Game 2: How do I shot touchdown?
In 2008, the Burrowing Owls of Florida Atlantic came up to play a football game and ended up swimming on a football field. Javon Ringer entered the public consciousness on that day not because he's a great running back (although I think he is), but because we simply couldn't pass the ball. It poured and poured; warm rain that thickened or lessened, but never actually let up. I remember leaving home for the game and seeing one of our neighbor's house numbers on our lawn. By the time I had walked across the street to return it to them, my poncho had already begun to fail.
I had a blast. I love rain, and sitting in a warm rainstorm for three hours watching a football game was so much fun. I felt a little sorry for FAU -- they're primarily a pass-based offense and they had no shot at winning in those conditions.
This year, MSU was supposed to play in Boca Raton. However, the Owls were still working on their new stadium, so the game was moved. Perhaps inspired by the MSU basketball team's success in selling out Ford Field, FAU decided to hold the game there. Unfortunately, they also decided to charge $85 per ticket.
There's only things wrong with that: we're all broke, the stakes were just slightly higher when the basketball team was playing, and no one cares about FAU. After the advertising campaign failed, FAU reduced the price to $19 (free to Ford employees) and hoped to at least not lose money on a game for which they were going to receive all the money.
And despite those incentives, only about 36,000 people went to the game.
MSU looked a bit less sharp than last week. FAU had a few long drives for touchdowns that took advantage of all the secondary was revealing underneath. Cousins had a rather bad game, with an interception in the end zone which would have extended the lead to 35-14. The running backs were very good, aside from Bell's fumble.
It was a bit of a boring game, to be honest. I went to the library in the 3rd quarter, listening to the game on my mp3 player. When the station went down (for whatever reason) late in the 4th with FAU driving and only down two touchdowns, I wasn't really worried. As it turns out, I had no reason to be.
At the end of it all, FAU (down 16 points) had a 4th-and-goal from the 1 with just under three minutes to go, had a false start, called a timeout, and then decided to kick the field goal. Why? The 22 point Fourth Quarter Bonus Field Goal theory is just as valid as any other.
On to Notre Dame.
I had a blast. I love rain, and sitting in a warm rainstorm for three hours watching a football game was so much fun. I felt a little sorry for FAU -- they're primarily a pass-based offense and they had no shot at winning in those conditions.
This year, MSU was supposed to play in Boca Raton. However, the Owls were still working on their new stadium, so the game was moved. Perhaps inspired by the MSU basketball team's success in selling out Ford Field, FAU decided to hold the game there. Unfortunately, they also decided to charge $85 per ticket.
There's only things wrong with that: we're all broke, the stakes were just slightly higher when the basketball team was playing, and no one cares about FAU. After the advertising campaign failed, FAU reduced the price to $19 (free to Ford employees) and hoped to at least not lose money on a game for which they were going to receive all the money.
And despite those incentives, only about 36,000 people went to the game.
MSU looked a bit less sharp than last week. FAU had a few long drives for touchdowns that took advantage of all the secondary was revealing underneath. Cousins had a rather bad game, with an interception in the end zone which would have extended the lead to 35-14. The running backs were very good, aside from Bell's fumble.
It was a bit of a boring game, to be honest. I went to the library in the 3rd quarter, listening to the game on my mp3 player. When the station went down (for whatever reason) late in the 4th with FAU driving and only down two touchdowns, I wasn't really worried. As it turns out, I had no reason to be.
At the end of it all, FAU (down 16 points) had a 4th-and-goal from the 1 with just under three minutes to go, had a false start, called a timeout, and then decided to kick the field goal. Why? The 22 point Fourth Quarter Bonus Field Goal theory is just as valid as any other.
On to Notre Dame.