In all my years of attending and covering sporting events, I’ve only been at a handful of games where fans were so excited by the outcome that they stormed the field at the end. Somehow I saw it happen on each of the last two college football Saturdays – at locations 900 miles apart – as the home teams knocked off that week’s No. 2 squad in the national rankings.
The first one was entertaining, as two programs that I covered for several years apiece, LSU and Georgia, met at LSU’s Tiger Stadium. My wife and I traveled from Indiana to her hometown, Baton Rouge, for her youngest brother’s wedding, which he just so happened to schedule the day before then-No. 13 LSU pounded then-No. 2 UGA, 36-16. Since we were in town, of course we wanted to be at Tiger Stadium for one of the biggest game-day crowds LSU has ever hosted.
I lived in Baton Rouge for four years – through the end of the Les Miles era and the start of Ed Orgeron’s tenure – and am well aware of how important LSU football is to folks in South Louisiana. For all its flaws, you can't help but love that region once you spend some time there, largely because of its rich culture and unique people who find every opportunity to have some fun. It felt good to see LSU’s students pour onto the field at the end of that Georgia win because they’ve been begging for something to celebrate for years and finally had their opportunity.
But as exciting as it was to witness that fan reaction, the field-storming that will forever remain etched in my memory came one week later. Purdue’s stunning 49-20 upset of then-No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday was enough to create a lasting memory on its own. When you add to that shocking outcome the special circumstances that surrounded the game, it was enough to make everyone a Boilermaker fan on Saturday night.
These special circumstances involve 20-year-old Purdue superfan Tyler Trent, who has been battling bone cancer for most of the last several years. His story and the story of a university community rallying around him – especially in the last several weeks as his condition worsened, forcing him to drop out of school this semester and eventually enter hospice care – were already well known to those of us who live in northwest Indiana thanks to steady local news coverage. They gained a global audience over the weekend.
Tyler obviously loves his Boilermakers, so it was heartwarming to see photos circulate on social media two weekends ago when the team captains visited Tyler’s home to present the game ball after throttling Illinois. It was doubly cool to learn that ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi planned to interview Tyler and his family for a piece on “College GameDay” that aired Saturday morning.
If you haven’t already seen it, here’s a link. As a word of warning, keep some tissues handy.
Regular ESPN viewers no doubt recognize Rinaldi as the master of the tear-jerking feature story. I usually like to think I’m immune to Rinaldi’s emotional manipulations, but he eventually got me this time. More on that momentarily.
It was the way he ended the piece that stuck with me all day.
Tyler and his family members talked throughout the segment about how they didn’t know how much time he has left – that the Ohio State game might be the final time he got to attend a game at Ross-Ade Stadium to watch the team he loves so dearly. At the very end, Tyler made this prediction: “Purdue’s gonna win. That’s what I think is gonna happen. Purdue is gonna win.”
Keep in mind, it had been 34 years since Purdue last defeated a team ranked as high as No. 2. Although Purdue had outscored its last three opponents – then-No. 23 Boston College, Nebraska and Illinois – by a combined margin of 118-48, it seemed perfectly reasonable that Ohio State entered Saturday night’s game as a 12.5-point favorite.
As I was preparing to head toward campus to tailgate Saturday afternoon, I recall thinking, “I just hope they don’t get beat by 30. Please just let it be competitive for this boy who has dealt with so much.” As great as Jeff Brohm’s team had played lately, never did I think Purdue would actually win.
Instead, the Boilermakers actually never trailed. They drove 98 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, scoring on a spectacular one-handed catch by Isaac Zico. They took a 14-3 lead into the locker room at halftime, extending a second-quarter touchdown drive with a gutsy fake field goal. And then they poured it on with four touchdowns in the final period, pulling away to hand Urban Meyer’s team a humiliating defeat.
Just before the late scoring whirlwind began, Tyler appeared on the Ross-Ade video board to introduce the sing-along video “Shout,” the Otis Day and the Knights song from “Animal House” that plays before the fourth quarter at each Purdue home game. While the crowd excitedly sang, clapped and danced and fans on camera held signs featuring Tyler-themed messages like “Cancer sucks” and “Tyler Strong,” his prediction from that morning’s “GameDay” piece re-entered my mind.
I tried to explain Rinaldi's story to my wife and in-laws, who were visiting from Louisiana: “All this boy wanted was to see his team play one more time and see them win this game. I can’t believe he’s actually going to get his wish.”
Insert waterworks and embarrassing public blubbering here.
My complete lack of composure aside, the moment seemed too perfect. It's still hard to believe it actually happened.
No way he was missing this one. #BoilerUp #TylerStrong #CancerSucks pic.twitter.com/fUVDzh3zEB
— Purdue Athletics (@PurdueSports) October 20, 2018
Of course they rushed the field afterward. That was the only reasonable response to the events of the preceding 60 minutes of football. And of course Brohm brought Tyler into the postgame locker room to address the team. Everyone who was there in person and the millions of viewers who learned of his story on Saturday will forever be touched by Tyler’s big heart and love for his school, and the way his school loved him back. Nobody deserved to share that moment with them more than he did.
Of course everyone also hopes Tyler’s health improves and that many more games at Ross-Ade are still in his future. No matter what happens next, though, Saturday was his day. As long as I live, I’ll never forget being there to see Tyler’s team win that game for him.
