Down goes 'Bama! Down goes 'Bama! Whoop! (17,747 reads)

Perhaps the initial response to the Alabama victory should be a resounding
“Whoop!” I mean, through  eleven weeks of chronicling this historical season for the Aggie crowd, the SEC  and Gamedayr, I have yet to say it in print. Our three SEC wins each certainly  deserved big  “Whoops!”

 It’s like the “happy” feeling that suddenly springs from deep inside our
guts, sometimes seemingly without reason. Last week as I was moving my daughter
to California for her next nursing job, she experienced this “feeling” just as
we entered her new neighborhood. It’s a sense of excitement, wonderment and
security all rolled into one, and like a small upward tidal wave it blossoms
inside you for one euphoric moment. It’s always there waiting for its
opportunity, but is totally involuntary — you cannot force it. And it happens
often on occasions when you least expect it.

 The “Whoop” is very similar in this regard, yet in this case, it doesn’t end
with one pleasurable leap to the heart. No, it just repeats and repeats and
repeats, over and over again. It is pure unadulterated joy and adrenaline,
almost to the point of hyperventilation. And it has STAYING Power, the human
equivalent of emotional endurance you wish could last a lifetime. Perhaps it
will.

 [SI’s Andy Staples is  all-aboard the Johnny Football bandwagon]

 “Whoop!” doesn’t end when you greet the team at the Bright Complex after they
arrive at Easterwood Airport, as thousands of us did. You hear the great Stevie
Ray Vaughan on the loud speakers, along with “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”
and even our old standby, “Bad to the Bone” to complete the festivities. Coach
Sumlin and senior receiver Ryan Swope thank the crowd as it roars with approval.
The spirit is awesome.
 
The “Whoop” inside you doesn’t end when you return home either, because all
you want to do is hit “play” on the DVR deep into the night – or watch the
broadcasters in their major analytics mode trying to properly box it all up, as
if they could.

 Not this one, guys. There are too many minute details to cover in the short
amount of air time allotted.

 It’s just TOO BIG.

 The NFL is on TV the following day but you’re an SEC fan now. The NFL somehow
falls short in your interest level and priorities. “Maybe I’ll just watch
the game one more  time,” you say. On Saturdays now, even before your A&M game begins or when  the game is over, nothing but the SEC is showing on your TV. You’re hooked.  THIS is college  football. THIS  trumps everything you’ve ever seen in your lifetime. Everything else in college  football is deemed irrelevant and boring.

 Sure, tell me how wonderful Collin Klein and Kansas State are if you’d like.  I recall thinking the same thing…last season. To be honest, I  haven’t laid eyes on him or his team at all this season.

 Number One now, are they? Perhaps I’ll catch the Kansas State – Texas game in
a couple of weeks. Wait. I haven’t seen the ‘Horns play either. Nope, not a
single down. I’ll be darned if I even have any idea what their record is. I’m
like Denzel’s daughter in the movie “Remember the Titans.”

 I don’t care.

 [VIDEO: Sam Montgomery weighs in on
Johnny Football and the Heisman Trophy]

 But back to Kansas State, Collin is very talented and a great leader playing
for the most sentimental of favorites as a Coach of the Year as you’ll ever find
in Bill Snyder. Coach Bill was through with coaching years ago but was asked to
return and the results have been fabulous for the Wildcats. They are
the Wildcats, right? I mean no disrespect, rest assured, but tunnel-vision
through these Maroon-colored glasses is a mean affliction…but I love it. Trust
me, I played Kansas State myself when they were in the Big 8. We went on 90 and
95 yard drives against them without breaking a sweat. This is kind of how their
football life-span has gone.  The last impact player I can recall from Kansas
State was quarterback Lynn Dickey, who was extremely good, although I liked him
in the 60s primarily because he wore white cleats.

 Alabama’s quarterback hadn’t been shown up by an opposing quarterback but
once in 22 starts and he made amends for that slight in last year’s BCS
championship game.  (Actually it took two
LSU quarterbacks to beat him but that’s a story for another day.) That’s a whole
lot of games to walk over to the other sidelines to console the losing
quarterback, shake his hand and tell him, “Better luck next time.”

 A.J. McCarron is a winner and once was considered a top Heisman Trophy
candidate. In fact, I’m quite sure he was about to make a giant leap into New
York for some high-fives and back-slaps when DeRidder, La. native Deshazor
Everett stepped in front of his 4th down throw
and potentially derailed ‘Bama’s national title intentions, and with them,
A.J.’s Heisman Trophy hopes. Suddenly the big LSU drive from the previous game
they were showing up on the scoreboard seemed like it was from another
dimension.

 I recall the long desperation bomb Doug Flutie completed to beat the Miami
Hurricanes years ago, and when Everett came away with that football inside the
Alabama end zone I jumped up out of my chair in the same manner I had then.
Unbelievable. It was astounding because of its complete unexpectedness. All
logic said both teams were beaten until the final play.

 The Aggie Yell Leaders revving them up

 The play Alabama called after failing on three consecutive tries to get to
the end zone was a sure thing in my book. Alabama put a receiver in motion to
the right and had another receiver already there assigned to the defensive back
covering the receiver in motion. He would “accidentally” make incidental contact
with the defensive back who was chasing the motion receiver and thus free his
teammate to run to the outside area, breaking wide open. The quarterback sprints
out to the side and flips a pass to his receiver, normally an easy target.

 I’ve watched Steve Young, Joe Montana, Big Ben, Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers, you
name ‘em –when they’re near the goal line or in need of a first down — this is
the play you commonly see from them. Some teams run it without a “pick” receiver
because it’s so hard to cover as it is. A quick break “up and out” by the motion
receiver usually leaves any strong safety just a step behind in the “flat” and
the quarterback with an easy shot.

 Let me put it this way: On the college and professional level and in all my
years as a quarterback and coach, I cannot recall seeing this play result in a
single incompletion in a game. Not one! This is why Nick Saban’s play-caller
made the decision. It’s money in the bank. On their “situation sheet” they’d
prepared before game time, this play was the one the staff
had decided during the week was the one they would win with when the time
came.

 This great read and interception by Deshazor Everett will forever live in the
memory and historical annals of Aggie football. Suddenly the Wrecking Crew’s
four stops of Auburn’s Bo Jackson in the Cotton Bowl seem to pale in comparison.
Shutting down Earl Campbell and Number 5 Texas in 1975 to maintain the Number 2
ranking and an unblemished 10-0 record now seem like ancient history. The
National Championship won 35 years prior to my touching foot on the A&M
campus was as long ago to me then as my own playing days are to student-athletes
now. We’re only spectators and well-wishers now, living vicariously through them
and their exploits.

 Inside four magical downs of defense, after surrendering the bomb a play
earlier that would surely seal our collective fates, all eras would
instantaneously become irrelevant to the NOW that is occurring.


[Must Watch Video: Texas A&M players return  to HUGE welcoming party from the 12th Man]

 As I was tweeting the play-by-play for fellow Aggies in different parts of
the world and Louisiana friends who were part of the Tiger Stadium crowd at LSU,
I tweeted the following before the final Alabama series: “What a game. Alabama
just went 94 yards…now they’re 60 yards away with 4:24 left…long ball to the
6…Goal line stand, baby. Let’s go!”

 And we did. We gave the heroic effort necessary to come out on top in a very
hostile environment. As a side note, every one of my LSU friends heaped praise
on our Aggie football team. They loved it.

 I see now that “tradition” is reinventing itself and taking on a life of its
own. It’s growing stronger and larger, and is being noticed by everyone in this
country. Since I carry the torch here for the 70’s players and am the youngest
quarterback to ever play the college game, I think I speak for everybody from
the dawning of the modern era in college football at Texas A&M when I say,
“We love the effort and the class with which you play and represent yourselves
and our university. We love your bravado, toughness and skill. You play like we
did; you take it to ‘em and we’re extremely proud — but this is your day.”

 “Whoop!” 
 
Damontre Moore continues to lead this defense in solo tackles and ranks third
in the country among defensive linemen. He ranks second overall in tackles for
losses with 2 per game, just percentage points behind linebacker Jarvis Jones of
Georgia, and Damontre is third in the country in quarterback sacks.

 The Aggies are giving up 21.3 points per game which is 27th nationally. In a season of instant offense, it is this  former quarterback’s opinion that it’s the defense that has played well enough  to win every game.  Trust me; it’s been quite some time since anyone has been able to make this  observation so intensely. Our punting game has also been outstanding. We’ve  punted 30 times while giving up only 39 yards in returns. Our net punting  average of 41.6 is 4th in the country.

 Johnny Manziel and Baylor quarterback Nick Florence continue to battle it out
for the national Total Offense crown with Johnny, despite playing the Number 1
defense in the country, closing the gap between the two to 15 yards per game.
While the new storyline is “Johnny Football Manziel for Heisman,” there is
another current situation that many of us only dared dream would become reality;
“Alabama remains in position to win the SEC West by beating rival Auburn on Nov.
24, or by seeing the Aggies lose to
Missouri on Nov. 23.” 

That’s right; we’re the only two in the hunt.

 We played Saturday like the West Division depended on it, and it did. Johnny
led the offense to 4 of 5 Red Zone scores against Alabama, the team that had led
the country in Red Zone defense for most of the year and was ranked third going
into the A&M matchup. The first three penetrations into the Crimson Tide’s
Red Zone produced touchdowns. The crowd seemed
completely unnerved by the quick-strike, Stun Gun attack.

 “We weren’t stunned at all,” Tide linebacker C.J. Mosley said, with a
straight face. “As a defense, we knew they were going to make plays, that’s what
their offense depends on. They got a great quarterback; they got a great running
back. We just have to settle down and play Alabama football.”

 I saw a great display of spirit and confidence when the team came out for the
second half, seemingly clinging to a 20-14 lead. They were jumping up and down,
yelling and screaming into the night, as if momentum was still clearly on the
side of the guys in the white hats. They were at an emotional peak in the face
of over 101,000 fans and a national TV audience that has grown accustomed to
seeing them cough up double-digit leads. And finally, there was the ghost of
Bear Bryant himself, herding them all together for the inevitable slaughter to
come.

 Seen walking away from the Aggie team’s bedlam with a big smile on his face
was none other than the head man himself, Kevin Sumlin. Yes, this team had grown
into men through the harshness of earlier costly mistakes and was ready to step
into the light. Despite the odds makers’ and broadcasters’ and sportswriters’
low regard for them and their ‘gimmicky’ style, their undisciplined quarterback
and the sudden turn of events on the field, these football players never even
flinched. Preparation plus Enthusiasm determines Performance…down to the very
last play. If games are indeed won before they’re ever played, then days can be
won before they’re ever lived.

[Johnny football has  ascended to the top of the Heisman rankings]

 Bowl predictions are coming out now as the general public anticipates the
Aggies completing the regular season at 10-2. They’re excluding us from a shot
at the Sugar Bowl simply because Alabama just has no chance at all of losing to
Auburn. Some have us leap-frogging other conference members and being invited to
the Fiesta Bowl, most likely to play Big 12 runner-up, Oklahoma, the other
Number 1 team the Aggies have defeated in their history.

 First there’s business to be taken care of here in 12th Man Stadium, and that is Sam Houston State and  Missouri. I’ve yet to see us come out of the tunnel not ready to play, so there  is no reason to start fretting now. As I said after our SMU game about Johnny
Manziel, stop critiquing and begin appreciating him. He will be gone in a flash,
much too soon. It’s all in front of him, us and our football team.

 Winning a three-game road swing for the first time since ’75 would normally
be a strong enough statement, but to top it off by whipping the defending
champions on their own home turf, well, that’s just darn near a Mission
Impossible that we just accomplished.

 [Read how A&M was ready to match the old guard in this epic showdown]

 Like Coach says, “No moment is too big.” I can’t tell you how important it is
to hear and feel this on a football team. The classiest and the smartest thing
this head coach and his offensive coordinator have done is simply allow Johnny
Manziel to lead. There are a lot of coaches whose egos don’t allow this. We’re
very fortunate.

 Our goal now is to finish at least in the Top 5, a feat not accomplished at
Texas A&M since 1956 when Bear Bryant’s near perfect 9-0-1 squad. Adding
only seven Top 10 finishes since then has left the school hungry for more
success –and thankful and extremely excited for this opportunity.

 “Whoop!”

 Pardon the Swagger; we’re coming through.