1957 – National Championship Game, somewhere in football land
Announcer: This is unbelievable folks. State has taken the title. The underdogs defeating to top ranked U for the national championship.
Announcer 2: Oh, they’re going to be celebrating in Stateville tonight, Tom.
Unbelievable. Coach Atwater stood on the side lines with is hands tucked in to his pockets, watching the final play of the Champ Bowl.
Six months of prep. Hot August two-a-days. Fifteen hour days of planning, developing plays, counseling players, watching film. Sleepless nights. Lost weekends with the family. The Athletic Director on his case, but …
It’d all been worth it. They’d ended the year, 12-0, and he had the number one team in the nation lead by the number one quarterback, Mike DuPree.
Atwater’s Offensive Coordinator, Will Godwin, stood beside him, silent. The weight was almost more than Coach could bear.
His emotions battled between fire and water, heat and cold as his mind processed the images he saw on the field, the score on the board.
If he lived to be a hundred, he would never understand the outcome of today’s game. 28 – 3.
They’d lost the national title.
****
Mike DuPree walked the field congratulating his opponent. After eight years of high school and college football, he’d been conditioned to graciously win, and graciously lose.
But this loss felt different. A humiliating defeat to the number two team in the nation. Across the field, he caught Coach’s eye. You never took the lead.
A hand clapped him on the back. “Great game.”
Mike glanced up at the victors QB. “Congratulations.”
“If you lead, DuPree, the team will follow and you’re unstoppable.”
It wasn’t a great game. To Mike, it seemed they never hit the field. They never executed their game. Never found their rhythm.
And now, it was all over. History will always remember that State beat U. His final game of his senior year. And it was unlikely the two schools would ever meet again.
One by one his teammates gathered around him and together they walked off the field.
Win as one. Lose as one.