Mark Wiedmer
As I write this early Tuesday morning, approximately 102 hours must pass before No. 1 Texas visits No. 3 and defending national champion Ohio State at high noon on Saturday. I swore all summer that I would pursue other interests this fall, that the transfer portal, NIL money and the potential dark cloud of a gambling mess had soured my love of college football, and perhaps, though I doubt this will ultimately be the case, college basketball.
But then the air cooled over the past couple of days, the hint of blessed football weather on the horizon, and my old addictions have again gotten the better of me. I want to watch Texas at Ohio State. I NEED to watch the Longhorns against the Buckeyes inside OSU’s Horseshoe, if only to put thoughts about deployments of the National Guard, Gaza and what numbers I should play to win the $815 million Powerball drawing on Wednesday night temporarily behind me.
So maybe I’m not as defiant and principled as I’d like to be. Sue me. Or to slightly alter one of the great movie lines of all-time in Godfather 3, “Just when I thought I was out, college football pulls me back in.”
Because when you wipe away the filth and the scandal (here’s to you, Michigan) and the hypocrisy, the game itself on Saturday afternoons (or Tuesday nights, or whenever two colleges get together on the gridiron) is pretty cool stuff.
It’s the Tennessee Vols running through the “T’ formed by the Pride of the Southland Band. It’s Ro-o-o-l-l-l-l TIDE!!! roaring through Bryant-Denny Stadium, delivered by frat brothers in blue blazers and khakis and sorority sisters in sundresses, as ageless, timeless and comforting a scene as any in Southern football. It’s fans of the Big Orange or Bama breaking out the victory cigars whenever one of them beats the other.
It’s also the memories of good times not forgotten. Of the late Voice of the Vols, John Ward, saying, “It’s football time in Tennessee.” Or the late Georgia broadcaster Larry Munson breaking out his “Hobnail Boot” call late in the Bulldogs’ 2001 win over the Vols in Knoxville. Or “Punt, Bama, Punt” bumper stickers spreading across orange-and-blue corners of Alabama after Auburn’s 17-16 win over Bama in 1972 on two blocked punts. Or Bama’s Bear Bryant shouting “Bingo” on his Sunday afternoon TV show each time one of his players made a particularly solid tackle. Or the Billy Cannon Halloween night punt return against Ole Miss in 1959 that delivered a 7-3 Bayou Bengals triumph. Or Nick Saban’s Bama teams stealing victory from the jaws of defeat in the 2018 national title game (Tua Tagovailoa to Devonte Smith in overtime against Georgia or Jalen Milroe hitting Isaiah Bond from 31 yards out on fourth-and-goal in the 2023 Iron Bowl at Auburn).
Or that 1969, 38-0 Ole Miss victory over a then-No. 3, undefeated Tennessee (7-0) after the greatest QB the Southeastern Conference has ever known — Archie Manning — shut the mouth of UT linebacker Steve Kiner after Kiner infamously mocked Manning with taunts of “Archie Who?” all week.
These moments, and so many, many others are what make college football here in the South, and occasionally elsewhere, almost impossible to walk away from.
So as recently new SEC member Texas travels to Ohio State, as Tennessee faces Syracuse in Atlanta (hopefully without Chattanooga’s Lee Dyer to flag the ‘Cuse for not wearing knee pads, as he did in the 1998 game that led to a UT national title), as Bama travels to Florida State in a game that once would have been the highlight of the weekend, and No. 9 LSU visits No. 4 Clemson on Saturday night in a game that might be the second most-hyped of the weekend, it feels amazing to have college football back.
And just to show that not everything about NIL is awful, we leave you with this from an article on The Athletic website about how college football players are spending their NIL money.
Asked how he’d spent his money to date, Maryland defensive back Jalen Huskey provided the following answer. After paying his apartment rent and buying a used car, he paid for his sister’s college tuition.
Said Huskey: “If I’m in my position and I can give back to my family, that’s 100 percent something I want to do.”
From here on out, I’m rooting for the Terrapins to win the Big Ten.
* * *
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@mccallie.org