I’ve now been in student section for two games of my college career and I am absolutely loving it. A friend recommended I write about my experiences for this past game day, and share it with you guys. I’ll apologize now for the quality of the pictures... they were taken from my iphone4. So this was step-by-step my game day story.
5:04 P.M. Friday - I depart from my dorm room in Morrill and make my way towards my final class of the week in Derby Hall. As I waltz into buckeye grove, the band begins playing The Buckeye Battle Cry during their final practice. I throw my voice in amongst the instruments, blaring the words at the top of my lungs to the amusement of those who passed me. It’s as if the band is pumping me up for my Chem 1210 recitation.
5:30 P.M. - Chem 1210 recitation. I hate having a Friday evening class.
6:40 P.M. - Morrill commons dinner, which as usual can be described as mediocre. My suitemate Jake has joined me, and we talk about our hobbies... which included me discussing this write-up with him. I promised to give him a shoutout.
7:07 P.M. - I and nine other people from my floor in Morrill take part in what has become a suite 1320 Friday night tradition, a pick-up game of backyard football. Tackle, not touch. Sam, another guy in my suite, is by far the best of us as a former linebacker for St. Ed’s. My squad loses 7-4 (touchdowns are one point), in spite of the vast number of trick plays I drew up.
9:25 P.M. - After shooting bull with Sam about old football memories for awhile, I check with my roommate Kohl to be sure he got all the ingredients for Saturday’s Buffalo Chicken dip. Last week’s double batch was gone quicker than Bowling Green’s defense, and the suite had all chipped in to buy the stuff.
10:30 P.M. - Several of my friends and I arrive at a party. I’ll be performing in my usual role as sober big brother, making sure all of my group gets home okay. Whether or not you believe me, that’s pretty much what I do at parties. That and laugh at the more inebriated folk.
2:00 A.M. Saturday - Another one of my roommates (I live in a quad) has had way too much. After nearly getting hit by a car, thinking a random stranger was Derrick Rose, and asking his hometown friends to feed him a pancake through the mic on his phone we are finally able to convince him to come home with us.
2:05 A.M. - A cute girl standing out on a porch with her friends yells at me and says I have nice muscles. *Fist pump*.
2:20 A.M. - Arrival back at Morrill. I get in on some card games while my hammered roommate becomes vomit brothers with a toilet.
4:14 A.M. - My restless self finally gets in bed.
11:30 A.M. - My alarm goes off. Gotta get up and make this dip.
11:31 A.M. - Alarm shut down. Sleep.
12:15 P.M. - I am actually awake.
The view from my dorm room Saturday morning.
1:05 P.M. - The dip is once again a huge hit, and I make my arrangements of who I will be sitting by for the game.
2:48 P.M. - I’m now in my seat watching the insane hype videos playing on the jumbotron. I’m alone at this point, my group is getting lunch at the RPAC. I’ve got my Bosa jersey on. Game time.
3:10 P.M. - The people I will be sitting with arrive in the stadium. We are in 36B.
3:20 P.M. -
3:25 P.M. -
15:00 left, first quarter - Bleachers bend under my feet as I jump on them to that classic Seven Nation Army beat. I take note of some of my surroundings. About 75 percent of the students around me are drunk.
14:51 - Lattimore intercepts the first Tulsa play from scrimmage. Eruption. High fives all around.
11:40 - One of the girls in my group, Madi, asks me again what position I played on defense in high school.
“D-line,” I tell her.
“So who’s your favorite D-lineman on this team?”
“Sam Hubbard.”
11:20 - Sam Hubbard gets a sack.
7:56 - One of the drunks next to me removes his shoes and socks. No reason apparent.
3:35 - Obvious offsides call against Tyquan Lewis, but that doesn’t stop the first bulls*** chants from raining down upon the field.
End of the first quarter - Score is tied at three, and the student section is getting a bit antsy. I make a comment to the girl in my group I’m sitting next to, Bre, that we should make some short throws to get J.T. back in rythym.
10:10 left, second quarter - The second Durbin field goal. Some of the people around me are booing the call not to go for the fourth and five play.
5:07 - Madi tells the story of her sweater she is wearing. She’s worn it every game during 2014, 2015, and this year, with two exceptions. Two games that she was away playing basketball for and therefore could not wear it. The two? Virginia Tech, 2014, and Michigan State, 2015.
Coincidence? I think not.
3:20 - Malik Hooker pick six. Eruption. High fives all around.
1:07 - I feel three drops of rain settle upon my left forearm. Another seven nation army chant begins. A hurricane is blowing in, and it isn’t golden. It’s scarlet. Nothing of note happened at this point happened other than the rain, in fact we would punt the next play. But the student section was now the loudest it had been up to that point in the season. I was shouting “LET’S GO!” As the rain came down harder.
0:49 - Ohio State timeout. My jersey and shorts are soaked clean through. But the seven nation army chants are coming down again. The water has failed to dampen anyone’s spirits, but instead it raised our intensity in the student section.
0:33 - A perfect storm. With all the hype the rain had incurred, our third down “ohhs” were mayhem.
Lattimore intercepts the ball, and it is absolute pandemonium.
He cuts back across at the twenty, and it gets even louder.
Marshon strides across the goalline, and I think a jet engine went off in my ear. The only other crowd noise I have ever heard I could compare it too was when I attended the 2011 Wisconsin game and Braxton threw the winning pass to Devin Smith.
0:00 - We would have stayed outside and stayed jacked through the storm, but then we got the announcement that halftime activities had been cancelled.
Halftime - Under the shelter of the stadium now, Bre says the rain is coming down so hard it looks like snow:
We get confirmation of a delay, then go down to sign some fight songs with band members that were also in the stadium.
6:12 P.M. - With no one checking tickets, Block O is open. The view from our new seats:
6:15 P.M. - A “Hey Stadium! O!” tells me I am participating in my first O-Block cheer. I may have freaked the heck out just a tad.
9:42 left, third quarter - J.T. runs it in from eleven yard out. Eruption. High fives all around.
8:02 - Bre makes sure that everyone around us takes note of how much my hands have pruned. I will admit, my hands look like those of a man who has three digits in his age.
3:15 - Pass interference call against Tulsa goes our way. My moxy is running hot, so I shout “You can’t do that!” and clap five times. Two people join, then a bunch more on the next round. Pretty soon half of Block O had joined me. Beams must have been shooting from my teeth, I was smiling so big.
0:47 - Mike Weber gets his first touchdown, finally, and acknowledges us in the student section. Eruption. High fives all around.
11:15 left, fourth quarter - J.T. Barrett touchdown run 2.0. Eruption. High fives all around.
5:58 - Dontre takes one in. Eruption... you get the idea.
0:59 - Following the sixth and final Buckeye takeaway, Joe Burrow runs ten yards and picks up the game-sealing first down. So the leader of Block O asked us a tough question, pointing to our sideline:
“Is that not the winning team?”
Our response: “Yes that is the winning team!”
Then motioning to Tulsa’s sideline, he asked:
“Is that not the losing team?”
“Yes that is the losing team!”
Then back and forth together, we pointed out the winning and losing teams.
I got chills soon after, but not from the weather:
