I didn't even find it that heartbreaking.
You know what I've found heartbreaking? The overall irrelevancy of this program from 1984 to 1997 and then again from 2010 to 2022. You know what I don't feel any more? Like this program is irrelevant any more.
Hey, the OU game sucked last year, too, but is there anyone on here who can't feel like we've turned a corner? I know many of us feel snake bit. I do. But talking about last year as if it left a bad taste in your mouth. I don't get that. Last year was awesome. This year is more awesome. We're trending in the right direction by nearly every metric.
I've watched a lot of football in my life, and it's amazing to me that with all the resources we have and the emphasis on fielding a winning football program so many people around the university share with me, that we've been so underachieving for so long. I'd watch our team and then I'd watch the best teams out there, and I'd so often think, "Geez, we're not even playing the same game they are."
Now I watch us play and then I watch other teams play - including Georgia - and I think, "I'm not sure they match up at every position. I'm not saying they couldn't win, but they have glaring deficiencies I don't think we have."
We're bigger. We're faster. We're more clutch. Our receivers rarely drop the ball. Our schemes play off of one another without getting so enamored with how tricky we can be, the way we did under Mackovic. We get receivers the ball while they're on the move, something I thought was written into the NCAA rules that Texas wasn't allowed to do. There's no more asinine Greg Davis play calling, or a high school coach having to come in and convince Mack Brown to maybe put Vince Young in shotgun and try running a little zone read. Our wide receivers are the best downfield blocking unit in the country. Our defenders never give up on a play. Our reserve wide receiver who is allergic to fair catches to the point I think he's going to get his head ripped off someday beat all 21 other players down the field to recover a critical fumble in the end zone.
This team is really easy to root for. This coaching staff is really easy to root for. We have absolutely no quarterback controversy other than what's been manufactured by outsiders. We're recruiting lights out in the high school ranks and out of the portal. We have what may be the single biggest recruiting weekend in the school's history, which is hard to even imagine is possible.
The student section is finally one contiguous group and isn't consigned to the corner of the east upper deck. The athletic department seems to understand the difference between making more money so the football team can win more rather than the other way around. NIL has completely negated the worst competitive disadvantage we've faced in our history by allowing us to have one of the biggest payrolls in college sports.
This is our time. When is Washington going to be relevant again? Who gives a flying fuck about that game? Well, I do, admittedly. But it doesn't eat at me, because it feels like we have an opportunity as a program to possibly be in the mix every single year. Washington can't even keep their coach. OU can't keep their coach. Notre fucking Dame can't keep their coach.
I'm so pumped for this game tomorrow. I feel like this is our time to shine, as a football program, as a fan base, as an institution. I'm going to revel in it.
And Quinn Fucking Ewers is going to ball out and so is everyone else around him.