Sunday Afternoon Quarterback

Fans, we’ve waited for nine agonizing months as we had to endure the likes of gambling in the NBA, dog fighting, and dare I say, the NHL, but college football is back! And for some reason, I can’t stop screaming, “Hooray for Appalachia!” as if they won a classic battle or conquest over the great dynasty that would be Michigan football. Enough of that, but we in college football nation are still shocked by how this “Football Championship Subdivision” team – albeit the two-time national champion of the “Football Championship Subdivision” – took down a BCS championship contender at its own house. Surely, Michigan did not do its research on Appalachian State, a public school in Boone, North Carolina with an enrollment of over 15,000 students. The school teaches a wide range of disciplines, but the Walker College of Business may be its best. And the value! Appalachian State is consistently ranked in the top 10 of the southern universities for its affordable tuition. Contrary to conventional belief, State of Appalachia is actually located in the Blue Ridge Mountain range. The Mountaineers currently have a 27-game winning streak at home at Kidd Brewer Stadium (also known is “The Rock”), so when they aren’t beating up on the likes of the Michigan Wolverines, they’re winning at home, too. I can’t go without mentioning the State fight song:

Hi Hi Yikas

Hi-Hi-y-ike-us
Nobody like us,
We are the
Mountaineers,
Mountaineers,
Mountaineers,
Always a-winning
Always a-grinning
Always a-feeling fine
You bet, hey
Go Apps!
Fight Apps!
Go, fight, win Apps!

Just think: a real Mountaineer would probably kill a real wolverine, so consider Michigan lucky…it could have been worse (We are of course excluding the comic book wolverine, who would slash and embarrass the poor Mountaineer – probably what Michigan thought it was going to do this Saturday).

As for me, I was on the road down I-64 East at the Edward James Dome in downtown St. Louis to watch the “Arch Rivalry” between the Missouri Tigers and the Illinois Fighting Illini. This game serves to rekindle the fire between these two Midwestern universities by playing at a neutral site halfway between both schools. I called a buddy who goes to Illinois about a month ago, and after giving up hope because the tickets were too pricy for even the nosebleeds, the Universities just gave out tickets for free a few days in advance, showing the rare instance in which a big organization or university shows some benevolence and goodwill. Bravo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bravo.

Surprisingly, this would be my first big-time D-I game, proving that I am the ultimate armchair quarterback analyst ever.

We went to the game with some friends and my first impression of the atmosphere was, well, it was relatively empty for a rivalry game about to start in 20 minutes. The driving distance for each of the schools was about 3 hours (Mizzou fans driving there with those ridiculous looking Tiger tails out of the back of their trunks) so some arrived late, but the stands were pretty full at kickoff. There were many more Missouri fans at the game, many of whom chose to talk trash about their perennially average football team. Our tickets were nosebleeds, but we moved down to the front of the section and cheered with the other standing Illinois students. As we yelled our heads off for the Illini, I first noticed the large collective man-crush on sophomore quarterback, Isaiah Williams, also affectionately known as “JUIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!” People love him for his size, his arm strength, and athleticism, and how can you not root for a guy named Juice?? As for his production on the field, Juice went 6 for 9 for 59 yards, and then got hurt after a head on head collision with a Missouri defender.

Illinois had scored the first touchdown after a blocked punt and was still in the game, but with Juice’s injury, the momentum swung in the Tigers’ favor as my new dark horse Heisman candidate Chase Daniel tore up the Illinois secondary (Daniel would end up throwing 37 for 54 with 359 yards, 3 TD’s and no INT’s). We knew it looked bad when tight end extraordinaire Martin Rucker lined up at quarterback and ran a QB draw for ten yards. Then later, tight end extraordinaire #2 Chase Coffman (who is 6’6” 245 pounds, by the way) took an option pitch from Daniel and “scampered” for 8 yards after stiff arming a defender and hurdling another one. Now, I know I haven’t been around as long as others, but I have NEVER seen a Tight End Draw or a Tight End Option in my life.

Juice’s replacement, redshirt freshman Eddie McGee didn’t get off to a great start. As Illinois was poised for a touchdown to go up 13-7 in the second quarter, he fumbled near the goal line and MU safety Pig Brown returned it about 100 yards for a Missouri touchdown. McGee would end up with four turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles).

Early in the 3rd quarter, the game is looking like a blowout as freshman sensation Jeremy Maclin takes a punt 66 yards for a touchdown. Missouri goes up 37-13 with a quarter and a half to play and Illinois’ starting quarterback on the shelf with an apparent concussion. If I told you there was still hope amongst the fans, I’d be lying to you. Our female accomplices at the game left because, well, they were clearly bad luck.

Illinois scored to make it a respectable 37-20 game. At least, we thought, it wouldn’t be a blowout. McGee engineers another scoring drive to make it 37-27 and the Illini faithful once again have hope. To make matters better, Mizzou fumbles and McGee throws a beautiful 41-yard pass to a streaking Kyle Hudson on the next play to make it a 3-point game. Once again, the Illinois side of the stadium is going nuts as we truly believe that we are going to win this game. After Mizzou scores a field goal to put them up 40-34, Eddie McGee drives the Illini 48 yards to the Missouri 22 yard line. This drive included a 4th down play in which the clock was running out and McGee attempted to call a time out. Instead of getting the time out, the center snapped the ball and McGee hurled a 20 yard post to freshman sensation, Arrelious Benn. With a little over a minute to go, McGee drops back, throws to the end zone, and is picked off by the Tigers at the 1 yard line, ending the comeback drive and giving the W to rival Mizzou.

The loss was disappointing for the Illini fans, but a 6-point loss to a probable top 25 team with their starting quarterback out is a moral victory, if that means anything. For a while I thought the there could be a quarterback controversy after the understudy’s comeback performance, but at least for another week, the name Juice reigns supreme in Illini country.