Top reasons to attend last ASU football game of season
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Nov. 28, 2014
Having two home football games on Thanksgiving weekend is a blessing, and our local teams — the Jonesboro Hurricane and the Arkansas State University Red Wolves — are deserving of our support. After a day of stuffing ourselves and perhaps some Black Friday shopping, we should all be ready to get out and do some yelling.
Others will cover the Hurricane’s game, which is a critical step toward a state championship, so I’ll deal only with ASU’s Saturday game against New Mexico State University because some of you may need convincing that it’s also important. Here are the top reasons why you should attend and cheer the Red Wolves on.
• You need the exercise after Thursday. Getting up and down every few minutes for a third-down play or an A-State score isn’t much, but that burns more calories than watching football games on television.
• If you have turkey or ham left over, you can make sandwiches and take them to the pre-game tailgate. Tired of leftovers already? Try to give them away and hit the concession stands.
• Kickoff time is set for 2 p.m., and the weather forecast calls for a game-time temperature of just over 60 degrees. Imagine a Nov. 29 football game where you might have to take off your coat.
• Most of the ducks have gone south for the winter. The deer, too.
• This game will be televised on ESPN3. You can make a sign and perhaps get yourself on national TV. Beats showing a lot of empty seats to a national audience, as most other Sun Belt teams do.
• The Centennial Bank Stadium expansion is well under way. Between 12:30 and the kickoff stop by the Red Wolves Foundation table on the West Concourse outside Section E to look over the plans and get a preview of seating options for next year.
• ASU’s students are on their Thanksgiving break this week — didn’t that used to be just a long weekend? That means the east-side stands should have plenty of good seats available. You can sit over there and pretend you’re young again. The band, cheerleaders, Red Wolves dancers and Howl will be there.
(By the way, for those of you old enough to remember fall semester classes in January, next Monday is the last day for classes this fall. Final exams start Wednesday and are over by Dec. 10. We surely got more education for much less money.)
• The Red Wolves won’t win their fourth straight Sun Belt Conference championship, but a victory in the regular-season finale will give them a fourth straight winning season. To put that into perspective, ASU football teams had only one winning season in the previous 23 years. Let’s encourage winning.
• A victory Saturday would give the Red Wolves a 7-5 overall record for the season, which last year was good enough to earn a third straight bowl bid. They went on to win the GoDaddy Bowl for the second straight year, thus finishing at 8-5. Another 7-5 record could bring another bowl bid so duplicating that 8-5 record is still possible.
• ASU had had five head football coaches in five years. Bowl bid or not, we can show Blake Anderson and his staff that we’d like them to break this string and stay at least another year. They’ve certainly earned it.
• Of the 30 head football coaches in A-State history, only seven have won as many as six games in his first season. Anderson is the fourth straight, and Steve Roberts was also one of the seven. Are we spoiled or what?
• For the past few weeks ASU supporters have been talking about which bowl they’d like to go to. Now many will be disappointed if no bowl invitation comes. But just a few years ago, the only bowls we discussed at this time of year were for cereal or soup. Keep talking about football bowls.
• A victory, coupled with a good attendance for the finale, will make a stronger case to bowl officials that ASU nation would support a trip back to Mobile or wherever.
• Over the past four years the Red Wolves have recorded 34 victories. Only 22 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision have had more.
• That 34-16 overall record for four years has been largely due to the leadership and skills of 10 fifth-year seniors, all of whom were recruited as freshmen by Roberts and sat out their first year as “redshirts.” They have since played for a different coach every year, meaning they’ve survived and even thrived under five head coaches, five different coaching staffs and five different coaching systems.
• Most importantly, because college football is still about the students: Those 10 players and four other seniors, one of whom also played under the last four head coaches, will be honored before Saturday’s game. So will Markel Owens, tragically killed in a robbery last Jan. 15, who should be with them. Be there and express your appreciation to these remarkable young men, who have persevered through circumstances unlike any ever seen in college football.
• Finally, don’t forget to set your scales back 10 pounds this weekend.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.