8 things I learned as a new college football fan
The Adopt-a-Team Project is one writer's attempt to become a fan of a college football program and explore the ins and outs of fandom. He ended up choosing the Chattanooga Mocs as his team. The Mocs lost their second-round FCS playoff game against Sam Houston State and their 2016 season is over.
Sadly, Chattanooga came up just short in Saturday's nail-biter of a playoff game against Sam Houston State. The Mocs came thisclose to driving down for a score in the final minutes of a 41-36 loss, but just couldn't get past the Bearkats' 25-yard-line before a fourth-down incomplete pass ended it.
Yeah, I'm bummed, but it's time to bring this experiment to a close for now, at least in these weekly columns on For TheWin. I started this project back in September and I can say without a doubt I have a much deeper appreciation for college football, along with a team I can call my own that I'll continue to root for.
But what did I learn along the way? Glad you asked. Here are a few lessons:
1. College offenses are so much fun to watch
The triple-option! The no-huddle hurry-up filled with run-options! The wide-open running lanes and receivers! My head was spinning week to week as I watched teams execute complex offenses or just fooled Swiss Cheese defenses. As we know from every sport, offense is just way more fun to watch than defense.
2. College football isn't as bad of a product as I thought
That leads me into an important discovery: I turned up my nose at the idea of college football as a lesser product than the NFL. Professional leagues take the best players from the college and amateur ranks and puts them together on one field, right? Now, I actually walked away feeling like it was a different but still thrilling game. Because the clock stops on first downs and, well, defenses aren't always that effective, a late comeback is always in play.