Finally!

Fall is football season. This year I've been following my two favorite teams, the BYU Cougars and the LAHS Hilltoppers. My brother's on the team.

Both teams started strong. BYU beat the Washington Huskies, and the Toppers beat Pojoaque. It was a good start.

But since then, it has been a miserable, lousy season! Penny, Kevin, and have gone to all the home Topper games, and even one away game, and we lost all of those... really badly! We were the first team to lose by the newly-instated mercy rule. If you're behind by 35 points they let the clock run, and if you're behind by 50 points, the game's over. We've used it two or three times now. It give new meaning to the crowd shouting, "No mercy!"

BYU has been equally lousy. Last week we lost to Utah State. Utah State! Come on, we haven't lost to them since like 1993! And we lost by 15 points. It was pathetic!

Then this week, BYU fired their defensive coordinator. They said they had the hardest week of practice they've ever had. I could tell they definitely regrouped and reevaluated their game.

We played San Diego State this week, and I just hoped we'd stay in the game. They were ranked in the top 30 or higher for offense, defense, etc. We were ranked in the 115s in some areas. There are only 120 teams. It didn't look good.

But somehow we got our heads together, made tackles, pulled off a 4th down faked punt-turned-pass, and pushed the ball down the field. We dominated! We had possession for 45 minutes, compared to SDSU's 15. Wahoo! And it came down to the very last minute where we finally won by 3 points! Whew!! What a game!

Now, maybe the Toppers should see about rearranging their coaching staff....