Submitted By Darren Franklin - UCLA

We’ve all been there.

If you’re a college football fan and you bleed your school’s colors, you’ve experienced it. You’ve painted your face. You’ve worn your lucky shirt, shorts and undergarments on game day. Your superstitions have become routine. You’ve tailgated from daybreak to sundown and beyond. You’ve eaten and drank excessively in celebration. Your allegiance is unquestioned and unparalleled. You’ve celebrated the thrill of victory so passionately, it was as if you were actually on the field in uniform.

…And then it happens, most times when you least expect it. Everything is going great and then suddenly… your team loses. What? How could this be? How could they do this? Gloom sets in. It overwhelms you. Your day, your week, perhaps even your entire season is ruined.

You’ve given so much of your time and dedication, only to be let down like the time that way-too-hot-for-you girl never called you back after you bought her flowers and a steak dinner. You even splurged for the tiramisu and opened her car door! How could they do this after all you’ve been through together?

It doesn’t make any sense. You’ve waited all week for Saturday to roll around and this is how they reward you? You swear to yourself you’ll never get so emotionally involved about a game again, but you know you’re just lying. Resistance is most definitely futile.

No matter who you root for, you’ve experienced this heartbreaking defeat. It’s inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. It always hurts. And the better your team is, the more painful the losses tend to be. Nobody’s perfect and everyone has a bad day.

Unexpected, gut-wrenching losses are unfortunately part of college football. They’re what make the sport so captivating. Even the best of the best drop like flies in the emotional marathon we call the college football season. In every contest, one team must always lose. And sometimes… it’s yours.

In no other sport is a loss so crucial, so debilitating to a team’s season. A college basketball team can lose several games and still make it to the Big Dance in March. Even the best teams in baseball history have lost 50 or 60 games in a season. In the NFL, it is not unheard of for a team to go 8-8 and still make the playoffs. But the college football season is so short, every win is vital and every loss disheartening. Each autumn, every program starts off their season with the hopes of something special. Unfortunately, there can only be one champion. One bad day in this sport is equivalent to weeks worth of screw-ups on the job. Translation: you’re finished!

Truth be told, there is no cure for your affliction. Avoiding watching your team’s games is definitely not an option. We are forced to grin and bear each heartbreaking loss with the hopes that next Saturday we will once again be victorious. Maybe next time the lucky underwear and foam finger will do the trick.

So go ahead and cherish the rollercoaster ride that is the college football season. Threaten to break your TV when your kicker misses a last-second field goal. Toss your chips and dip in disgust when your defense fails to secure a late lead. Or you could always choose not to get so emotionally involved.

Who am I kidding? It’s college football, after all!