Gaining a whole new vantage point of college football
EDITOR’S NOTE: Senior reporter Dave Jones took in Saturday’s CMU-WMU rivalry game from the sidelines, taking in a different perspective than one he would get in the press box.
KALAMAZOO — There was one point in CMU’s win over Western Michigan on Saturday that would have gone unnoticed by the crowd.
Freshman wide receiver Cody Wilson ran a slant over the middle when senior quarterback Dan LeFevour found him with a short pass.
But before he could gain full possession, Wilson was sandwiched between two Western defenders, dropped the ball and watched his helmet fly off from the hit.
Everybody saw that. But what could only be seen from a certain vantage point was what followed.
Coach Butch Jones ran and found the official who kept his flag tucked in his belt. He yelled and screamed at the no-call, berating the official for not doing his job and protecting his players.
All the while, Wilson paced the sideline, not with a look of pain, but one of disappointment for dropping the ball. The temperature did not reach 50 degrees and the wind never stopped, but it was worth every second to be down there capturing the excitement and the emotion that gets lost in the crowd.
Coaches and players interact with each other and with themselves in a way that seems more authentic up close. There are no more faces of a team or any ideas of the team — there is only the reality of those teams where the serious concentration and utter enjoyment are intensified.
Being There
Sitting in the crowd or even in the press box, the game being played still carries that feeling of watching it on television — there still remains a distance between yourself and the action in the field.
That’s why it makes it feel so much more real on the field. There was a time just before the end of the first half when both teams were at their peak of intensity.
Western — led on drives by senior quarterback Tim Hiller — scored 10 unanswered points to tie the game 13-13 with just more than two minutes to go.
The Broncos sideline, having trailed the entire game thus far, knew they had the momentum. Their body language and emotion showed it.
But what happened next had the power to deflate any team.
The Chippewas — led by LeFevour — drove the length of the field to score with one pass after another.
What you can’t really see, though, is how he does that. We all see the stats, but the process gets lost.
After dropping back and reading the defense, you can see his eyes scan over the black jerseys. He checked his first option. Knowing he had nothing there, he took a look over his second and third, picking the best one.
It’s like getting inside the head of the quarterback and, just for a second, it feels like being on the field.
He led the scoring drive to take a touchdown lead before junior linebacker Nick Bellore returned an interception to the Western 3-yard line.
Knowing It’s Over
The game clock didn’t tick down to zero until after 7 p.m., but it was over much before that, and both sidelines knew it.
Walking through the Western sideline with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and its offense driving, the sense on the sideline told the story — Western was coming out on the losing end.
Hiller just completed a 20-yard pass, but players could be seen sitting on the bench, helmets off and starring up at the clock, just waiting for the time to expire.
On the other side, the same was true. Central players knew they were going to win as soon as the second half kicked off.
And, in the end, it proved true.
One sideline celebrated with their fans and awaited the presentation of their trophy, while the other remained silent, somber and simply walked back to their locker room.
