Heartbreak

Owwwweeee my heart is still hurting! As I have made abundantly clear in my previous blog posts, I am an avid Tennessee supporter and my beloved Vols suffered a heartbreaking loss yesterday to LSU. This was no ordinary loss, though. The circumstances surrounding this game created the perfect storm of heartbreaking loss. First of all, LSU was ranked #10 in the country when we headed down to Baton Rouge to take on the Tigers. (I say "we," but I was only there in spirit. I watched from the privacy of my own home and that turned out to be for the best). Second, my Vols are having a really tough year. We are on our third coach in as many years, and fresh off of the sting of betrayal from the coach who must not be named. Sweet Derek Dooley (aka Superman to my sister and me) has his work cut out for him. He has a team full of players who were recruited by other coaches, a young offensive line, and an inexperienced quarterback. To say it is a rebuilding year would be an understatement. The Vols struggled to beat the University of Alabama at Birmingham the week before, so they were expected to take a true beating in the Bayou. As if the aforementioned circumstances did not make for enough of an uphill battle for the Big Orange, our star kicker, Daniel Lincoln, suffered some sort of leg injury, so our poor little true freshman backup kicker was thrown in the game with virtually no notice!

On the Tiger's very first play, they ran nearly the length of the field for a touchdown. Things did not look good. Surprisingly, though, and largely due to the sloppy play of the LSU offense, the Vols hung in there and even led for almost all of the game. As the clock wound down, UT was up by 4 and had the ball. The Vols were faced with a fourth down situation, and with the star kicker out and the freshman backup with one miss under his belt already for the day, Coach Dooley chose to go for it to try and convert to first down. We didn't. LSU had a little more than 2 minutes to drive down the field and score a touchdown. Time and again, they moved the ball down the field. Finally, the Tigers had one last chance: a fourth down and goal, had to score or the game was over play. THE VOLS HELD THEM! WE WON! WE BEAT LSU! Wait...what? WTF? Is that a flag? Surely it is on LSU. Their last play looked like a hot mess. What? No way. No EFFING WAY! The Vols had 13 players on the field and the Tigers get another chance at a score and a win.

I think it is pretty obvious that they scored on the last play of the game...hence the title of my blog. Dang it.

Despite the loss, the losing record, and the overall frustration of the season thus far, I am still REALLY proud of my Vols and could not have been more proud at the persistence they displayed on Saturday. I really like Derek Dooley and am impressed with his class and honesty. He seems like he really respects the traditions of Tennessee and SEC football and that is very important (and something that was lacking in our last coach). Plus, he is kind of dreamy in a serious, driven, ambitious sort of way :)

Sidenote: I saw some backlash against Dooley on facebook this past weekend and I think those people should be punched in the face. Let's give the guy a flippin chance before we go on yet another frantic search for a coach before football season begins! Geez he is not a miracle worker, you fairweather a-holes!

Go Vols!

(Sorry for all of my non-football-loving followers. I will keep my sports blogs to a minimum, I promise).