If you’re reading this, you know College Football in the South matters. We will disown our children for applying to the “wrong” college, and if they actually attend and God forbid graduate from a rival school… let’s just say there are other worthy places to leave their inheritance. It matters. September 7th, 2019 was the first meeting of Texas (UT) and Louisiana (LSU) since the Cotton Bowl in 2003. The outcome of that game has no bearing on any of this, (Texas won 35-20) except to say that they both played with all the talent, heart and energy they had. They left everything out on the field. They played honorably.
Texas didn’t win this last meeting. Both teams fought hard, played well and left their DNA on the field at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. Unfortunately, the LSU defense was plagued by muscle cramps. I’m not suggesting the final score of the game would have changed, nor that Texas would have won. LSU was the better team. They traveled to Texas, had only 3% of the stadium cheering for them and beat us on our turf. What I am saying, it is ironic that a University Varsity Team from South Central Louisiana didn’t have enough high quality H2O to keep it’s defensive players hydrated.
The irony doesn’t stop there, because only LSU Defensive Players were struck down with these mysterious cramps in this Travis County heat. So why does this even matter? Momentum. When things start clicking for your offense momentum matters. It’s like rolling a stone down hill, let it build momentum and it rolls over everything, crashing with force at the bottom into whatever lies in its path. Take that same stone and stop it every few yards, you have to push hard again and again to get it moving. It reaches the bottom with no force. No drive. Much time and effort are spent, but very little happens.
To me it comes down to good sportsmanship. There are many ways to slow down an offense, not the least of which is physically stop them. If you’re game strategy is to exploit the good faith gesture of stopping play (and the clock) to come to the aid of an injured player, shame on you. Play honorably.
I’m a Texas Boy, came up playing football in the Texas heat. I spend the better part of my first year at college on or around the University of Texas at Austin campus. My degree is from another university which made better financial since to the struggling twenty-something me, but UT (the Texas version) was and is my alma mater. Now, in my 50’s, I still have Burnt Orange adorning or accentuating every room of my house in Eastern Tennessee. To say I’m on an island over here is an understatement. I married a Georgia Peach with a degree from Georgia State, but she was right beside me celebrating the result of the Texas – Georgia Bowl Game last year. She understands. We are Texas.
Living the “We are Texas” mantra doesn’t mean we are oblivious to the shortcomings of our beloved Longhorns. It means we cheer for them, at times we curse them, we always love them, we often are disappointed with them, but we support them. We are one of them. Through thick and thin, amidst controversy and coaching changes, and with wins and losses. We are Texas.
