NEW ORLEANS -- An almost perfect game and Harding University is 15-0 and the NCAA Division II national champions with a 38-7 win over Colorado School of Mines on Saturday.
The Bisons lined up and whipped Colorado School of Mines on both sides of the ball, stopping the Orediggers three times on fourth down and coming up with a key interception, while the offense dominated and controlled the clock for 36:10.
Harding almost literally ran the ball down CSM's throat, running for 502 yards and five touchdowns, led by junior Blake Delacruz's 212 yards and Braden Jay's 161.
Quarterback Cole Keylon had to pass only twice ,and he was perfect with both to Roland Wallace.
It was a great game and greater day for a great university.
The idea had been to get away from all sports for 10 days, sort of a refresh before SEC basketball begins. Then Harding made it to the championship game, so we were sitting in fashionably loud Mannings, a couple of blocks off Canal Street.
Maybe we weren't meant to watch the Church of Christ school in a bar. The waitress didn't know what ESPNU was and finally told us they were not allowed to change the TV.
Fortunately our hotel had the ESPN channel dedicated to college athletics and we got there just in time to see Harding tie the game at 7-7 on eight straight runs.
The Bisons owned the second quarter, scoring two more touchdowns. The second one was on a drive of mind-blowing 17 plays that took 10:23 off the clock in a first half that would have lasted about an hour if not for injuries, reviews and timeouts.
Harding's third score came on a 90-yard drive in just 2:15 after the defense held Colorado School of Mines on a fourth and one.
Out of the Flexbone offense, Harding had 239 yards in the first half, 228 on 31 carries, an average of more than 7 yards per attempt. By then the only thing missing was a final buzzer.
Instead of an escape, we landed in the middle of the New Orleans Bowl.
Saturday would have been the perfect day to burglarize homes in Jacksonville, Ala., because it seemed like most of the town, if not all of the residents, had driven 319 miles and checked into my hotel to get into the spirit for the game with Louisiana-Lafayette.
Everyone, not just some, but everyone was wearing Jacksonville State gear and New Orleans Bowl shirts, and jackets were flying off the rack.
It was understandable.
All yours truly knew about the Gamecocks was that's where Jack Crowe landed after his short stint as Arkansas' head football coach. Crowe coached at JSU for 11 years before retiring in 2012.
Oh, and my old friend Matt Kilcullen coached basketball there for three years before landing the Western Kentucky job.
While eating breakfast Saturday morning on the second floor of the Sheraton, the JSU band started a loud and proud serenade as the players walked out and boarded the buses that would take them to the Superdome.
The lobby was overflowing onto Canal Street, and dozens of people raced to the rail in the restaurant to watch.
It is understandable.
This is the first bowl game in the school's history for the program that started in 1904. It has had some success, but it wasn't until Rich Rodriguez was hired that dreams of a bowl became a reality.
Rodriguez was more known for being unsuccessful at Michigan and fired at Arizona. But whatever he's doing is working and this year's team went 8-4, 6-2 in Conference USA, which was good enough for third place and their first bowl bid ever.
Harding has been good for years and deserved its national championship.