Over The Pylon

Well, that certainly sucked.

When January started, I decided to go alcohol-free for the month. I can’t tell you how many times tonight I regretted that decision. Whether it be in frustration over a Keith Wenning INT, a celebration over a Eric Patterson INT, a thankful toast for Quake Edwards’ legs and motor, or a cursed salute to the pass happy attack that the game started off with, that decision for Drynuary 2014 was a bad one. But I can only imagine how much more productive my Monday is going to be after not having to drink this one away. You saw it. We all did. The Cards fall on a blocked field goal to Arkansas State 23-20 after toying with all of our emotions in the final five minutes or so.

The thing to keep in mind is that this is a BSU football team that finished second in the MAC West, won double-digit games this season, set multiple school and personal records, and was in all reality maybe five minutes of game action from 14-0. There’s something to take away from that and I sincerely hope that the majority of fans after the initial sting from this wears off remember all of the above. I’d be willing to bet that had I come to you in August and offered you 10 wins, you would have taken it sight unseen. And let’s not forget that every other MAC team that was invited to a bowl lost theirs also, and roughly half of the FBS didn’t even get to go to one. Perspective, folks.

There are myriad things I could harp on tonight, like questionable coaching decisions and playcalling from essentially the first possession all the way up to BSU alums on social media that continue to propagate this idea that BSU football isn’t worth supporting or believing in because this kind of thing always happens. There’s a ton of other things that sort of irked my ire this evening, but that’s for tomorrow. Hopefully some of it will not even be worth wasting OTP real estate on after a good night’s sleep.

Instead, I will focus on the careers of some fantastic seniors like Keith Wenning, Jamill Smith, Zane Fakes, Jonathan Newsome, Nathan Ollie, and a whole host of others who have given their blood, sweat, and tears to a program and a fanbase that I’m sure at times made them question why they did it. This group of seniors deserved better than this, and I am genuinely sorry that they are not leaving as the core group of folks who won BSU’s first bowl game or the first MAC Championship in decades. That’s the real shame in this and one that will likely take more than a good night’s rest to get over.

But for now, it is what it is and BSU is still winless in their seven bowl trips in school history. I’m still damn proud to be a Cardinal and I have a good feeling about #8.

Filed under: BallStateFootball, Consciousness, Sun Belt |