One For The Memory Book

Craig Turner
Bluedeathvalley.com
Oct. 5, 2009

A&T 23 NCCU 17.

It certainly wasn’t one the best executed or aesthetically pleasing games played between A&T and North Carolina Central. It was full of penalties and turnovers and missed opportunities by both teams at the end of regulation and in both overtimes.

But man oh man, it was one of the best heart attack specials and worth every bit of the $25 dollars per ticket price paid by the 19,534 fans in attendance at Aggie Stadium Saturday night.

This will be one of those games that will stand out near the top, in the one of the oldest rivalries in HBCU college football.

Pretty game? Well the answer is no. Defensive mistakes made by both teams? Of course. Kicking game for both teams disappearing at the wrong time in the wrong place? You bet it did.

But pound for pound, play or play, was it one of most exciting Aggie–Eagle confrontations in recent memory?

Beyond anydoubt.

It did not start out with the feel of real emotion or the revenge atmosphere of a rivalry game, but as the seconds clicked down near the end of regulation with the score deadlocked, it took on a life of its own.

It dawned upon nearly everyone in the stadium that there was going to have a special and sudden end to what had been a back and forth slug fest for sixty minutes.

Some folks might have gotten the impression that this would be a cruise control game after the Aggies went up 17-0 midway in second quarter. But just like last year, the opponent woke up just before halftime.

Last year it was the Aggies that stormed back to fall just shy. This time the Eagles reversed the roles, played an almost identical scenario and the ending was the same - except this time NCCU was left on the outside looking in, left asking the question of what if?

When quarterback Carlton Fears connected on his second touchdown to a streaking Wallace Miles on a quick crossing pattern for the game winner in the second overtime, a weight of what had seemed like a thousand years was lifted off the shoulders of not only the 16 seniors who had never tasted a win against the Eagles but also for the thousands of the Aggie faithful who had watched their beloved Blue and Gold fall just a single play or point or two shy for three consecutive years to their most hated rival.

Afterwards, Aggie and Eagle fans alike remarked that it was a hard fought football game between two teams that would not back down from each other, trading blows like the final Ali and Frazier matchup in the “Thrilla in Manilla” in the 1970’s.

And as always there are will always be those people who can’t simply talk about the game, reflect on some big plays, and class on the sidelines by coaches or on the field by a officiating crew that seem to be not be able to make it mind on what the ruling should have been.

They will invariably have to point to the fact that Coach A could stop Coach B and vice versa and pick on 18 or 19-year-old kids for not performing to some kind of faux NFL standard or their own high opinion of football knowledge, and they call a game like this one just a case of mediocrity.

I have to really disagree with that assessment. Mediocrity is in the eye of the beholder. To them I say, don’t quit your day job.

Most critics are 20-20 with the hindsight (and always after the fact) and are too critical in their analysis, too often judging football games as they would an ordinary employee performing ordinary duties during a normal work day in an vanilla office setting where the routine never really changes except maybe new name plate appearing every few months.

In football, that just isn't the case folks. There are way too many variables in team sports, especially with 18 or 19 year old kids involved and despite the best game plans, they make errors.

Most coaching decisions are made on the fly and have to be split second reactions to changing events on every single play. Some will be good ones and we’ll scream and cheer and call them brilliant and some will leave us scratching our heads demanding a new coach or staff.

The fact is that some coaches are simply better than others when it comes to getting their players to step up and to respond to adversity when it counts. We happened to win that particularly big battle last night in crunch time.

But hey, if it was easy, everyone would be coaching college football for a living. It pays real well from what I hear.

As I have stated time and time again over these early weeks in this column, A&T has to learn how to crawl and stand up on its feet before we can begin running marathons under Coach Lee.

We finally figured out how to take a hard shot in the mouth, get up, and return the favor. The game last night was that first real big step.

Now its time to pick up the pace and take this up to a brisk walk with the next couple of games on the road against Morgan and Howard.

Personally, I am way more concerned about having our first winning season since 2003 than critiquing anyone. A&T is now is position to lay a real foundation to build upon and sign another great recruiting class this winter.

We can debate strategy and coaching decisions all day long afterward. I think most Aggies would agree with me on these next few points and wouldn't argue over them about the season thus far or for the rest of the year for that matter.

First things first. After 6 years of wandering in the wilderness with true mediocrity, we now have the right guy at the top.

We are not going to be pretty this year so no matter how ugly we may look in getting there, but this news flash just in - WE ARE GETTING THERE.

So for now let's just continue to win, pretty or not, enjoy it, talk a little trash to our HBCU neighbors to the east and west of us, and let's move on to the next one.

The magic number is now 3.