J.T. poses with one of Archie Griffin's two Heisman trophies at Ohio State University
Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in a series of weekly columns about USD Toreros football by a six year veteran of the team, running back J.T. Rogan.
As is customary for our league road games, we traveled at least halfway across the United States to play this past Saturday. We played Morehead St. in Morehead, Kentucky. Morehead is about an hour outside of Lexington, Kentucky and about four hours from Columbus, Ohio.
I mention Lexington and Columbus because each city has a major collegiate football program located within each of them with which our program has some affiliation. Lexington is home to the University of Kentucky and our head coach and defensive line coach were previously coaches on the UK football team. Also, our former defensive coordinator at USD, Dave Adolph, had resumed his coaching tenure at Ohio State.
Each of these coaching connections allowed our team the very unique opportunity of practicing at these universities. The facilities were impressive at the University of Kentucky, but they were breath-taking at Ohio State.
As tradition goes, few football programs are more storied than Ohio State. The program’s commitment to academic excellence while not losing sight of the athletic goals is impressive. The acknowledgments of the accomplishments of the program’s past do not interfere with the objectives of the program’s future. I have an entirely new perspective of Ohio State’s football program.
Ohio State’s Head Coach Jim Tressel spoke to us before our practice at their indoor practice facility and he spoke of a victory he had when he was coaching at the FCS level of which we are a member. Coach Tressel stated that the victory that he is proudest of in his coaching career is a victory he had while coaching his Youngstown State team to a victory to end the season with two wins and nine losses. Coach Tressel remarked that that victory was the foundation for the national championships that Youngstown State would go on to win. He opined that the team won the game because they believed in themselves and they believed in each other.
We were on a mission to beat Morehead State with the intent of re-establishing a foundation for excellence at our program. We endured a long trip to arrive at the game Saturday and we were determined to get a victory.
The majority of the game looked like a competition between two teams who were at the bottom of the league standings, which it was. Our offense had difficulty running the ball, we threw two interceptions inside of the opponents 30 yard line and we lacked any real continuity when trying to put points on the board. However, our defense was stingy, resilient and firm. The only points allowed by our defense were allowed because of the short 13 yards that the opposing offense had to travel to score due to a long kickoff return that they established.
We had ventured into the opponents territory several times, settling for field goals. We were losing 7-6 in the fourth quarter, but we continued to push forward while refusing to settle for another loss. We finally scored the elusive touchdown that had been so close previously in the game. The touchdown score, coupled with our tremendous defensive performance, led to a 13-7 victory. Our team believed in our ability and we would not resign ourselves to accepting another loss.
The victory has brought us to our final game of the year. We will be taking on Southern Utah University at home for our final contest. Southern Utah is coached by former USD special teams and defensive backs coach Ed Lamb. Southern Utah has shown improvement with Coach Lamb leading their squad and the game is a challenge that many of our players have been looking forward to.
Offensive Grade: D+ Defensive Grade: A- Special Teams Grade: C Personal Grade: C-
