OSU: 26 UM: 21

It's not often that I can let the football fan in me out.  In the world of musical theater, sports talk is greatly discouraged.  I remember one time last year when AF had to ask for 30 seconds to talk about football.  I snuck in something about March Madness, and was suppressed immediately.

That being said, the OSU vs. UM game is still one of the biggest rivalries in sports.  I have been to the past three matchups of these two teams at O Stadium, and OSU has always pulled off a win.  This time, I knew would be different, because J wouldn't be there.  My eardrums might not explode.

Me, A, E, and Uncle R left the house at 11:00 for a noon game.  We figured the band show would start a half hour before the game, and a half hour for the 2-mile walk.  The opening band show was everything it should be.  Traditional, and perfectly executed.  Being the last game of the season, the OSU seniors were all honored, and you could tell the crowd was really into it.

The first half was entertaining, but OSU just played very sloppy.  A dropped pass here, a muffed punt there, and way too many penalties.  Between the first and second quarters, they honored JT and the 2002 national championship team.  That was the loudest part of the whole game.  At halftime, we made a 52-yard field goal to narrow the score to 21-20.  But you could tell that no one in he crowd legitimately though that OSU was going to lose.

The OSU halftime show was phenomenal.  The theme was Fantasia, and contained elements from both the original and Fantasia 2000.  During the nutcracker song, the band formed two stick-figure people and actually had them dancing.  During the sorcerer's apprentice, the band became a broom, and picked up other band members being a water bucket.  During Rhapsody in Blue, they became a piano, and the keys actually played.  It was just fantastic.

The second half was like a different game.  The OSU defense held UM to the point where they never crossed midfield the entire second half.  The OSU offense was not great, and they should have gotten more than two field goals, but it was enough.  Although not as entertaining, we still got the win.  Final score 26-21.

Were we cold? Yes.  Was there so little room that we could barely sit down? Yes.  Did we complain? No. (Except for A during the 2-mile walk back).  We had such a great time that we didn't care.

-NM

P.S. I am not looking at OSU for a college option.  Way too big.