COLUMN: Aggie football is changing for the better and I can feel it
Since finals whistles were blown and blue-clad maniacs speedily covered Merlin Olsen Field last Friday, I contemplated at nausea how I would preface this column. After all, what can I say that hasn’t been said in news articles, sports articles, blog, Facebook statuses, Tweets, tattoos, potential gravestones and heart strings the world over?
I suppose I can’t honestly say anything about the Aggies’ overtime win over Utah last Friday, I can only organize how I feel. In a word, I feel good.
In two, damn good.
That was the consensus feeling of many an Aggie fan that night. It was an outpouring of euphoria that reminds everyone why football is arguably the best part of collegiate life. It was that same type of feeling that I’m sure inspired the famous photo of the sailor kissing that woman on the street when World War II ended.
Believe me, there were many of us who would have lip-locked spontaneous passersby if females were in arm’s length, myself included (feel lucky.) That very feeling was the theme for an evening where everyone was proud to be an Aggie.
If there were possibly anything that dwarfed that feeling, it was the feeling during the third quarter of the same game, when a roaring 13-point lead turned into a tie game and no foreseeable momentum.
Nobody in the crowd was in shock, or more angst than they were used to – they were simply laden with that sinking, nauseating, “not this again” type of feeling. The same downing feeling that riddled fans for well over half a season last year, when up easily matched the downs because they often came side by side.
Time may never tell what did it for us. Call it luck, fate, God, true North, or Chuckie Keeton’s ability to find a gaping slice of open field when no one in the intermountain region of the United States thought it would show itself.
My dad, the wise sports soothsayer of my childhood whose words in relations to our favorite teams often felt like gospel, always cooed “no champion was made in three quarters.” It was the crowning jewel to his incessant message that good athletes had talent but the best and most legendary found ways to win.
That adage alone is what made the feeling of elation upon the win so sweet. The nervous tick that was that third quarter was something we as fans never wanted to visit again, because it so often guaranteed going home disappointed. But that didn’t happen this time. This time we found ways to win.
This Saturday will be as true of a test for the Aggies that there ever was as they travel east to take on the Wisconsin Badgers, a squad with a new-look offense, a Heisman hopeful and a shocking loss to avenge. Pulling off an upset win will do wonders for the Aggies’ confidence, status nationwide and potential prominence in the state of Utah – but it will be far from easy.
However, if the defense plays anything close to their performance against the Utes, it doesn’t have to be easy to be worth the while.
Whatever happens this weekend, it’s no question that the change is in the full swing. The change from “what if” to “here and now,” the change stating USU is a worthy opponent to any team, no matter how much that opponent will deny it and change that proves sinking regrets in the third quarter only encourage players to find those precious ways to win.
The change is here, and how do we know it?
Simple. We can feel it.
– Steve Schwartzman is a senior studying communication studies. He has had just about every job in sports writing, including blogs, analysis, statistics and fantasy football tips, but he especially loves making bold picks. Got any comments? Let him know: steve.schwartzman@aggiemail.usu.edu.