Game day for the Augustana football team started off with a 7:00 a.m. breakfast on campus this past Saturday. Following our traditional pre-game breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham from the cafeteria we loaded the buses and set out for Decatur, Illinois to take on Millikin University. The ride that usually offers nothing but corn and farm houses took a turn for the better with the shifting of seasons as all the leaves were in the midst of changing colors.

For any sports fanatic, fall has to be the best time of the year. The cool air simply smells like football and throughout most of the week some sort of game can been seen. Let’s not forget the excitement that surrounds the baseball playoffs and World Series that comes hand in hand with fall. Speaking of which, though the odds of me jumping on the White Sox bandwagon are about the same as me starting over Reggie Bush this Saturday for USC, I must tip my hat to Ozzie Guillen’s squad and their success as of yet. You have to admire how hard they play and how they feed off of each other’s energy.

They have captured the essence of sports which derives from the chilling atmosphere fall creates. There is nothing that compares to the feeling you get while stepping onto the field under the blue skies of fall while smelling barbeque from distant tailgaters. That is all I could think of while we traveled to take on the Big Blue and as we arrived in Decatur at 11:15, kickoff could not have come soon enough.

Things got rolling early as we jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead thanks to a stingy defense and a grinding offense. Walking off the field after the first half we found a shaded area right outside the stadium and stayed there for halftime rather than piling into the crowded locker room. It was quite an interesting experience, one a division I football player would never even come close to experiencing as fans of both teams passed close by the entire time. The game ended with us coming out on top by a score of 23-0 as we improved to 6-1 overall.

After the game I was able to hang out with a few players from the Millikin team because my good friend Max Warner plays for them. It was a great experience talking CCIW football with guys I had just lined up against. It was a unique experience hearing them talk about the same things my teammates and I talk about, just from a different perspective.

This Saturday we play host to Elmhurst College who just came off of a tough seven point defeat from North Central College (12th in the nation). As conference play comes to a close we realize that from week to week, it is a one game season. No game is more important than the one in front of us as we take on the Bluejays this Saturday. One slip up could cost us our season and we take that into consideration as we walk out to practice every day.