On Saturday, I spent a beautiful Texas fall afternoon on the sidelines of Kyle Field in College Station to watch the Texas A&M Aggies host the Iowa State Cyclones in a Big 12 Conference football game.
Iowa State head football coach Dan McCarney and I grew up together in Iowa City, Iowa, where we were teammates on a championship high school football team at City High in 1970. We have remained close friends over the years, and so I have tried to attend each game in Texas that Iowa State plays since Coach Mac became head coach at Iowa State in 1994, and Coach Mac always comes through with a sideline pass for me to each of the games.
The following are a few photos that I took Saturday afternoon as the 10.5 point underdog Cyclones steamrolled the Aggies 42-14 in front of over 86,000 rather disheartened Aggie fans.
The Corps “Steps Out”. One of many fabulous traditions at A&M on gameday is when the A&M Corps of Cadets “Steps Out” of the Corps’ dorm about two blocks away from Kyle Field. Precisely one hour and 45 minutes before kick-off, a cannon blast signals that the outstanding Fightin’ Aggie Marching Band is beginning to lead the various Corps squadrons out of the dorm area as they parade down a boulevard to Kyle Field. Thousands of Aggie fans stand along the parade route and cheer the Band and the Corps members as they march toward Kyle Field. When they reach Kyle Field, the band and the Corps march into the stadium before the watchful eye of visiting dignitaries on a reviewing stand, which yesterday included former President Bush and Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Step Out,” the parade, and “March In” are truly among the great college gameday traditions in all of college football.
Coach Mac chats with Coach Fran. Coach Mac and Texas Aggie Coach Fran (Dennis Franchione) engage in the traditional head coach pre-game chat at mid-field as both teams go through their pre-game warmups.
Coach Mac and Coach Fran are about the same age, but Coach Mac has been coaching in the Big 12 far longer (11 seasons) than Coach Fran, who is in his third season at A&M. Inasmuch as Coach Fran and his squad are going through a tough season, he’s probably passing along his troubles to Coach Mac, who has plenty of experience in enduring tough seasons. By the way, that fellow below the two coaches is fixing something on the turf rather than tying Coach Mac’s shoe.
An old quarterback shows he can still throw the pigskin. One of Iowa State’s associate head coaches is Terry Allen, shown here throwing pregame warm-up tosses to the Iowa State receivers. Terry’s family lived across the street from my family while we grew up in Iowa City, although Terry is several years younger than Coach Mac and me, so he did not play ball with us in high school. However, Terry was quite a player, and he went on to be the starting quarterback for three seasons in the late 1970’s for the University of Northern Iowa, where he eventually became a successful head football coach. Terry parlayed that success into the head coaching job at the University of Kansas during the early part of this decade, but he — like many other coaches at that football coaching graveyard — was fired after just a few seasons. Coach Mac hired Terry immediately and he has become a key member of the Iowa State staff.
Kyle Field is a very intimidating place to play. This is a photo of one of Iowa State’s first plays during the game, which prompts me to comment on what it’s like on the sidelines of Kyle Field when the visiting team has the ball. To put it gently . . . IT IS VERY LOUD!
One of the A&M traditions is the 12th Man, which means that all students and many other Aggie fans stand during the entire game and make an incredible amount of noise while the visiting team is attempting to call its signals at the line of scrimmage. The effect of this din is disconcerting, to say the least, and most teams end up relying on hand signals to their wide receivers because of their inability to hear the signals that the quarterback is calling at the line of scrimmage. As a result, more illegal procedure penalties are generated from opponents at Kyle Field than any other venue in college football.
A key play in the game. Although I did not realize it when I was taking this picture, this play turned out to be a key one during the game. With A&M trailing 14-7 late in the first half, A&M’s talented quarterback Reggie McNeal is dropping back to pass on the play, but is flushed by the Iowa State defensive line. The fleet McNeal took off done the far sideline, then cut back across the field and raced 65 yards for an apparent touchdown, except for those dreaded words . . .
“There was a flag on the play.”
As you can see from this photo, directly in front of McNeal, an Aggie offensive lineman is holding Iowa State defensive lineman Nick Leaders, who has beaten the Aggie lineman badly on the play. That indiscretion cost A&M a game-tying touchdown and, frankly, the Ags never recovered.
The Fightin’ Aggie Marching Band lines up for its halftime performance. The Aggie Marching Band is one of the great bands in college football, and this picture shows the band lining up for their halftime performance directly under A&M’s “Zone” facility that looms over Kyle Field’s north end zone. When the opposing team has the ball and is near the “Zone,” the noise down on the field is absolutely deafening. A&M’s master facility plan projects that a similar facility will eventually be built in the south end zone of Kyle Field, which will raise the stadium’s capacity to 110-115,000.
The Aggie Band specializes in precision military marching drills and patriotic music (think John Phillip Sousa on steroids). My favorites — the theme to the movie Patton, Noble Men of Kyle and the Strategic Air Command March.
The Tuba Pivot. A favorite part of the Aggie precision marching drills is the pivot that the tuba players make while turning during the drills. You have to see the Tuba Pivot to appreciate it fully, but take it from me — the Aggie Tuba Corps is one precision outfit.
During the days of the now defunct Southwest Conference, the Aggie Band used to come to Houston each season when the Aggie football team played either Rice or the University of Houston. During those days, the Aggie Band and the Corps of Cadets used to parade down Main Street in downtown Houston the morning of their game against either Rice or UH, and the parade was always well-attended. That’s a part of Texas football culture that I miss.
The Final Score. The scoreboard tells the story as the Cyclones beat the Aggies for the first time in eight games between the two schools. Inasmuch as it’s highly unusual for Iowa State to beat A&M — and even more unusual to hammer them at Kyle Field — Coach Mac came over to me as the final seconds on the clock were winding down to commiserate for a moment before he had to rush off at the end of the game for the midfield handshake with Coach Fran, post-game interviews and his many other responsibilities.
It was a heartwarming moment as I embraced my old friend on the sidelines and congratulated him on his first win over the Aggies until . . . the Iowa State players decided to give Coach Mac the traditional celebratory ice-water dousing at that particular moment!
As we both got drenched, Coach Mac and I had a good laugh as we parted, and it was all-in-all a satisfying — albeit wet — post-game ride back home to The Woodlands.
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