October 16th, 2010 was a dark day for Texas A&M.
It was a day I had planned for months. I would finally be taking my entire family to their first Fightin’ Texas Aggie football game at Kyle Field. They had been to a Spring Game before, but the electricity of the stadium at kickoff and the swaying of the 12th Man was something that they had to experience. And I was overjoyed to finally be able to share my passion and for them to get a first hand glimpse of the school and tradition I hold so close to my heart.
Like most of my plans and ideas, the day was a failure.
The 11:30 AM kickoff (thanks Fox Sports) was bad enough. Especially after my family’s first Midnight Yell. But I had been so pumped up about this football game leading up to the weekend. After two straight losses after a turnover prone contest to Oklahoma State in Stillwater (my first and hopefully my last visit to that terrible town) and a letdown at Jerry World once again to the pigs, I was ready for another victory and I was sure Mike Sherman and the boys would deliver. They had been so close for the past two contests, just falling short by 3 and 7 points.
30-9. A Mizzou beatdown. At home. In Kyle Field.
The game was a blur to me. Around the middle of the 3rd quarter when I began to realize and accept that our fate was sealed for that day, my mind began racing. 3 straight losses with more sure to come at the hands of Oklahoma and Nebraska. Would Coach Sherman survive? Who could we hire as a new coach? How long would we give the new guy before he ran out of excuses like Coach Sherman was running out of? The team wasn't even competitive. Kyle Field, the best place to experience college football in the entire country, was dead. No energy. No excitement. Just blah.
I was so disappointed that day to go home and explain to not only both my parents, (especially my father who had finally began to watch and like Aggie Football) buy my little sister as well who is a junior in high school with her own dreams and ambitions of coming to Texas A&M and studying vet medicine that the Kyle Field they had visited that day wasn’t the Kyle Field that I knew and loved. The Aggie Football team they saw on the field wasn’t the same team I devoted long hours to watching practice and reading fan message boards. The Texas A&M they experienced wasn’t what I knew.
Something had to change. And it did.
With South Carolina winning over Florida in two games in the College World Series on Tuesday night, the 2010-2011 NCAA athletic calendar came to a close. And the 2010-2011 year just might have been the best ever for Aggie Athletics.
3 National Championships were brought back to Aggieland, one by Gary Blair and his women’s basketball team and the other two by Pat Henry and the men and women Outdoor Track and Field team (what else is new?). And don’t forget Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek who won the 2011 NCAA men’s tennis doubles championship, both track 4x400 teams captured the national crown, and track star Jessica Beard was nominated for the 2010-2011 Honda Sports award after winning the 400m and posting an NCAA best 49.14 in an anchor leg to capture the women’s national championship. And for the non-“Equestrian isn’t a sport” crowd, the girls finished off their back-to-back-to-back national championship run as well to match the track team. Did I leave any national champions out?
Consider this. In the 20 intercollegiate sports that Texas A&M Athletics competes in, 11 finished the year ranked in the national top 10 in their respective sport. That’s simply amazing and pure dominance for Aggie Athletics. (Thanks to @12thManTrue and 12th Man Magazine for that stat)
The Learfield Sports Director’s Cup is “A program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, achieving success in many sports, both men's and women's.” It takes a schools top 20 athletic programs and gives them points based on their season’s performance. (A complete scoring structure and information can be found here: http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-scoring.html) As of June 17th, Texas A&M Athletics ranked 8th out of all Division I programs. Ahead of A&M is champion Stanford, Ohio State, Duke, Cal, Florida, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. As of now, points for college baseball have not been added and A&M can move ahead as high as 6th place in the final standings. Those are quality athletic programs with more diversity such as Lacrosse and Gymnastics included in their point totals. A&M has to include ALL of its 20 programs to the point total. Other programs like Stanford can choose their 20 best. A complete list and ranking of all Division I programs can be found here: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/d1june17.pdf
Something new added to the mix is the Capitol One Cup.
“The Capital One Cup is awarded annually to each of the top men's and women's Division I college athletics programs in the country. Points toward the Capital One Cup are earned and tracked throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls. One winning men’s and one winning women's program will be crowned after the completion of the final NCAA spring championships. Each winning athletic program will receive the Capital One Cup and $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. Winners will be presented at the annual ESPY awards.”
Complete info can be found here: http://www.capitalonecup.com/about-the-cup.html
While you can agree or disagree with their scoring structure based on “tiers” of sports, increasing their overall point total based on popularity of that sport, (so football and volleyball will earn more points than say women's cross country) the Aggies had a great representation here as well. Stanford, just like in the Director’s Cup, will be award 1st place on the Women’s side with 121 points at this year’s ESPYs. Texas A&M women finished 2nd with 112 points. The A&M men (and this is just hot off the presses) finished tied for 3rd overall with Auburn (what?) behind only champion Florida and Virginia. The men were 23 points behind the Gators. Only 3 athletic programs in the entire country had both their men and women in the Top 5: Stanford, Floirda, and Texas A&M. That is quite an accomplishment. Complete standings can be found here: http://www.capitalonecup.com/standings.html
I don’t know what will go down as my favorite memory of the 2010-2011 Aggie Athletic year. Tyra White’s layup against Stanford in the final seconds at the Final Four? Her three pointer to seal a national championship two nights later against Notre Dame? (By the way, have you voted for Coach Blair’s team as the ESPY Team of the Year? If no, do so here! http://espn.go.com/espys/#!/voting/) Jessica Beard and her 49.14 in the anchor leg of the women’s 4x400m to claim a third straight national championship? The dogpile at Florida State to send the Aggie Baseball team to their first trip to the College World Series in Omaha since 1999?
Whatever happened to Coach Sherman and the football team you ask? Well, the story goes something like this. Coach Sherman took all the Mizzou tapes and game plans from the week before to practice the next Tuesday and burned them right on the practice field for the football team to see the past and that 30-9 game was behind them. He told the team there was a clean slate starting from that very moment for the players and coaches. And some kid named Cyrus Gray walked into his office and told Coach Sherman he wanted the ball more and could help the team win. Well, Cyrus Gray knocked off 6 straight 100 yard rushing games and Coach Sherman and the Aggies won every game in the regular season after that to finish 9-3 and capture a Cotton Bowl berth along with a share of the Big XII South Division crown. (Yes they got rings to show for it).
My favorite moment for 2010-2011 may have been 9-6. I have never experienced a game and an atmosphere quite like the Nebraska game. For so much hype to surround one game and for it to deliver from the fans to the players, it will be a night to truly remember and one that is talked about for some time. That’s when I fell in love again with Kyle Field, the 12th Man, and Aggie Athletics. That final War Hymn when both players, coaches, and fans that rushed the field alike sawed varsity horns off still echos in my ear and resonated throughout college athletics. At that very moment deep down in my heart I realized that not only Aggie Football was back, but Texas A&M Athletics is here to stay.
Still on the fence that 2010-2011 was the best in Aggie Athletic history? Just take a look at these stats:
Football – 19th Final Ranking, Big XII South Division Co-Champs, Cotton Bowl
Volleyball – 13-17 overall, 7-13 in Big XII
Men’s Basketball – 24th Final Ranking, #7 Seed in NCAA tournament
Women’s Basketball – National Champions
Men’s Golf – 5th Final Ranking, 3 PING All Americans
Men’s Swimming and Diving – 13th Overall Finish at NCAA’s
Men’s Tennis – 10th Final Ranking, Doubles National Championship
Track and Field – Outdoor National Champions, 4x400m National Champions, Women’s 400m National Champion
Women’s Golf – 7th at NCAA Championship
Soccer – 16th Final Ranking, #4 seed in NCAA tournament
Softball – 13th Final Ranking, #16 Overall Seed in NCAA tournament
Women’s Swimming and Diving – 7th Final Ranking
Women’s Tennis – 33rd Final Ranking
Baseball – 6th Final Ranking, Advanced to College World Series
Equestrian – National Champions
2010-2011 Big XII Championships: Soccer Regular Season, Football Co-Big XII South Champions, Men’s Indoor Track and Field, Equestrian, Men’s Tennis Tournament, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field, Baseball Regular Season Co-Champs, Baseball Tournament.
Total: 9 Big XII Championships, or 30% of Big XII Total Championships.
Rest of Big XII?
Texas: 5
Oklahoma: 2
Texas Tech: 1
Oklahoma State: 5
Baylor: 5
Nebraska: 4
Mizzou: 2
Kansas: 2
Kansas State: 0
Iowa State: 0
Colorado: 0
(Note: Numbers won’t add up to 30 due to co-champions in football and baseball)
Thanks for playing everyone. See you again in 2011-2012. Expect the same end results. Aggie Athletic dominance.
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Like what you have read? You can expect stories and thoughts like these here on Midnight Yell in the future. For up to date information:
Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/themidnightyell
And become a Facebook Fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Midnight-Yell/213863318650418
Future Stories: Be on the lookout for thoughts regarding 2011 Aggie Football Signee LeMarc Strahan not being able to make it to campus and the impact it will have on the 2011 Aggie Football season, as well as what South Carolina winning the College World Series means to college baseball: could a blue print for championship teams be emerging? And with Nebraska leaving the Big XII today, was two of the greatest games ever at Kyle Field involving the Cornhuskers in '98 and '10?
Thanks and Gig 'Em
-----Ranger222