2024 Stagg Bowl (now at home!)
...Which was played in 2025. Shh.
NCC made it to the Stagg Bowl...again. Fifth time running. They've been on an on-off trajectory, which would suggest they were on again this year, but only the game would tell.
With all the grandma excitement, I had zero interest in attending a watch party. The game also wasn't on a Friday night, where I'd already be nearby, and as a bonus, it was on a more regular ESPN channel, not relegated to the Ocho, so I could watch it from the comfort of my bedroom for once. Oh, gosh, that was lovely.
Except, of course, that it was nerve-wracking from the start, when Mount Union--the winningest of D-III teams, with 13 championships over the years--scored the first touchdown. It was the first time all seasons the Cards trailed in a game. It would be the only time the Cards trailed in this game. As someone who has been extraordinarily tense as of late, adding more tension to myself, just when I've been feeling better, was not ideal, but at the same time I could tell it was a more fun sort of stress, like the outcome wasn't life-threatening or anything. But still I was anxious and my superstitious nature kicked in. I spent a lot of time on devices for the first half, getting some stuff done and not giving 100% of my attention to the game. When I started putting stuff away, that's when Mount Union attempted to mount a comeback. Playing Octordle until the game is over it is! ...I mean, it worked. :P
There was also the bittersweet nature of the situation. It was last year's championship game that led to the colossal debacle that ultimately caused Dr. K to leave the school. With him being gone, and most of the students I know having aged out of the marching band program, there wasn't the need to see the game like I had in the past. But I could hear them, and his influence remains. Man, the band was loud! I can't tell if it was because I'd been in a restaurant for the previous four times, and the ambient noise drowned them out somehow, but dang, the band was really obvious a lot of the time. I recognized the music as being them before I saw them, and it looks like they got to perform a halftime show, too, as I saw them on the sideline shortly before the end of the second quarter. It was pretty amusing to have their first down music played on a nationally-broadcast game, to hear the chord they play upon NCC kicking to the other team, to hear Fall Out Boy in the background. That's all Dr. K's legacy and I enjoy hearing that.
As for the game itself, it was really good. There's a reason both teams made it this far. There were some trouble sections, like that it took four tries to get one particular down going; the same MU player caused at least two false starts. The official kept having to have the game clock reset, and he sounded annoyed about it; I wasn't fully paying attention at first and I almost though the time keeper wasn't resetting the clock to the right time at first. There was also the questionable calls made by MU, and considering they made it to the red zone four times and only earned a field goal out of it, that's partly on the NCC defense but also on MU making interesting choices. I mean, I'm on the side that got the win, so I'm okay with that, but man, that NCC let them get that close to the goal line also was wild. But they won, third national championship in five years. Them and the Bears, snapping their 10-game losing streak...and by beating the Packers for the first time since 2015, I believe. It was a good football day yesterday.
NCC made it to the Stagg Bowl...again. Fifth time running. They've been on an on-off trajectory, which would suggest they were on again this year, but only the game would tell.
With all the grandma excitement, I had zero interest in attending a watch party. The game also wasn't on a Friday night, where I'd already be nearby, and as a bonus, it was on a more regular ESPN channel, not relegated to the Ocho, so I could watch it from the comfort of my bedroom for once. Oh, gosh, that was lovely.
Except, of course, that it was nerve-wracking from the start, when Mount Union--the winningest of D-III teams, with 13 championships over the years--scored the first touchdown. It was the first time all seasons the Cards trailed in a game. It would be the only time the Cards trailed in this game. As someone who has been extraordinarily tense as of late, adding more tension to myself, just when I've been feeling better, was not ideal, but at the same time I could tell it was a more fun sort of stress, like the outcome wasn't life-threatening or anything. But still I was anxious and my superstitious nature kicked in. I spent a lot of time on devices for the first half, getting some stuff done and not giving 100% of my attention to the game. When I started putting stuff away, that's when Mount Union attempted to mount a comeback. Playing Octordle until the game is over it is! ...I mean, it worked. :P
There was also the bittersweet nature of the situation. It was last year's championship game that led to the colossal debacle that ultimately caused Dr. K to leave the school. With him being gone, and most of the students I know having aged out of the marching band program, there wasn't the need to see the game like I had in the past. But I could hear them, and his influence remains. Man, the band was loud! I can't tell if it was because I'd been in a restaurant for the previous four times, and the ambient noise drowned them out somehow, but dang, the band was really obvious a lot of the time. I recognized the music as being them before I saw them, and it looks like they got to perform a halftime show, too, as I saw them on the sideline shortly before the end of the second quarter. It was pretty amusing to have their first down music played on a nationally-broadcast game, to hear the chord they play upon NCC kicking to the other team, to hear Fall Out Boy in the background. That's all Dr. K's legacy and I enjoy hearing that.
As for the game itself, it was really good. There's a reason both teams made it this far. There were some trouble sections, like that it took four tries to get one particular down going; the same MU player caused at least two false starts. The official kept having to have the game clock reset, and he sounded annoyed about it; I wasn't fully paying attention at first and I almost though the time keeper wasn't resetting the clock to the right time at first. There was also the questionable calls made by MU, and considering they made it to the red zone four times and only earned a field goal out of it, that's partly on the NCC defense but also on MU making interesting choices. I mean, I'm on the side that got the win, so I'm okay with that, but man, that NCC let them get that close to the goal line also was wild. But they won, third national championship in five years. Them and the Bears, snapping their 10-game losing streak...and by beating the Packers for the first time since 2015, I believe. It was a good football day yesterday.