Family feud, college football style

Last weekend was the “family feud” football game with my UGA Dawgs playing against the University of Tennessee.  My dad and most of his family are all UT fans, so there is always some trash talking amongst relatives leading up to the game. This year, UGA was ranked and UT was not, but they always seem to play us hard so, in my mind, rankings don’t matter.  I usually make a small wager with one of my uncles, but he wasn’t confident enough in his team to bet on the game (fair weather fan!). 

One of my uncles sent this photo of himself in his UT attire to all the bulldog fans in the family...  I blocked out his face to save him some pride...

 

While I was pretty confident in my boys going into the game, what I didn’t count on was injuries happening during the game.  Before this game, UGA had already lost their #1 wide receiver for the season and the #1 running back for a few games due to injuries.  By the time the UT game was over, we had lost our #2 running back and our #2 & #3 wide receivers.  Unfortunately, they will all probably be out for the season.

Sometime during the 3^rd quarter, when the game was starting to look questionable for a UGA win, I received a text from my uncle, “Nervous yet?”  To which I replied, “Typical UGA drama.”   Which it was… UGA can’t ever seem to dominate a game from start to finish.  No matter who the opponent is, ranked rival or junior college practice squad, they always find a way to make the game close and dramatic.  While I don't enjoy them playing this way, I fully understand that the game isn't over until the clock reads 00:00.

Following UGA football will probably take a few years off my life, or at least give me heart burn and ulcers… I sometimes wish that I didn’t get so involved in the game, but I just can’t help it.   During the key plays towards the end of the game, I was nervously rocking back and forth in my seat (which the CFO says is a sign that I have some sort of disability [life with a special ed professor!]).  Fortunately, the Dawgs made an awesome last minute drive down the field and tied the game up with only 5 seconds left in regulation.  My uncle sent the text again, “Nervous yet?”  I mumbled “yes” to myself, but didn’t bother to reply to his text.

UT had the ball first in OT and drove down the field for what looked like a diving touchdown… except on the reply you could see that the player lost control of the ball before crossing the end zone line.  I was up on my feet, yelling at the TV, “that was a fumble! That was a fumble!!  That was a fumble!!!”  Luckily, the replay official heard me yelling from central Illinois and they ended up reversing the touchdown call. 

It was now UGA’s ball and they had a chance to win the game.  UGA’s offense screwed around with the ball for 3 plays, which incited more yelling at the TV, “What are you doing (coach) Bobo?!”  For the record, I am not a fan of UGA's offensive coach (Coach Bobo), so I always blame him for anything bad that happens when UGA is on offensive.  On fourth down, our kicker trotted onto the field and kicked the game winning field goal.  The Dawgs dodged a bullet and my text message back to my uncle stated my feelings pretty well, “Phew.” 

Now UGA has to regroup and some of the freshman players are going to have to step up and fill in some holes in our line up.  The good news is that we have a veteran QB to lead them, the bad news is that an undefeated Missouri team travels to Athens this Saturday… Somebody needs to add Tums or Rolaids to the grocery list.

The rest of the weekend was way less exciting, with cool and rainy weather. The low temperatures at night have dropped down into the 40's, the leaves are starting to change and the farmers have started harvesting the corn.  Like it or not, winter is coming to central Illinois.