CHAPTER 46

We finished a great meal and headed back to the hotel. It was getting close to nine o'clock, the other guys were going to a local hotspot, I decided to pass. As I was approaching the hotel entrance, an unusually attractive young blonde came up to me, her eyes bright and wide.

"Hey, will you sign my jersey ?", she asked with a shy smile.

"That depends.", I responded.

I saw the doorman smile after overhearing my reply to the young woman. She kind of cocked her head sideways for a second like I caught her off guard.

"Depends on what ?", she finally asked.

"It depends on if you're a true fan or not.", I answered.

"Oh .... You have no idea, I am a huge fan.", she said, once again holding out her jersey.

"Well then, I guess I will sign .... But, only if you know my name and jersey number…..," I kissed her once again.

"Brian Stevens, you're number ninety nine.", she shot back immediately.

"Wow, I am impressed.", I responded, signing my usual scribble quickly, followed by the # 99.

"Oh my God.", she exclaimed, "My friends are not gonna believe this.", she exclaimed looking at the signature, "They told me I was wasting my time. I so wish I had a camera with me, I would love to rub it in their faces. Thank you so much, Brian."

"No problem, my pleasure.", I answered, handing her the jersey back.

I went back inside the hotel and settled in my room for the night. Sometime about eleven the coaches did their first bed-check, I was already lights out for the night. I was at the breakfast buffet early in the morning, then went back to the room for a quick nap. Sunday morning we had our last full practice as a team, we had only the walk through tomorrow afternoon before the game. After practice, we showered and dressed then made our way to one of the huge rooms that was reserved for the media. It was their chance to get to talk to us one on one, ask questions, and take photos.

I was amazed at the number of the local and national media that had assembled in the room. As soon as players started walking in, camera lights went on, people started shouting out questions. I was able to side step as I entered and make my way to a corner that was somewhat quiet. I had been standing there for maybe three or four minutes when a woman dressed in a business suit came up to me, introducing herself as a reporter for the local news station. She asked me all the standard questions that were expected, then thanked me for my time. During the next hour, I was interviewed twice more, once on camera, once off. I could see the coaches begin to gather us together, it was time to head back to the hotel. We climbed back on the bus and made our way back to the hotel, it was a few hours before dinner would be served. It was made clear to us that there would be no leaving the hotel tonight for any reason, bed checks would begin at ten o'clock.

We assembled as a team in the main dining hall of the hotel and was served an excellent buffet style dinner of just about every type of seafood imaginable. I definitely over ate, as did a lot of the team. We made our way back to our rooms and settled in for the night. We had team meetings in the morning, the first scheduled for nine o'clock.

The next day we had three different team meetings, lasting until close to one o'clock in the afternoon. We then climbed on the bus, made our way to the stadium, where we had our last walk through on both offense and defense. We then headed to our locker room where we would begin to get ready for tonight's game. I quickly found my locker and was surprised to see all the gear that had been issued to us. We all had brand new jerseys, pants and helmets, along with new shoes, socks, gloves and towels. The jerseys had the National Championship Logo embroidered on the upper left front. It was about five o'clock when I finished on the trainers table, ankles, knees, wrists and thighs all taped, ready to go. I dressed quickly and a few minutes before six, we headed back out on the floor of the stadium.

Our opponent from Ohio was already in one end zone warming up in different sections, both offense and defense. We filed into the opposite end of the field and broke off into groups as well. The stadium was maybe one third filled with fans, most milling around, taking photos or begging for autographs from any player who got close to the retaining walls. Sometime close to an hour before kickoff, we were ushered back to our locker room. For the next forty-five minutes our coaches implored us with every motivational tool they could think of, however we all knew what this game meant to us, the university and our fans.

We exited the tunnel at quarter after seven, the crowd erupted in at a level I had never before heard in my life. You could hear a thing, not even the person talking next to you. I looked around the stadium, but I couldn't find an empty seat anywhere. Television cameras were everywhere, camera flashes exploding like stars in the sky.

We won the toss and as usual elected to defer possession to the second half, letting our defense take the field first, trying to set the tone. We kicked off and they returned the ball to our twenty five yard line, the defense assembled on the field. My opponent tonight was a junior left tackle, six foot four, three hundred ten pounds and was rumored to have a real nasty streak. As he approached the offensive line for the first time, he gave me a look that I guess he thought would intimidate me. I had to laugh. As he settled into his position, I heard him grunt across the line at me.

"I'm gonna show you what's funny boy, I'm about to get all up in your grill, bitch.", he scowled.

I knew I had to set the tone immediately, let him know from the first snap, there was no way he was going to win this war. I decided to go left shoulder, full out, regardless that it would probably be an inside run and I would take myself out of the play. On the snap of the ball, I did just that, he was woefully not prepared. I could tell he was going to try to block me from the color of his fingertips, touching the ground. When all of your weight is forward, the tips of your fingers turn red with the pressure. It's a good indication what kind of block you can expect. I left him still coming out of his stance, blew past him and assisted in the tackle several yards down field. I could tell as he came out of the huddle for the second play, there was no doubt in his mind, he was nowhere close to having the foot speed to stay with me, I had implanted that idea on the last play. Now as he sat in his stance, I saw his fingertips had not changed color, meaning all of his weight had been shifted to his heels, trying to get a jump on my rush.

They picked up one first down, then were forced to punt after failing to convert on their second third down of the night. I found a place on the end of the bench and took in some oxygen. Our offense took the field, as I regained my breath, I settled in for what I hoped would be a long drive, giving us a chance to relax. I looked at the down marker, I couldn't really see the action due to the mass of players, coaches and media on the sidelines, it read third down. Suddenly a roar exploded from the crowd, I jumped up just in time to see one of our running backs dashing down the sidelines. No one in the secondary came close to catching him, he went in for the touchdown, jogging the last five yards. We kicked the extra point and took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Once again the defense took the field, again we held them, forcing a punt. I had been in on four tackles to that point, two of them solo, I was off to a decent game. Our offense took the ball once again driving down the field, settling for a field goal, extending the head to 10-0.

Right before halftime, we kicked another field goal , giving us a 13-0 lead at the half. We had played really well to this point but we knew just how explosive they were, this was far from over.

We opened the second half on offense since we had deferred on the coin toss. On third down, disaster struck as we fumbled the ball at our own twenty four yard line. Three plays later they scored a touchdown cutting our lead to 13-7. Our offense struggled the entire third quarter only picking up one first down. They scored once again , taking the lead 14-13. The defense had been on the field almost the entire third quarter, you could see some fatigue setting in. We rallied together on the sideline and decided if we were going to win this game, the defense needed a few huge plays.

On the next possession our offense drove down the field but stalled out, we had to settle for a field goal recapturing the lead, 16-14. I had played well up to this point, had several tackles, had knocked the quarterback down a few times, but had no real impact play. They started the next drive on their own thirty two yard line, we knew we needed a stop right way. They picked up a first down out to our forty five, but we held the next two plays, forcing a third and eleven. I lined up wide, on the tackle's outside shoulder, they put a tight end on my side as well. I'm not sure what happened, but someone blew an assignment, I wasn't touched. I rounded the corner quickly, as just as the quarterback stepped up to throw, I hurled myself into his back, taking him clean off his feet. The ball tumbled backwards down field, I never saw it, but by the time I got up, we had recovered the ball on their twenty eight yard line. Three plays later we scored on a twenty yard pass, extending our lead to 23-14. It was now a two possession game with slightly over nine minutes to play, we knew another big play would probably put the game out of reach.

They came out on the next possession, lining up in shotgun formation, they were going to try and get one score quickly. For the next few series of downs, the front line went all out, trying to get as much pressure on their quarterback as possible. On third and twelve, I leveled him again just as he threw, but he completed the pass to his receiver. I could tell as he got up off the ground, he was hurting.