Football teams lose football games: It happens
Valdosta State lost to Ouachita Baptist over the weekend. It happened, get over it. What’s being said is a joke to me: “how could this happen?”, “I’m embarrassed” and the rest of this holier than thou mentality. First off you shouldn’t be embarrassed you don’t play the game. No matter how big of a check you write you’re not on the team, as a fan there is no embarrassment. Your upset but you can’t be embarrassed, because that would mean you were actually involved in the outcome of the game.
Being upset over a loss I get it, but don’t hold anything negative towards the players. I witnessed the game, that team didn’t execute but they put forth the effort. Had they given a half-way effort than yeah, go ahead criticize. But this team played pretty hard, they just got beat. They bit on fakes, couldn’t finish a tackle, missed some blocks but that was all failed execution not failed effort. But they attempted to score until the last possible second showing a sense of personal pride that has to be respected. They didn’t kneel the ball as the clock ticked down trailing two scores; they tried to get points on the board.
Take off the red and black and look at what happened as a football fan for a second. If you love the game of football, truly love the game of football, you have to understand that any team can beat any other given team on any given day. That is precisely what happened. Ouachita Baptist had the biggest win for their program in the last decade; it just so happened to be against your Blazers.
At the Division I level people root for this all of the time. People cheered as USC fell to Washington, as local star Greg Reid led Florida State to an upset against BYU, but Valdosta State losing…now that’s just embarrassing? I don’t think so. If you pull your fandom out of the equation, you’ll find as a football fan this was a monumental event.
The Blazers are a young team this year. They are a team centered around juniors, sophomores and freshmen. The few seniors on the depth chart outside of Melvin Black, Cedric Jones, Carlos Anderson and RJ Bastone haven’t played in the current system significantly enough to play like a senior, there is a learning curve involved with them even though they are seniors. I said in the preseason this team reminded me of the 2006 squad; junior heavy, young captains, a Callaway brother as the backup QB, coming off a down title defense year. This team is talented to compete this year but think about all this team has been through since the end of the 2008 season.
They lost a three time All American in Sherard Reynolds and three year starter Everett Kitchens. Valdosta State tried to replace them with two freakish athletes in the spring, Georgia transfer Donovan Baldwin and a JUCO transfer Jasmon Watkins. Those two didn’t make grades and it took until three weeks before the 2009 season to figure out and find replacements.
GSC Co-Freshman of the Year quarterback Chris Hart left the school for Georgia Military College, leaving a huge gap at quarterback that looked to be filled for the next 3 years. Then TJ Williams opted to leave Valdosta State which turned out to be a positive move for the locker room at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium but a talent blow nobody can deny. Other young guys like Brian Buford, Kiece Crite, Bryant Thorpe and Chris Grant who have all seen a lot of playing time over the last season or two were not back with the team for a variety of reasons.
This team had a lot working against it before the season started yet they are still a talented team. Freshmen are starting and playing significantly all over the field. They’re going to make mistakes; this is their first year playing at this level. But at the same time they’re very talented freshman with incredible upside. The last two freshmen classes have some of the most talented first and second year players I have seen in my time covering the Blazers.
The season however is far from over. Is it possible the Blazers can beat both Delta State and North Alabama? Absolutely, anything is possible. Is it likely? Probably not, but beating one and getting help from another team could aid Valdosta State, especially if that team is Ouachita Baptist who has Delta State at home this weekend. Again, likelihood of that is slim, but still possible.
Just because the Blazers probably won’t be in the playoffs doesn’t mean its time to stop watching Valdosta State football. Teams all over the country don’t even contend for their conference title on a yearly basis yet they get support, and people in Valdosta tend to lose site of that. Yes, people here are used to winning but it’s more than that. This town prides itself on being tight nit, now is the time to prove it.
These Blazers go out there every week with V-State on their chest and represent that school, this community and for some of you, your alma mater. They are the team you supported when they won; don’t turn your back because you think they might be down this year. It’s the fourth game of the year and stranger things have happened than Valdosta State winning some ball games. If you love the game of football and believe any team can beat any other team on any day, well I guess I’ll be seeing you two more Thursdays and four more Saturdays this season.
