Texas State - 11/10/12

I am not sure I have totally recovered from the UTSA game. I had mixed emotions going into the game and I think I am still mixed up. I pulled the ultimate no no in college football and that was leaving the stands before the game was over and taking my emotions and let them take me away from what was the most important thing and that was to be there to support Matt and the Bulldog football team. I am ashamed of myself and after several sleepless nights I have decided to turn my leaf from the back to the front. I am turning over a new leaf and I will be there for Matt and this team no matter what happens. I did not say the leaf thing would be pretty, but I had to do it. I will stand proud through thick and thin and we will do this together. I know I let Matt Nelson down along with my family and all of our friends.

I promise you will see a new CFD and I apologize to those who my actions affected. Wow! Can you believe we are 8 -1? This is fantastic and I am very proud of the fight, determination and the never give up attitude that this team has. It is now time for me to get my mind right for the want-a-be hill country Bobcats. Texas State is stuck right in the middle of Austin and San Antonio. Matt has kicked in Bobcat stadium before in a high school playoff game. They are one of the biggest party schools in the nation. My understanding is that some of the professors teach class during the keg parties and even help float the keg. That sounds like some great learning material as they earn their degree. :)

We have a lot of family and a lot of new family coming to the game. Since Matt and Kasie's announced engagement we have new family members who live in the San Antonio area who will be joining our tailgate. Matt and Tyler have several friends who have graduated from Texas State who will be joining us as well. I have not tailgated at Texas State before so this will be uncharted waters. It should be a blast. I spoke with Matt several times this week. After several film sessions with CT it looks like they have found a few tweaks that needed to be made. There were just a couple of things that Matt was doing different from the beginning of the season. When you kick as many PAT's and kickoffs that Matt has sometimes you need a tune-up.

Matt said the little adjustments made all the difference in the world. He has kicked the ball well with team and when charting with CT. He sounded pretty excited. He said the team is excited about the Texas State game and knows they have to take one game at a time. Nothing else matters except the game at hand. You take care of business and move on. They did work on some kicks down the middle, but for the most part they were still focused on the left corner. They worked on squib kicks and sky kicks along with a few on-sides kicks. He said you never know what schemes they will show us. Matt said he was pretty excited that Tyler (older brother) was going to bring some Torchy's Taco's for some of the guys at the hotel in Austin on Friday night.

We loaded the suburban and started our journey to San Marcos Friday morning. Janet's brother (Mike) had told us about this Chinese resturant that served awesome hamburgers in Waco that we needed to try. The place is called Kitok and it is a hole in the wall resturant in a rough looking part of town, but we went in anyway. We had the lip locker burger and oriental fries and I was very impressed. I am not saying it is the best burger I have ever had, but it was pretty darn good. We were actually staying in Schertz which is in between San Antonio and New Braunfels. Janet's parents were staying there as well. Once we hit Schertz we had to make a Spec's run to load up the ice chest with a few craft beers.

We unloaded at the hotel and met Janet's parents and then it was red/white wine time. After dinner at Garcia's it was time to wind down with some college football and get ready for Saturday. We all met for breakfast and then headed to my favorite HEB to grab some more groceries before we headed up to San Marcos. We had a meeting time of 10:45 in San Marcos so we could all caravan into the parking lot together. On the way up we stopped at Buc-ee's for Ice and $2.99 gas and we ran into Kasie, Heidi (Kasie's mom), Todd (Kasie's step dad) and Bodean (friend). We got to visit for a few minutes before heading to our meeting spot. Bodean was dressed in a full attire officials uniform. It was pretty cool.

We met at exit 206 off of I-35. Tyler was already there with a couple of his friends. Then Heidi's sister (Cindy & CJ) pulled up. Janet's brother (Mike & Melynda) were next and then it was Todd's mom & dad (Todd & Martha). It looks like all that were meeting for the caravan have arrived and it was time to head to the stadium. Were they had us park we were about a 5 to 10 minute walk to the stadium. The weather was great and it was time to setup. Once everything was setup and unloaded it was time to partake in an adult beverage. Everyone had brought snacks and goodies. We had drunk gummy bears, wings of many flavors, bacon wrapped smokies, Meggie's famous cheese ball, jalapeno cheddar summer sausage, desserts and many other things to nibble on.

We were cooking jambalaya (Ms. Toni's recipe) with the help of Bobby Cockrell in my new 4 gallon jambalaya pot. I was going in naked on this as I have never cooked in this pot nor have I cooked this much. I was game for it though. I am pretty sure we can pull this off. I did have to use a phone a friend card because the amount of liquids were the key to success. I called Bobby who tailgates next to us in Ruston and he was driving back to Shreveport from New Orleans. We talked about it for a bit and then he called one of his son's who was at home and he took a picture of his recipe with the liquid measurements on it a sent the photo to my phone. That was a life saver! Some of Tyler's friends (Ramsey, Dennis, Josh and Whitney) all showed up.

This was going to be awesome. It was a blast getting to visit with everyone and it looks like this family new and old can party with the best of them. I started the fire so we could get the pot hot. Martha was my sous chef and we started off by browning off the chicken, then the sausage and then the veggies. Once that was done we added the other ingredients and threw everything back in the pot with what I hope was the right amount of liquid for 4 pounds of rice. Once we got it to a rolling boil we added the rice. We need the rice to crack or we will have crunchy or mushy rice. Once the rice was added we brought it back to a rolling boil, turned the heat down and prayed that it was all going to work out. After a few more beers it was time to take a peek and I about fainted.

It looked pretty sweet. I tested the rice and it was just perfect. I guess if you follow instructions you can do something correct. The dinner bell wrung, the french bread is sliced and dinner was served. Based on the returns for additional bowls I took it that it must taste pretty good. We had a few more guests show up (Mike Mill's family,  Cade Glasgow and his dad, my sister (Cathy) and her family David & Barbara and Joe & Julie Trevino) and it was good to visit with them before we headed into the stadium. This is the first time that I had been back in the stadium since they made all of the upgrades with the suites and I was very impressed. Wow! La Tech has a lot of people here and the wind is blowing like crazy. Let's get this game started.

Matt kicks off and it is a touch back. Texas State runs 10 plays and scores a TD. Tech takes the ball on our 24 yard line and run 12 plays as CC hits RPS for a TD pass and Matt connects on the PAT. The score is tied 7 - 7. Matt kicks off and we have another touch back. Texas State runs 5 plays and connects on a 55 yard bomb and scores a TD. I am not liking this! Tech takes the ball on our 25 yard line and run 4 plays as RA comes in to punt. Texas State runs 3 plays and punts. Tech takes over at our 44 yard line and runs 9 plays as CC hits KD on a 14 yard pass for a TD. Matt connects on the PAT and we are tied 14 - 14. Matt kicks off to the goal line and Texas State runs it back for 65 yards to our 35 yard line. What just happened? Texas State runs 2 plays and the 1st quarter comes to an end.

Way too close! Texas State runs 2 plays and scores a TD. What are we doing? Tech takes the kick off at our 25 yard line and we run 10 plays as KD takes it in from 4 yards out and Matt connects on the PAT. The score is tied 21 - 21. Texas State starts from their 23 yard line and runs 3 plays and they have to punt. Tech takes the ball on our 45 yard line and runs 7 plays as KD takes it in from 1 yard out. Matt connects on the PAT and Tech is up 28 - 21. Matt kicks off and Texas State starts from their 42 yard line and runs 4 plays and scores on a 47 yard pass play. The PAT is blocked. Tech takes the kick off and runs 10 plays as KD takes it in from 13 yards out for a TD. Matt comes in for the PAT and the snap is way to high to attempt a kick and Matt blocks as David runs.

The 2 point conversion is no good. I don't need this to happen. Matt kicks off and Texas State runs 6 plays and scores a TD. We are tied 34 - 34. This is not supposed to be happening. Tech takes the ball on our 25 yard line and we run 4 plays as CC hits DJB on a 49 yard bomb for a TD. Matt connects on the PAT. Matt kicks off and Texas State runs 3 plays and attempts a 56 yard FG and it is no good. The 1st half comes to an end with Tech up 41 - 34. That is a lot of 1st half points. I think we might need a new defensive scheme for the 2nd half. Tech takes the kickoff as we start on our 25 yard line and we run 14 plays as KD takes it in from 16 yards out for a TD. Matt connects on the PAT and Tech is up 48 - 34. Now that is what I talking about.

Matt kicks off and Texas State runs 11 plays and fails on a 4th down attempt. Tech takes over on our 11 yard line as we run 5 plays and RA comes in to punt. Texas State starts at their 30 yard line and runs 4 plays and scores a TD. Tech is up 48 - 41. There is way too much time left for this to be happening. Tech takes the kick off and runs 3 plays and RA comes in to punt. Texas State runs 5 plays and the 3rd quarter comes to an end. Texas State starts the 4th quarter and runs 1 play and scores a TD. The game is now tied 48 - 48. We can not let the home team back in this game! Tech takes the kickoff and runs 6 plays as RH takes it in from 6 yards out and Matt Nelson connects on the PAT.

Tech is now up 55 - 48. Matt kicks off for another touch back and Texas State will start on their 25 yard line. Texas State runs 3 plays and has to punt. Tech runs 3 plays and RA has to punt. Texas State runs 3 plays and has to punt. Tech takes over on their 15 yard line and runs 11 plays as CC runs it in from 1 yard out. Matt connects on the PAT and Tech is now up 62 - 48. We are now at a combined 110 points. That is crazy! Matt kicks off for another touch back. Texas State runs 12 plays and scores a TD. Tech takes the kickoff and takes a knee on 3 plays and we escape 62 - 55. What a game for our offense, but we need to look at our defensive schemes. Our coaches did not watch film on Texas State prior to us playing them from the looks of the score.

I know a win is a win and that is what goes in the standings. If we keep letting teams run all over us we are going to have problems in future games. We made our way over to the buses and waited for Matt and the team to come out. I gave Matt a hug and told him I was very proud of him. He gave his mom a game ball. Matt just broke Josh Scobee's all time scoring record for kickers at La Tech. Josh's record was 339 points and Matt finished the night off with 8 points in the game and 342 career points. He needs 3 points in the Utah State game to become La Tech's all time leading scorer. Who would of ever thought that would of happened! He had lots of necks to hug as we had over 40 people there to watch the game. We got to talk to RH and VC. They are great guys! I talked to Matt about the failed 2 point conversion and he said he never could of kicked it so he just tried to find someone to block. He said it should go in the stats as a failed 2 point conversion and not a missed PAT since he never attempted a kick. I told him that as stupid as the WAC officials are that you will probably get a missed PAT. He said the wind was blowing so many different directions.

It was very tough to kick out there. He said the student section talked a lot of smack as he kicked that direction. We had a text from Kasie and it looks like our tailgate spot was missing many items. We told Matt goodbye as he had to get on the bus and made our way over to the tailgate spot. As we were walking back we stopped at the porta potty and sitting there on the ground was a nice crisp $100 bill. We inspected it a little closer and sure enough it was real. It was my lucky day! Once we got to the tailgate spot we noticed how many things we were missing. My entire ice chest with beer was missing. Janet's dad's ice chest was missing along with a couple of chairs. Kasie's mom was missing their reclining chairs and the ice chest that was in their truck had everything taken along with several 1/2 gallons of booze.

This is just crazy! I am so used to leaving stuff out in Ruston that I do not even think twice about putting stuff up when we tailgate at other stadiums. It looks like someone drove by with a truck and just loaded up. It is very sad that these things happen, but what are you going to do except smile and look forward to tomorrow. We loaded up the rest of our items and visited with Tyler for a bit before we headed back to the hotel. I was in need of a glass of red wine and I needed to go back through the game in my head. We met Janet's mom for breakfast and then loaded up and headed back to Austin. What a weekend with family and friends and what a game. Yes, it is another W! A tough W, but a W.

I just want to take a moment and thank everyone who came to the game to support this Bulldog team and the awesome support of Matt. Words can not express our gratitude. We are so blessed with amazing family, amazing new family and amazing friends. Thank You! I am so glad that Tyler got to go to the game and that we got to hang out together. It was amazing! I am very proud of this football team and this amazing journey they are taking me. Next week we play Utah State. They are the Blue Aggies from another mother. This will be our 3rd Aggie team to play us this year. That has to be some kind of record. They are a very good football team and we are going to have our hands full with their QB if he runs a lot. It will also be Senior Day. This is a day that will be filled with emotions for sure.

I am not sure I really want this day to come, but these seniors and Matt deserve everything that they have done. It is an amazing group of young men who I will never forget. I am not sure what I am going to do when I know Matt has kicked his last kick at Joe Aillet stadium. I guess I will just have to wait until that moment. I have a good friend of mine Jeremy Lee and his wife coming to the game from Dothan and look forward to spending some time with them. My parents will be coming back in from Florida as well. I will leave the Texas State game alone. I promise that I will not let my emotions get the best of me and I will enjoy this amazing journey. Matt you rock my world! No let's go kick some Blue Aggie rear end! What a blast it is and we are so blessed to have the honor to watch Matt Nelson and this La Tech football team. I appreciate all of those who are following my journey.

I can't wait to share my thoughts with everyone as the season goes on. It is such a blast to follow Matt Nelson through his eyes and this Bulldog team. I write from the bottom of my heart and what my feelings are at that time and sometimes I get a little carried away. I am very passionate about La Tech football. I am just a College Football Fan and I love College Football! Until our paths cross again have a blessed week! College Football Dad!