Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
DOUGHTON COLUMN: Saturday night, and the guys from MissionCFB, remind me of why we love college football
9/5/2021 6:00:00 PM | Football
Their story, on paper, almost sounds like the start of a sitcom: Two mild mannered dads from Iowa who met in high school, even working at the same Dairy Queen before their graduation. Mike's a fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes, while Seth roots for the Iowa State Cyclones, two fan bases where you'll see folks dressed in, in their own words, "Carhart and orange hunting gloves" on game day.
These days, however, instead of watching their two teams play, the pair has a challenge at the front of their minds: watch every single FBS team in the country compete in-person. As their website, Twitter, and personalized T-shirts now say, Mission: College Football.
"We started doing this officially in 2013," Vander Tuig said. "We want to see every team play, not necessarily in their stadium, but see every team play somewhere."
The pair caught Middle Tennessee for the first time in 2014, when the Blue Raiders visited the Minnesota Gophers, one of the earliest stops on their yearly road trips.
"When we started this, there were a lot of drivable Big Ten, Big 12 stadiums," Fulton said. "There was one year where we were gone (from home) every weekend in September, picking up all the non-conference games as people were coming in."
Before the start of the 2014 season, Fulton and Vander Tuig had sent out letters to coaches, athletic directors, anyone associated with the program they thought might be interested in their project, about how excited they were to see a team for the first time.
"I think it was a week or two later, Coach Stock sent us something back in the mail, and was like 'can't wait to have you guys at the game,'" Vander Tuig said. "It kind of just took off from there."
Coach Stock and MissionCFB struck up a long-distance friendship, sustained over Twitter interactions and emails. When MT traveled to play Fulton's Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium in 2017, the three of them met in person for the first time.
And this year, the pair was finally able to make it to Murfreesboro to check out Floyd Stadium and the campus first hand.
Had a great stop to see @MT_FB this morning. Nice campus and always great to catch up with @CoachStock. Can't wait to make it back for a game someday. pic.twitter.com/EBisJxjdxw
— MissionCFB (@MissionCFB) September 2, 2021
MissionCFB's first road trip, a three-game barnstorming tour across the Ohio Valley in October 2013 (Rutgers at Louisville on Thursday, Temple at Cincinnati on Friday, then No. 1 Alabama at Kentucky on Saturday), set the stage for their game plan for years to come: find a week in the season with 1) lots of games, 2) on multiple days, 3) within driving distance of one another and 4) all featuring at least one team the duo hadn't seen yet.
After taking the year off in 2020, the opening week of 2021 offered an appealing quartet they could knock out just a few hours away from each other. Bowling Green at Tennessee on Thursday night, to check the Falcons off the list as team No. 77. Drive to Blacksburg, Va. the next evening for UNC at Virginia Tech (No. 78 and 79). And then on Saturday, an Old Dominion (the state, not the school) double header, with Liberty hosting Campbell early in the afternoon and UVA hosting William & Mary later in the evening, boosting their total number of FBS programs seen to 81.
So why swing by Murfreesboro on Thursday as the pair began to wrap up their first leg of travel, with such a full weekend ahead of them?
"Well, we've never been closer than here," Vander Tuig said. "And we've always wanted to come visit."
Stockstill broke out the red carpet for his friends, or at least as close as you could get to a red carpet when you play the next Saturday. A full stadium tour, media guides, a trip through the team's office in the Murphy Center. The whole nine yards.
"I still can't believe we're able to meet with him during game week," Fulton said. "But he's an amazing guy. He never ceases to amaze us."
----
The MissionCFB duo was on my mind a lot this weekend after I met them, for a variety of reasons. I knew they were seeing my alma mater play in Blacksburg, and unfortunately, my alma mater did not have much worth writing home about. The shirts and hats they wear at each stop, emblazoned with "neutral fan" logos, are of the best things I've ever seen someone wear to a game (Hey Mike, Seth, I'm just saying: If you set up a merch store, I'd buy everything).
But mostly, I was glad they swung by our office this past week because it reminded me of why we all love college football.
The pageantry, the traditions, the atmosphere, the fans. As Mike and Seth point out, they're all different at every program. They say it's impossible for them to judge who has the best fan base, the best tailgating, the best atmosphere in all their travels, because every team has something unique. It's what makes their crazy project of seeing all 130 FBS teams worth it.
And with due respect to the 2020 season, 2021 is the first time in a long time we're having those traditions come back in full force.
Things like seeing the Band of Blue march onto the field for their season opening kickoff show, finally getting the payoff of why they'd been practicing John Williams' "Olympic Fanfare" every time I walked by their practice this summer (to honor MT's five C-USA championship teams from last school year, for those who were in line for concessions during halftime).
Hearing the swell of crowd noise as Jaylin Lane cut up field on his punt return, or as Teldrick Ross sprinted for the goaline for the pick-6. Seeing the fireworks set off as the fans who stuck around for the end of MT's 50-15 victory got rewarded with a great show.
Those just aren't sounds and sights we've had in almost two years! It was truly, remarkably, a glorious night. And for someone new to the area like myself, it was a delightful celebration of what makes being a part of collegiate sports worthwhile.
Anyway, that thread of thoughts kept bringing me back to Mike and Seth. They don't have any other big trips planned for this year. As their kids get older, justifying taking multiple weekends every season for these multi-game experiences gets harder and harder. Understandable.
"Most people ask, 'this is great you're here, where are you going next weekend?'" Vander Tuig joked. "Usually, the answer is home."
They hope to make it to lots of games for their home teams in Iowa if they can this season, maybe pick up team No. 82 along the way if it all works out.
I just hope they can make it back to Floyd Stadium in the future. To experience what I did on Saturday. And I know they hope to come back when the stadium's full of Blue Raiders too. Because, as Vander Tuig noted after their tour was wrapping up last week:
"Stadiums look completely different on a Thursday than they do on a game day."
