WOOOO! It's football season! You know what that means? That means you get to read my awesome football posts every week, whether you like it or not! I also came up with a kicky new name for the posts: blAUging! Cute, right? Well, I think so, anyway.
This weekend brought a quick trip to Auburn for the season opener against Washington State. Seriously quick: I left Knoxville at about 10:50 Saturday morning for a 6:00 (Auburn time) ballgame and was back in Knoxville by 10:45 Sunday morning for a friend's wedding that afternoon. It was definitely a good thing that I had Monday to recuperate before heading back to work yesterday.
The season opener brought all the emotions I expected, and some that I didn't. Emotion # 1: Fear: I almost got myself and Caryn killed and may or may not have taken the Lexus off-road while trying to get into a Burger King off 280 to grab a snack on our way to the game. Emotion # 2: Sadness: It was very hard to drive up on Toomer's Corner and see it without the trees for the first time. Emotion # 3: That sadness quickly turned to excitement as Caryn and I turned the corner onto Magnolia and made our way through hundreds of tailgates to get to our parking space. Emotion # 4: Boredom: I am SO TIRED of seeing this dress on campus:
This dress is cute the first couple of times you see it, but it has been terribly overdone. I lost count of the number of ladies we saw wearing it this weekend, but it was somewhere above 15. Now, to continue:
Emotion # 5: Choked-up chill-bumpiness throughout the pregame activities. Emotion # 6: STRESS, and lots of it, as the Cougars scored on their opening drive, we didn't score on our opening drive, and as we basically traded off touchdowns for most of the game, leading me to believe that whoever possessed the ball last would win. Emotion # 7: Uneasiness: Ben was texting me score updates from the UT/APSU game, which was a complete blowout. Our defense wasn't looking great for much of this game, so I began to worry about what we would look like in Knoxville in November. Emotion # 8: Relief that our defense stepped up at the end of the game to preserve our win.
This dress is cute the first couple of times you see it, but it has been terribly overdone. I lost count of the number of ladies we saw wearing it this weekend, but it was somewhere above 15. Now, to continue:
Emotion # 5: Choked-up chill-bumpiness throughout the pregame activities. Emotion # 6: STRESS, and lots of it, as the Cougars scored on their opening drive, we didn't score on our opening drive, and as we basically traded off touchdowns for most of the game, leading me to believe that whoever possessed the ball last would win. Emotion # 7: Uneasiness: Ben was texting me score updates from the UT/APSU game, which was a complete blowout. Our defense wasn't looking great for much of this game, so I began to worry about what we would look like in Knoxville in November. Emotion # 8: Relief that our defense stepped up at the end of the game to preserve our win.
Washington State was obviously not an SEC-caliber opponent, but neither were they a complete patsy. They have a decent passing offense, which was killing us for much of the night. While our defense struggled at times, they made some big plays when it counted (including three interceptions) to help us win the game. Our offense also struggled (our QB often overthrew receivers, and when his passes were right on target, it seemed like the receivers just couldn't hold onto them), but we got some great rushing yardage and eventually a couple of good passing gains. The bottom line is that, while I wasn't happy with the way we looked for this game, we got the W and are currently undefeated. I look back to 2010 and remember that many of those games were won by 6 points or less and threatened to give me heart attacks, so I'll take these wins any way I can get them. And, BONUS, the three interceptions we got in this game exceed the two we got ALL SEASON last year.
The first Weagle of the season goes to Craig Sanders, who got his long-deserved and long-awaited first start at defensive end. This is Craig's Senior year (he actually graduated in August - woop, woop!), and he has been a beast of a player for the past four years. He started out making a big impact on Special Teams and then began getting a good bit of playing time on defense, but he had never before gotten the chance to start a game on defense. He ended up with two tackles for loss in this game. Very proud for him.
Other Weagles this week go to Robenson Therezie, who pulled in two INTs (earning him SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors), and Joshua Holsey, who pulled in the third; Tre Mason for a 100-yard kickoff return TD; and Corey Grant for a 75-yard rushing touchdown.
The new songs in the stadium this season include Katy Perry's "Roar." Neither Caryn nor I recognized that song, but we later sang along to various other songs, including Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noize" (why do they spell it like that? Gross.). I heard the Katy Perry song on the radio Monday evening and sent a video clip to Caryn to let her know what we'd been listening to in the stadium. Her response: "Of course we'd be the only two in the stadium to know a Quiet Riot song but not Katy Perry." Ha! Truer words have never been spoken.
Finally, I'll leave you with this:
I know it's not Auburn-related, but Tennessee is my second team, and my adorable niece Devon is absolutely # 1 on my list. She's learning early to tailgate in style in Granny and Pappaw's bus. I'm still waiting for her parents to let her wear the "My AUnt is AUsome" onesies I had made for her...
UPDATE: Dev's parents are good to me:
There is nothing more precious.
The first Weagle of the season goes to Craig Sanders, who got his long-deserved and long-awaited first start at defensive end. This is Craig's Senior year (he actually graduated in August - woop, woop!), and he has been a beast of a player for the past four years. He started out making a big impact on Special Teams and then began getting a good bit of playing time on defense, but he had never before gotten the chance to start a game on defense. He ended up with two tackles for loss in this game. Very proud for him.
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Other Weagles this week go to Robenson Therezie, who pulled in two INTs (earning him SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors), and Joshua Holsey, who pulled in the third; Tre Mason for a 100-yard kickoff return TD; and Corey Grant for a 75-yard rushing touchdown.
The new songs in the stadium this season include Katy Perry's "Roar." Neither Caryn nor I recognized that song, but we later sang along to various other songs, including Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noize" (why do they spell it like that? Gross.). I heard the Katy Perry song on the radio Monday evening and sent a video clip to Caryn to let her know what we'd been listening to in the stadium. Her response: "Of course we'd be the only two in the stadium to know a Quiet Riot song but not Katy Perry." Ha! Truer words have never been spoken.
Finally, I'll leave you with this:
I know it's not Auburn-related, but Tennessee is my second team, and my adorable niece Devon is absolutely # 1 on my list. She's learning early to tailgate in style in Granny and Pappaw's bus. I'm still waiting for her parents to let her wear the "My AUnt is AUsome" onesies I had made for her...
UPDATE: Dev's parents are good to me:
There is nothing more precious.
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