A Tale of Horned Frogs and Longhorns

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This entry will be different from most that came before it. One of the things that sets this road trip off from the others is that it was not a solo road trip. Jack and I had planned this trip for at least a month, and it would be his only trip for the season. Since it was a Big-12 team, we've begun to think of this as our annual road trip. Last year, we went to see West Virginia, and this year it was Texas. Of course, I did not want to go just to see Texas; the visiting team for this weekend's match up was my alma mater, TCU. Last year, I went to see them play at Oklahoma, and we knew from the outset that it was hopeless to expect TCU to win. It was a closer game than people expected, but the outcome was never in doubt.

This is my first game of the season at a Power Five school, and it did not disappoint. Prior to the contest, Texas was ranked 9^th, and TCU was unranked and winless. You can imagine that I felt the same way going into this game as I did before the Oklahoma game last year. And most of the time, I did feel that way. As I told Jack in the car while we traversed the 1000 miles to get to Austin, TX, I just wanted it to be a close game. I just wanted us not to get blown out. Did I expect we would win? Not at all. But spoilers: we did win! Since most people don't read this blog to find out the outcome of the game, I don't mind telling you who won up front. You have ESPN and other Internet sources if that's all you're interested in knowing. But with me, you get a game and a story.

One of the side stories for this trip is that I'm still dealing with a pinched nerve that began two weeks ago after the game at Southern Mississippi. It makes life a lot more painful, which makes everything less enjoyable than it could be. So as I write this, I'm not sure where it's going to go, or how interesting it will be. The pain has left me less able to focus on certain aspects of the trip, but I will do my best to recount everything noteworthy and also give a good narrative at the same time.

Because Jack had some prior commitments on Thursday, we didn't get to leave for Texas until Friday morning. This meant that we had only one day to drive 1000 miles. The game was scheduled for noon (Eastern Time) which meant we would have very little time on Saturday morning to drive. We drove through five states by the time the sun had set, and it still felt like we had a long way to go. As Jack put it, “Texas is big.” That is the truth. I feel like half of the distance we traveled on Friday was just in Texas. That may be an exaggeration, but not by much. In all seriousness, we kept ourselves entertained through conversation and podcasts and the occasional playlist, and never got bored at least until Louisiana. But once we hit Texas, time seemed to dilate. Perhaps this was because we had already driven 9 hours at that point, and we still had 4 hours to go. I had booked a hotel in Waco before the trip, to give us a goal for Friday night. Then we would only have to drive an hour and a half on Saturday morning. If we could get through Friday, the rest of the trip would be much more manageable.

On our road trips like this, we like to make stops at other college football schools, but this time was different. We decided to save all the stops until the trip home. After all, 13 hours in the car in a single day is more than enough to keep you occupied. We did stop in Tuscaloosa for gas and lunch. Coincidentally, the restaurant we chose is called Jack’s. Neither of us had ever tried their food, but as both of us agreed when we were finished, it got the job done. I don't think either of us will go out of our way to find another Jack’s, but we won't be afraid of it if we see it on the road. The rest of our drive was pretty uneventful. We stopped for gas one more time, but no more food. We did begin listening to a delightful podcast called Smartless. It's surprising what you will find to listen to when you have an infinite amount of possibilities, but this particular podcast won us over in several ways: it's clever, funny, and overall entertaining. If you have never heard of it, you may want to check it out. We got to Waco around 11 PM, and I crashed as soon as I could.

Saturday was all about Austin, Texas. We stopped at Buc-ee’s between Waco and Austin, since Jack had never partaken of such wonderful goodness. He approved of everything, including its massive size. And then we were on our way to park for the football game, which started at 11:00 AM central time. We found a parking deck that claimed to be right next to the stadium, but it lied. It was relatively close, though there was an Interstate and a soccer field and a baseball field between us and the stadium when we parked. We weren't sure how many people would be there, what with all the Covid restrictions, and that could also affect parking and any pregame entertainment. So it was best to be early rather than on time period

We needn't have worried. We found out that the stadium was limited to 25% capacity, and there was no tailgating allowed. So once we got to the stadium, we were able to walk right in. At least, we should have been able to walk right in. One of the features of the pandemic is that most sporting events, if they are held at all, require specific entrances and seating on the part of the people attending the events. Texas has taken this to heart, and while it was a bit aggravating at the start, I certainly approve of their methods.

Because virtually every ticket now is on your phone, and not a physical ticket, it's easier for me to simply screenshot the ticket and save it that way instead of trying to find it as an email or in some app somewhere. We've all probably been at a stadium before, when the network is flooded, and nothing is able to be pulled up on our phones. Unfortunately for me, I had screenshotted the pictures of the tickets before we had been assigned entry gates. Texas is serious about their entry gates.

Not being certain which gate to enter, or even where any particular gate was, we went to the 1st gate we could find, and the guy scanned my ticket successfully. But then, when he scanned Jack’s ticket, it would not process. After a short conversation, he took us to the ticket office, which was fortunately just around the corner from our current location. This fellow in the office put my ticket back as 'non-scanned' and directed us to the appropriate gate, which was on the exact opposite side of the stadium. Because of course it was. So we got to see the outside of most of the stadium before entering into it. And there was no issue with entering the stadium at all, since we were at the correct gate, and the stadium had already opened for fans to enter.

Because our tickets were in the nosebleed section of the end zone, we were shown to basically what amounts to a stairwell of escalators. We kept going up and up and up, until we reached the point where we could no longer ascend. Jack had chosen to wear nothing related to either team, so most people paid him no attention at least in terms of fanhood. As for me, however, I was unmistakably associated with the visiting team: my purple hat and my black shirt with purple letters across the chest made me the object of several good-natured ribbings by the staff in the escalator stairwell. That was all well and good. Once we got to the top, our seats were very easy to find. I bought my typical souvenir soda for only $5, and then we made our way to our seats.

Texas is the first place I've attended again this season that took face masks seriously. While going to our seats, I had placed my mask underneath my nose, trying not to fog up my glasses as I looked for my seat. One of the ushers, however, spotted me and motioned for me to put my mask over my nose as well. I complied. About 20 minutes later, while Jack and I were sitting in our seats still waiting for the game to begin, I had taken my mask off so that I could drink my soda. But the usher at the bottom of our section noticed me and, having got my attention, motion to put my mask back on. In response, I raised my souvenir soda high and then put it to my lips and began to drink. She nodded, and that was it. Throughout the game, other ushers kept their eyes on the masks that people were wearing or not wearing. At one point in the first quarter, one of the ushers came through the section and made sure we were all aware of the mask ordinance. This is, as I've said, the most thoroughly compliant stadium that I have visited so far this season. Does that mean that everyone was wearing their mask at all times? No. A quartet of people to my right kept their masks off basically the entire game, but no one said anything to them. Other than those people, masks were very commonly worn and properly.

The seating arrangements were also spread apart, most notably in the lower bowl. I noticed later on that the seats at UGA we're also spread out in this fashion: several columns of seats per section, usually with seatbacks in the place where people were allowed to sit and empty spaces with no seatbacks that were to be kept empty. I'm not sure if this is the norm in the larger stadiums, but it seems to be the most effective way of dealing with large crowds and limiting the amount of attendees.

One of the components usually associated with college football that I found missing at this game was the marching band. This is the third time I have seen the Texas Longhorns football team in person, but the first time without their band. Their band uniform is distinct, so it's hard to miss them. But they were nowhere to be seen in the stadium for this game. My previous two games this season had included the band separated from the rest of the crowd and then the band themselves socially distanced. I'm not sure if it was just going to be too much of a headache to keep this band in the stadium or if it was more the idea to sell as many tickets as possible and just leave the band out this time. Either way, it was a much quieter place than I expected.

Normally in these travel blogs, the game itself is one of the last things that I talk about, because I've already done some wandering around campus and gotten some food and seen any of the sights by the time the game begins. Other than the actual road trip to get to Texas, the game was the 1st event of our day. So I suppose I'll talk about that now.

But what about the game? In general, this game featured a lot of penalties. After all, the opening kickoff had to be run three times due to penalties on the 1st two tries. It was truly a day for the refs. As Jack said, "It's like we're paying to see the refs show." I think many of the fans in attendance would concur with that conclusion. By the end of the game both teams had around 100 yards of penalties, and the refs had certainly earned their pay for the day.

Since Texas was ranked 9th, they were expected to win. In fact, the Vegas people said Texas would win by 10 points, and the ESPN computers claimed that Texas had an 80%!c(MISSING)hance to win the game. Those are all nice before the game begins, but we still have to play the game. Despite my pride in TCU and the degree that they awarded me, at no point in the first half did I think we would be able to win this game. This is despite the fact that at no time during the first half did Texas, the home team, have the lead. In the first quarter, TCU scored a touchdown, but this was followed up by a Texas touchdown not very long afterwards. In the second quarter the same thing happened again: touchdown for TCU, touchdown for Texas. Four consecutive drives that ended in touchdowns. It’s like we were watching a Big-12 game or something. Oh, wait. Anyway, that was the end of scoring for a while, until TCU drove down and settled for a field goa late in the second quarter. And on the very first play of the next drive, Texas QB Sam Ehlinger threw an interception deep in Texas territory. TCU fans were hoping for another touchdown, but the Texas defense showed up, forcing TCU to settle for a field goal. Points are always important in Big-12 games. Yes, it's much better to get touchdowns instead of field goals. But in the end, you take what you can get. Leading by 6 points against a top-10 team on the road is okay in my book.

During half time, it was a lot of nothing. There was no band to perform, there were no games to be watched, and it was hot. At this point I first began to realize how red my legs were becoming. This is Texas, after all, so perhaps I should have anticipated that. But to me, it was October, and not a time for sunburn. I had worn long sleeves, yes, But not long pants. My legs would be paying for this for several days.

In the second half, TCU got the ball to start, but Texas showed up on defense and TCU got only a field goal, extending it to a 9-point lead. Then Texas found its offensive mojo and got a touchdown to cut the TCU lead to 2. A whole lot of nothing then happened for the rest of the third quarter, and TCU put together a decent drive that ended in yet another field goal early in the 4^th quarter. For those counting, that’s 4 consecutive field goals and no touchdowns in a long while. Seeing TCU score again must’ve lit a fire under Texas, because they drove it down for another touchdown to take their first lead in the game; they went for the 2-point conversion to give themselves a 3-point lead. This is what most of us expected would happen. After the teams traded stalled drives, TCU finally got another touchdown to go up by 4, with 4 minutes left in the game, thanks to a beautiful 26-yard run by QB Max Duggan. It was the only time in the entire game that I stood up and gave the touchdown sign with my arms up. One of the guys from the maskless quartet asked me, "Did you know that was coming?" I nodded. It wasn't hard to predict, based on the pattern that the little ants (the football players as they appeared on the other side of the field from us) had taken. I could breathe easier, but not for long. Sam Ehlinger did what he has been known to do in these situations: make a couple of huge passes and set up the offense in good position. Unfortunately, their running back wasn’t fast enough on the second pass, and a TCU defender tripped him up on the 17-yard line. This probably saved the game for TCU. Two plays later, the same running back fumbled the ball on the one-yard line, which TCU recovered. Two minutes remained in the game. Texas tried to play the clock game at this point, calling for time outs in order to force TCU to get a first down. It didn’t work. With 6 seconds left, and on 4^th down, TCU decided just to run back into their own end zone and take a safety as time expired in order to keep Texas from getting the ball back. The safety gave Texas another 2 points, but it was still not enough to prevent an embarrassing loss to an unranked team at home. Final Score: TCU 33, Texas 31.

It was pretty wild. Pretty hard to take in, too. Still, I couldn’t help wondering how much the crowd normally affects the outcome of games. Texas’s DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium hold over 100,000 people, but it’s limited during these uncertain times. I would be willing to wager that Texas would’ve won if the full crowd had been in attendance. Instead, the less noise virtually nullified home-field advantage, which is crucial in college football. I’m wondering how many other games I’ll attend this year when the “lesser” team has a chance, and even pulls off the major upset like today, due to the sparse home crowd.

Once the game was over, we made our way to the exits. We found a long and winding ramp instead of having to go down the escalators, and on these ramps, I found more people in purple than I had expected. During the game, there was a concentration of purple in the corner opposite from our own end zone, but it didn't look like too many people were there. Perhaps they had been spread out in other sections and had only found the herd after the game was over. But when we got to the bottom and headed to our car, I overheard a disgruntled Texas fan say the following: “that's the biggest event in their life. Now that shit’s gotta go back to Fort Worth.” He was talking about a couple of frat-looking guys in TCU apparel asking someone for information. The boys were excited because they had just seen their team beat a supposedly better team. But in all honesty, that was the only derogatory comment I heard all day about my team.

I had told Jack that we should stay in Austin for the day, and see what Austin had to offer. Our hotel was not far from the stadium, so we went there after the game. We went up to the room and Jack took a shower because he had sweated so much, and my back was hurting a little, so I enjoyed the air conditioning and the bed while other football games played on the TV. After a little while, we got hungry and sought out some authentic Tex-Mex food. We lucked out by finding a place that was only a 5-minute walk from the hotel. It was called Pelóns. The decor was cozy, and they had plenty of seating. Most of the people chose to sit outside, but due to our sunburns, the indoor seating was just fine. When we were seated, the waiter approached and did a double take. Jack had bought a Texas t-shirt during the game, and he was still wearing it. Their color, burnt orange, is hard to mistake. I, however, was still wearing my TCU shirt and hat. So the waiter asked if Jack would be the one buying drinks tonight since his team had lost. We both laughed at that, but neither one of us had any alcohol for the evening. We were more hungry than thirsty. Perhaps the best thing we ordered was the chili queso to go with the mandatory tortillas before the meal. If this restaurant wants to make a lot of money, they should market that chili queso because it will sell like crazy. We also got full meals apiece, but I still think that the chili queso was the best thing I had that night.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and stayed there for the rest of the night. We wanted to watch the UGA game, which had begun while we were at the restaurant. When we got back to the hotel, Georgia was already winning 24-0, so we figured it was already in the bag. Nevertheless, we kept watching to see if Auburn would do anything of note. They did not.

The next morning, we headed out of Austin and drove north, first to Waco, and then to Fort Worth. Jack didn't care to see the campus of the University of Texas, and I had already seen it a few years back. So we stopped at the football stadium for Baylor University in Waco, and nearby, we had lunch at my famous addiction known as Whataburger. This made 3 times on 3 trips so far this football season. Our next stop was TCU in Fort Worth, and we got to go inside the football stadium, which Jack enjoyed. They had done some renovations on it since my last stop there, so I was happy to see those as well. I took him on a short tour of the quad and the student center, and then we got out of town. He had booked a hotel for us in Monroe, LA, for the evening, and that's where we ended our Sunday.

Monday was rather uneventful, except for the fact that my back had begun hurting more overnight. So I drove as long as I could, until we needed gas in Mississippi. And with some luck, it turned out that the gas station was adjacent to a Whataburger. So guess where we had lunch? After that, I let Jack drive the rest of the way. We stopped at Tuscaloosa so Jack could check out the football stadium at Alabama, and that was our final stop of the trip. I was glad to share the experience with someone this time, especially such an unexpected upset by my beloved Horned Frogs. I said this at several points after the game and on the ride home, and I still feel the same: “I just can’t believe we actually won.” Sometimes, miracles do happen.

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