General Manager and Offensive Coordinator Nick Adams (Left) and Secondary Coach/Motivational Speaker Gabe Pike (Right) pose before the season is kicked off. (Not Pictured QB Coach Clay Lykins and Head Coach Patrick Hager).

The beginning of fall semester means a few things: class has started, the environment is full of beautiful women, and above all else FOOTBALL. You may be thinking, “But Roush we’re a basketball school, who cares about football?” or “But we can’t play football anymore, we’re out of high school and it’s depressing.” Turns out that there’s an alternative: intramural flag football. The game may be a little different, but the competition is fierce and the players are hungry for victory.

My season coverage begins with a matchup between Alpha Tau Omega and Kappa Sigma (also known as Beta Nu). Both teams have a history of challenging for the intramural championship, providing a great game to start the season. The game got off to a fast start with Beta Nu QB Dan White throwing a 55 yard bomb to Lee Mudd on 3rd and long to give the team an early 6-0 lead. The Beta Nu defense had a great start that Rick Minter would admire. John Sither had 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss in the first half that featured only 1 ATO 1st down.

In the 2nd half the ATO offense came out firing, driving down the field for a touchdown. The TD was one for the highlight reels, as the ATO WR caught it falling out of bounds just inside the pylon while dragging his feet to stay in. An unsportsmanlinke conduct penalty occurred after the  play when Beta Nu Coach Gabe Pike went on an outrage 10 yards onto the field where he not only threw his visor to the ground, but kicked it 15 more yards. It was entertaining, but costly. Coach Pike after the game, “If loving the great American sport of Football is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.”

The Beta Nu offense began to struggle as Dan White was safetied on the following possession. ATO responded with a score to pretty much put the game out of reach at 16-6, but the Kappa Sigs were not ready to give up just yet. On a 4th down deep in Kappa Sig territory, Michael Weeks came up with a pick 6 to make the game 16-12. There wasn’t much time left, but Defensive Lineman Alex Beda got the ball back for Beta Nu with a safety under the 2-minute mark. With the lead cut to 16-14, Beta Nu needed a great two-minute offense in order to get the victory. The no huddle offense could never get going, and ATO took home the W, 16-14.

Beta Nu Safety Michael Weeks after the game, “I know we’re good [the defense] but we can’t score all of the points.” Look for Beta Nu to make some early season changes on the depth chart and possibly on staff. Chuck Effinger proved to be a TERRIBLE Special Teams coach, going 0-2 in PATs, which proved to be the deciding factor in the game.

I’ll be here all season, whether it’s CM Newton Field, or the JC Fields. @RoushKSR