Returning to Where I First Got Hooked on College Football 20 Years Later

One of the things they say in writing is that you aren't supposed to make the story about yourself. Well I didn't study journalism when I was in college at Virginia Tech, earning a degree in civil engineering instead.

So in this case, I'm going to break that wise rule. Why?

Well many of us who are fans of college football have a moment where we got hooked as a fan. This week brings me back to my first memories of truly experiencing college football that hooked me on the sport.

Specifically, the story of a 10-year old me who grew up about an hour south of Washington D.C. going to a college football game for the first time.

The date was October 28th, 2006. My dad and I had been offered two tickets from the youth pastor at church, a big Maryland fan, and so we took him up on those tickets and went up to see what would be my first ever college football game.

It was a primetime ESPN2 kickoff between Maryland and Florida State, a game that historically had been very lopsided with Maryland being 1-15 all-time against Florida State, the lone win in the series coming in 2004.

Of course, 10-year old me had no idea about that lopsided history so on the way up, I decided to do what plenty of fans do on their way to the game, make a prediction.

My prediction that evening: Maryland 27, Florida State 24. Clearly, it was a bold one for those who actually knew the history of the series, which I did not. This is a prediction that you'll want to remember.

I remember getting to the game and having seats in the lower bowl of Byrd Stadium on the press box side of the stadium about 20-30 rows up, pretty much ideal seats. I also remember my dad and I grabbing Chick-Fil-A in the stadium, having a classic CFA chicken sandwich. Fortunately for my dad that night, I wasn't nearly as hungry as I often was going to NASCAR races or baseball games and therefore saved my dad some money that evening.

I remember that this game was a blackout at least for the student section, which was packed that night. The stadium was full and the energy was great for a Saturday night college football game.

Maryland took a commanding lead early, but Florida State started charging back during the fourth quarter. Remember that prediction I made pregame of Maryland 27, Florida State 24? Well Maryland was leading FSU 27-24 late in the fourth quarter but the Seminoles had a field goal attempt looming that could force overtime and therefore cause my prediction to not be perfect.

Instead, Maryland blocked the field goal attempt to win 27-24, beating Florida State for only the second time in program history. As soon as the game went final, the students stormed the field as fans were absolutely euphoric around us celebrating this massive win for Maryland.

At that point, I was hooked on college football and would only become a bigger and bigger fan over time, even though I wouldn't go to another college football game until my first home game as a freshman at VT in 2014.

Many more memories would be made after that moment from non-VT fans bringing up VT's loss to JMU in 2010 to being up well into the night celebrating with friends on campus after VT upset Ohio State in 2014 as a freshman to watching VT rout North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2016 while getting soaked more than I've ever been in my life to launching this website and getting to travel all over America. That's included road trips to Miami and Stanford and Syracuse and more plus basketball trips that took me all the way to covering a Women's Final Four game courtside in 2024. That game included a pregame video call with my dad, the man who took me to my first college sporting event 18 years prior, and showing him how I'd get to cover one of the biggest college basketball games of the year courtside.

Running The Tech Lunch Pail isn't a full-time job for me, but it's an endeavor I deeply enjoy covering some of the sports that I enjoy the most, especially college football. While it isn't the most important thing in my life (my faith takes ultimate precedence and then my family including & especially my amazing wife Anna), it is one of the great passions of my life and it'll personally be a full circle moment taking my seat in the press box at College Park Saturday night.

Pregame, I'll be spending some time with my wife and my mom & dad before making that drive up I-95 to College Park like I did 20 years ago to watch the sport that I got hooked on that wonderful night in 2006: college football.

And maybe this time, I'll get a prediction exactly right for the first time since that 2006 Maryland-FSU game.