kristina in retroworter: Rough, tough, real stuff.

So, I'm in college. I absolutely love my school (sometimes, probably too much), and I love college football, especially when it comes to my Texas Aggies. Last night, Curtis, his parents, and I attended the 77th annual Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas. We went two years ago, before the Aggies had moved to the SEC, and played LSU. It was pretty terrible, after what we thought was an amazing season, so I was hoping and praying this Cotton Bowl didn't end up like the last.

I won't say I had complete confidence in my Ags. But we have something special growing here, and I just couldn't not believe in them. We left the Big XII Conference last year, and everyone in the entire country said we would fail. "We were a middle of the road Big XII team, so that meant we would be an end of the pack SEC team." Let me just say, the tears of all the haters taste so so sweet. We went 11-2, beating the No. 1 team in the nation at the time, Alabama in Tuscaloosa, our quarterback, Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, as a redshirt freshman (watch the video, its pretty awesome), and we proved absolutely everyone in the country, and especially in the Big XII, wrong last night with a 41-13 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. What's even better, one of our bitter rivals, the Texas Longhorns, yeah, they're pretty much awful right now, and I'm definitely okay with that.

I just couldn't be more excited for the future, and what it holds for our football program. I'm praying some of the juniors, I'm talking to you Luke Joekel and Jake Matthews, stay for their senior year, rather than opting to the NFL draft, but that could just be a pipe dream, seeing as Damontre Moore has already declared. But, I am so thankful for this year's team, and this year's seniors. For shaking off the past, especially last season, and creating something brand new, something that was all their own. To Kevin Sumlin, our head coach, who is in his first season with us, thank you for pumping those boys up, and getting them fired up in a way that past coaches haven't been able to do. Thank you for sticking up for them and our university in August at Media Day, when all of the reporters constantly asked questions about last year's performances with questions like, "how do you expect A&M to stack up against Alabama, LSU, and Florida, when they couldn't get it done in the Big XII for so long?"

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been one heck of a season, and I cannot wait until next year. As always, we'll miss the seniors, those underclassmen have some big shoes to fill, but I have faith in Kevin Sumlin, Johnny Football, and the rest of the Fighin' Texas Aggies. For as the title of my post says, we're made of rough, tough, real stuff. We're Texas A&M.

I'll end my football rant with some pictures of my experience at the Cotton Bowl last night. It was so much fun, ahh, I LOVE AGGIE FOOTBALL! Gig 'em, Ags!