It was a battle between two 1-10 teams, but they had
something to play for. Were the Aggies or the Minutemen going to be the worst Division I FBS Football team this
season? That was how they were selling
the game on the radio pregame. It was
going to be between two teams trying desperately not to lose.
The other way they were selling the game was free tickets
to Aggie Men’s Basketball. For a $10 football ticket, they’d give you
two tickets to the New Year’s Day game.*
(* The game will be against Chicago
State and likely be uncompetitive.
Also, they will be the cheap seats in the upper bowl.) All that said, what a deal! During the last basketball game radio
broadcast, they promoted the heck out of this offer.
I told Ron about the football game. I wasn’t sure if he was recovered from his
cold enough to go, so I was mostly asking if he’d be interested in the
basketball game later. Ron wanted to go,
though. I was also concerned about the
weather as the forecast was for rain. Ron
dismissed this as well. He said the rain
would happen at night and it would be sunny during the day. Ron was right there. It was a beautiful, cloudless day. For late November, it was even warm out in
the sun with only a slight cool breeze.
We drove by the Pan-Am
Center first. The Aggie Pride Band was performing by the
side of the building to a gathered crowd.
There were several groups tailgating in the football parking lot and
quite a few parked there, however, we ended up parking right near the
stadium. This felt like a bad sign for
attendance. Indeed, even Ron was a bit
shocked when we got inside the sparsely occupied stadium.
A lot of the students were still on Thanksgiving
break. Given the team’s record, it
wasn’t surprising that the fans weren’t in attendance. (They were probably watching the Michigan/Ohio State game, as I would
have been if it had been raining here.) Club
27 on the east side of the stadium only had a handful of fans. (It was so nice out, most were sitting
outside on the balcony.) It could have
been worse. The Visitor’s section was
empty. Athletic Director Mario Moccia surveyed the crowd from the
sidelines in obvious displeasure.
Ron and I found some “ambiguity” on our tickets. We might have misinterpreted the seat numbers
slightly. We found “our” seats on the
fifty yard line in the lower bowl. I
thought these were much more expensive seats.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any ushers there to help direct us. (The students being Thanksgiving break
probably accounted for the absence.) In
any case, there were plenty of open seats in the area. Nobody cared.
I probably should have bought some kettle corn at least to make up for
it, but I was still recovering from my Thanksgiving food coma. I did not need extra food in my life.
I guess to set up the game, I’ll recap a little. The Aggies’ last two games were against Alabama and Kentucky. They were brutal
beatings. I did think that the Aggies
showed some grit against the Wildcats,
as they picked up four turnovers in the game and held on a goal line stand for
four downs. The full program for this
game was a PDF online and listed the Minutemen’s schedule. (Only a two-sided sheet with the roster was
available at the game.) Though having
the same record, their losses were even worse than ours. The Aggies were favored in the game by six. Unfortunately from looking at the roster, my
neighbor who had transferred here for football, never made it on to the team.
First
Quarter
UMass won the toss and deferred. The Aggies took the opening kick and drove
downfield for a touchdown. The main play
was a 40-yard bomb from QB Jonah Johnson
to Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda. Running back, Juwaun Price took it in from about four yards out for the
score. 7-0 Aggies. Also during the drive, the t-shirt Gatling
cannon fired into the crowd (nowhere near us).
Wave, the
new Wonder Dog, got his first work
getting the tee after the Aggie kick. He’d
be getting a workout today. Maybe it was
a good thing that Striking had
retired. UMass took a sack deep in their
end and had to punt from their endzone.
The Aggies got the ball at around midfield, but the drive went
backward. Coach Martin changed a play from the sidelines a couple of times,
which ended up as a delay of game, and then Johnson took a sack.
There were two groups of Cheerleaders working on both ends of the field, instead of just one
end. They must have a bunch of
Cheerleaders this year. Regrettably,
they weren’t working midfield where we were.
Ron was particularly disappointed.
On UMass’ next possession, they had a fourth and one on their own 35 and
went for it. Risky, but they made
it. There was a glare on the scoreboard
making it unreadable for looking at the downs; I was relying on the radio
call. Ron was also disappointed that
he’d forgotten his radio. The crowd got
good and loud on the next third down.
There wasn’t a huge crowd, but they were the diehards.
The Minutemen would have to punt, but the Aggies ended up
starting on their own five. No
problem. Johnson tagged Andre Bodison in stride down the middle
of the field for 45 yards. Later, Terrell Warner made a couple of yards
on a catch, but did it one-handed. Impressive. (I also found out that there are two #7’s listed
on the Aggie roster. Terrell plays on
offense; DJ McCullough plays on
defense.) The First Quarter expired
during the drive.
Second
Quarter
There was the fan hamburger-making contest in the end zone
during the break with the fans dressed as buns.
It always ends amusingly. The
Aggies kept their drive going with a 20-yard pass to Bodison. Johnson found him again right down the middle. The Aggies were inside the ten and went for
it on a fourth and one. The radio call
said the teams weren’t leaving anything on the table today. Price took the handoff on a sweep around the
end and danced into the end zone. 14-0
Aggies.
I was probably overdressed for the weather with my heavy
coat, but I was concerned the cold wind might pickup. I might have thought more about putting on
some sunblock. I was getting toasty on
the right side of my face from the sun. Garrett Dzuro (the “D” is silent), the
UMass main quarterback, ran for 30 yards on their next possession. Jared
Chisari finished the drive with a 20-yard run for a touchdown. (There are also two #29’s on their roster and
on different sides of the ball. Actually
after looking more closely, there were a bunch of players on both teams with
duplicate numbers.) The PAT was missed,
so the score was now 14-6 Aggies. The
Pride Band, who were on the Minutemen’s side of field, took to taunting them
after the score.
The Men’s Tennis
team was honored on field for winning a share of the WAC championship during the break.
UMass was offsides on their kickoff and had to re-kick. The return ended up at the same place, the 17
yard line, but the returner took a harder hit.
A pass interference call gave the Aggies 15 yards. A deep ball to the end zone missed. The defender tripped on some signage running
out of end zone. The Aggies were in a
fourth and four on their own 36 and went for it. (Why not?)
Johnson made a scrambling basketball-like shot to Warner to make
it. The drive finished with Johnson
finding Jared Wyatt alone in the
corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
21-6 Aggies.
Whoa! Who is that
on the sidelines? Is it? Is it?
Yes, it was my favorite Sports Marketing intern, Emerson. Maybe.
I think so. She’s let her hair
grow out and looked glamorous. In any
case, a very attractive young woman escorted Wave out on the field. The dog was recognized by PA Ed Carnathan. Wave jumped up and down. He knew what was going on and hammed it
up.
A late hit on the sidelines and an offsides call got the
ball past midfield for UMass, but then they got backed up by a false
start. Once again, there was another
fourth and one on their own end of the field.
It was a good day for gambling.
They made it. During a long delay
while the officials reviewed the play, the Cheerleaders took to the field to
cheer. The Band was leaving the stands
at the time, so the Cheerleaders had to work without the usual music. Back to the action, the Minutemen’s drive was
capped by an Ellis Merriweather
15-yard run for a touchdown. 21-13
Aggies.
There was about a minute and a half left in the half when
the Aggies got the ball. Justice Powers was open for a 33-yard
reception. Johnson found Bodison down
the middle for 20 yards. Price then
scampered into the end zone from 15 yards out.
That was three plays in about 30 seconds for the score. “Why weren’t they doing that earlier?” asked
Ron. The PAT was blocked, so the score
was 27-13 Aggies. The defense would hold
on UMass’ possession, so that would be the halftime score.
Continued in Part 2
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