Ball State, Cal Poly and at least one other random Group of 5 school. It is # 3’s senior year of high school, so I will be staying a little closer to home.

Season Ginger Champ – To all those that are battling cancer this year, which there a number that are near and dear to me. Keep kicking its ass and remember Cancer Sucks!

Season Bieber Champ – So many to choose from, it is a Bieber overload. But I am going to have to give it to the Snowflake brigade that protested at the Harvard/Yale game, delaying it by an hour.

See you all again in August.

Happy Tailgating!

P.S. Thank you to all the loyal readers of this blog. I continue to do this for you.

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Rivalry Weekend

L 2 R, Maddalon, Campbell, Zoe, Maureen, Mihailo, Dan, Ashley , Mike, Amy

The moniker of “Soft Californians” was on full display this Saturday as our tailgate of originally 50 people dwindled to a mere dirty dozen due to a few sprinkles and sub 50-degree weather. Not only was our tailgate a reflection of the softness, but the Stanford stadium for the Notre Dame game had less than 20,000 people in attendance. Most were rooting for Notre Dame. Regardless of the size, we had a feast of egg and bacon sandwiches prepared on my new 3-in-1 breakfast station, Italian Chili, meats and cheeses, bloody Mary and Mimosa bars and an assortment of fresh fruit. Tents and heaters kept the elements at bay as it only lightly rained for an hour. For the Dirty dozen that showed up, you have my undue respect! This was my 9th time attending this game since 2001 having only missed the 2017 game. Most of the years we have been with the Iorios for the event.

The fellas, Maddalon terrorizing the kids, Amy and Maureen

The Panoviches, the kids, our Bloody Mary Sponsors, and the obligatory shot ski

The chicken dance, the Campbells, crazy Alan manning the bar, lucky socks

Alan & Amy, the fellas talking shop

Dan & Mike as the architects, my breakfast station and the ladies

Notre Dame was gunning for its third straight 10-win season while Stanford is mired in their worst season in the David Shaw era. However, in the first third of the game the script was flipped. Stanford dominated the action as the Cardinal (a tree that a dog urinates on) stormed out to a 17-7 lead. And then the gravitational forces rotated. The tide turned in a big way as Notre Dame QB Ian Book started finding All World Receiver Chase Claypool for a few scores and a runaway performance. Notre Dame would run off 38 more points to Stanford’s 7 for a final score of 45-24.

Empty Stanford stadium

Around the Country, Rivalry Games

Auburn bested Alabama 48-45 in the Iron Bowl, knocking the Tide out of the playoffs for the first time since the four-team format was created in 2014. Oklahoma took care of little brother Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series game, keeping their chances alive to make the playoffs. In “The Game” in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh got bullied again by the Buckeyes which raised more questions about his future. Wisconsin beat Minnesota in the snow to not only win Paul Bunyan’s axe but also a spot in the Big Ten championship game. Elsewhere in rivalry games:

·       The Governor’s Cup – Kentucky takes down Louisville 45-13

·       The Egg Bowl – Mississippi State 21- Ole Miss 20 (Ole Piss, more on this later)

·       The Palmetto Bowl - Clemson destroyed the other USC 38-7

·       The Commonwealth Cup – Virginia beat VA Tech 39 -30 to advance to the ACC Championship game

·       The Apple Cup – UW topped Wazzu 31-13

·       The Civil War – The Ducks scored 24 and the Beavers 10

·       Clean Old-Fashioned Hate –  UGA annihilated GA Tech 52-7

·       Sunshine Showdown –  Florida beat Florida State 40 -17

·       Territorial Cup –  The Sun Devils torched the Wildcats 24-14

Bieber – In a game filled with sheer hatred for one another, the Egg Bowl which pits Mississippi State against Ole Miss, has a history of getting testy at times. With seconds to go, Ole Miss found themselves down by seven points. They engineered a drive resulting in a touchdown pass from QB Matt Corral to Elijah Moore to make the game a 21-20 contest with an extra point still pending. In his celebration after scoring, Moore crawled on all fours to the back of the end zone and raised his leg mimicking a dog taking a leak. Immediately, the referees threw a flag at him for unsportsmanlike behavior. This moved the PAT back 15 yards. No longer a chip shot, the Ole Miss kicker lined up his kick and pulled it wide right resulting in a 1-point loss. The loss was not the kickers fault, the result lies squarely on the shoulders of the peeing dog Elijah Moore. This has to be one of the biggest bone-headed on-field acts that I can recall with a meaningful game on the line. Young Elijah, you lost the game for your team. You lost the Egg Bowl. You lost the respect of Ole Miss Nation. Your coach was fired after the loss. However, you won a Bieber award and a new name for your team, Ole Piss!

Unemployment Report –

·       Matt Luke out as HC at Ole Miss

·       Charlie Strong out as HC at USF

·       Texas fired its OC and DC

·       Barry Odom ousted from Mizzou

·       Clay Helton rumored to be fired to make room for Urban Meyer at USC

·       Steve Addazio bounced out at BC

·       Chad Morris out at Arkansas

·       Willie Taggart fired from Florida State

·       Chris Ash sacked at Rutgers

·       Bob Davie took a knee for New Mexico

·       Tony Sanchez makes no more bets for UNLV

Next Week -  I will be attending a wedding on Saturday while watching Conference championship games on my phone at the reception! In two weeks, I will return to the city of brotherly love for the Army-Navy game. It is always a special event as we tailgate with people from all stages of my life.

Happy tailgating!