Thanksgiving: A Scandurro Story

BY TIM SCANDURRO

“They’re a good football team that’s done this for a while…we played against a very good opponent that’s also very motivated.”—Temple Coach K.C. Keeler after Tulane’s 37-13 win Saturday

“All I wanna do is go the distance.”—Rocky Balboa

I have a very vague memory as a young boy, sometime at the end of 1973 or early in 1974, of seeing my dad wearing a t-shirt that said “We Beat Dem Bastids.”  It may have been printed on a coffee cup or stationery or something else, and not on a shirt; the phrase has stuck with me more than the medium it was displayed on.

What I remember more clearly was his sense of relief that a giant yoke had finally been removed from his neck, that a buildup of excruciating pressure had finally been released.  I know some of you probably remember first-hand not just the euphoria, but the satisfaction and contentment that came from beating LSU for the first time in 25 years.  And the relief.

That was almost 52 years ago.  Saturday night after the Temple game, I identified with some small part of that feeling the old man must have had back then.  There was no euphoria in Philadelphia the way there was on that magical uptown night in 1973, but there was some collective exhaling after both games were over.  We had gotten past a challenge that kept a lot of us up at night this past week with the realization that if we faltered, we would have to wait another year to try and get back to where we are, with no guarantee that we’ll ever get back again.  It had an all or nothing feel to it going in.

The nice part of Saturday’s game was you didn’t need to exhale at the end, because there was no need to hold your breath in the first place.  We went in there and physically controlled Temple on both lines of scrimmage. 

They say defense travels, but what really travels late in the year when the temperatures drop and the wind picks up is physicality.  We may not be pretty, but there was a relentlessness to our physical intention up front that could be felt in that football game.  Temple coach K.C. Keeler was asked afterwards about his reckless decision to run a cross-field lateral in his own territory late in the first half, a play that came inches from gifting Tulane a touchdown as the clock ran out.

“We felt we had to be aggressive,” he said.  “If we didn’t make a play, they were going to just wear us down.”  He was right.  They didn’t make that play or very many others, and we wore them down and beat them up in the trenches on both sides.  Coach Keeler saw it in real time, up close, and before halftime he was already desperate.  He felt us, and his team felt us, for 60 minutes.

Of course it helped to get off to a fast start again with another Retzlaff/Preston explosive play on our first possession, but this game was defined more by smash than flash.  I watched some of the North Texas game after ours.  Maybe it was the fact that we were in Philadelphia this week, but it was hard not to see that these are two very different kinds of trains that are on a collision course.  One looks like Apollo Creed, dancing and striking quickly and wowing people with explosive talent and skill in the passing game.  The other is more Rocky Balboa, capable of landing the big shot too but more content getting teams in a corner and then raining body shots on them.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself and there’s a lot of work to do this week to get ready for Charlotte.  We need to stay focused and continue to ascend and build momentum this coming Saturday.

But Charlotte isn’t the team running their mouths this week about what a travesty it is that we are ranked ahead of them in the College Football Playoff rankings.  The team and fan base doing that call themselves the “Mean Green.” But as our head coach likes to say:  They ain’t played us yet.

Assuming we take care of business against Charlotte next week and UNT handles Temple in Denton, we will meet them in Yulman Stadium on December 5 for all the marbles.  It would be our fourth consecutive title game appearance, and it will be every bit the challenge the last three have been.  But what a ride we’ve been on, and what a magnificent opportunity we have in front of us. 

We need to get a great crowd for Senior Night Saturday.  Our football team is 9-2, nationally ranked, and playing for the right to host the conference championship and make the College Football Playoff.  The students are all gone for Thanksgiving, so keep your eye out for the opportunity to buy extra seats and invite people to this game, or if you’re able consider contacting the Athletic Department and buying a block of cheap seats that they can then distribute to area schools or organizations. 

It’s a big night.  This is what we all dreamed about, hoped for and invested in ever since last season ended in disappointment.  It’s what so many fellow Green Wave fans who are no longer with us dreamed about and invested in too, but never got to see.  When you sit around the Thanksgiving table this week don’t forget to be grateful for the position we’re in, for the truly special opportunity we have in the next few weeks, and for being alive to experience it.

Then let’s get out there Saturday and support and celebrate this gift of a football program.  It’s not just that they have earned this moment.  You’ve earned this moment. 

Cherish every second of it.

Roll Wave.