Oct. 16, 2005

Charleston, SC - I usually don't care who wins a football game. But late Saturday afternoon I found myself pulling for The Citadel.

When the Bulldogs took nationally ranked Furman into overtime at Johnson Hagood Stadium, I left the press box and went down on the field to be closer to the action.

On the sidelines you can smell the combustible combination of tension mixed with anxiety that comes when effort reaches the point of exhaustion.

These two Palmetto State teams, bound by pride and purpose, had fought to a 21-21 deadlock before a sellout crowd of almost 13,000 that was jammed into The Citadel's little makeshift stadium.

With one wing shorn away by future plans, this old ballyard was stuffed with fans hanging over the railings to get a look.

Sometimes smaller is better. But don't tell those who are always raising more money to expand.

But this was a day when small college football stood tall.

Not only did these fans get their money's worth, they got free football, also known as three overtimes. Three gut-wrenching, painful overtimes that reduce full-scale warfare to a sudden-death scrimmage.

But it was the only way to determine a winner, or a loser. The only way to walk away from this game with anything meaningful.

FALL FOOTBALL

All afternoon it had been a day born for fall football. Temperatures somewhere between short sleeves and sweaters. Everyone spoke of the weather, the cloudless blue sky and the feeling that football season had finally, really arrived.

Little did they know that the weather would be only a small part of this glorious day. That the football itself would make it even better.

Suffice it to say The Citadel is never the favorite. Home field. Away games. It doesn't matter. The Bulldogs are always underdogs to themselves.

It's the military thing. It's like trying to run dragging a cannon behind you. There's always an excuse. Tough recruiting. Attrition. Marching. Yelling. Guard duty. You name it, it has kept great players out of uniform and made everything harder than it should be. Compare that to Furman. A postcard campus. Pretty coeds. Freedom of choice. Football tradition. National champions. The works.

Anytime The Citadel can line up and play against the Paladins is rare. They've been going at it since 1913 and the losses far outnumber the wins. Everybody expected much of the same on this Saturday.

The best part would be the pageantry, I thought. I always like to come here on Parents' Day because the cadets are on their best behavior. They want Mom and Dad to be proud of the way they march into the stadium, rush the stands en masse and yell in unison.

Even if you've never spent a day in uniform, you feel a swell of pride when you're in this environment. You can't help it. Neither can I.

GLORY DAYS

Glory days are few and far between in Citadel football.

I was lucky enough to be around when Charlie Taaffe took the Bulldogs to a Southern Conference Championship back in 1992 and it was, in a word, exciting.

While college football in our state rises and falls on the ebb and flow of South Carolina and Clemson, these smaller schools exist in the undertow that few feel until it grabs their attention.

When it does, and you see it up close, it reminds you of how much you liked the game before it sold out to television and big money.

Down on the sidelines Saturday I kneeled and watched intently.

From that distance you could hear the catch in the quarterback's voice when he barked signals amid the din of moment.

From there you could feel the pop of the pads when a fullback met the linebacker corps and struggled to gain a single yard.

You could see the steely-eyed stare of a wide receiver when the ball was arcing toward him in the end zone.

It's all there. It's real. It's nothing like what we see on television. Really. It's better.

THEY HUGGED

Now, I said all that to say this.

After three hotly contested overtime periods, Furman beat The Citadel 39-31 and there wasn't a soul on hand who didn't think both teams deserved to win.

But they can't. As a society we decided that ties are for sissies. Play it out. Give us winner. Give us a loser. But these duels don't really do justice to the team on the sad end of the stick.

I thought this was the best Citadel team I've watched since the early '90s. The defense is solid and the offense is coming. First-year coach Kevin Higgins has them playing good football. Smart football. Football good enough to win football games against teams like Furman.

Furman knew that when they walked off the field Saturday.

Indeed, players from these two teams didn't just shake hands when this four-hour marathon finally ended, they hugged.

That's college football, folks. The kind of stuff that makes even a cynical old sports writer give a damn about who wins.

Thanks. It felt good to care.