Liberty Bowl Champions: Mickey's Closet Needs a Bigger Door
Cleveland State31
Army21
- Game
- 2024 Liberty Bowl
- Date
- 2024-12-23
- Site
- Neutral site
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 9-4
LIBERTY BOWL CHAMPIONS. Say it slow, folks. Liberty. Bowl. Champions.
Vikings 31, Army 21, two days before Christmas, and the first season of the Josh Dolan era ends at 9-4 with a trophy on the bus. Nine wins! A bowl win in year one!
And our guys, my people. Connor Bazelak threw for 3,962 yards this season. Terion Stewart ran for 1,098. And Harold Fannin Jr., our 95-overall tight end, caught for 1,119 yards, won the Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end, and made All-American. A Mackey winner in a Vikings uniform. I need to sit down. I am sitting down. I need to sit down more.
When I got home, there was an envelope on my porch from the Reyes kids: a crayon drawing of a Viking holding a trophy, labeled “MICKY.” Leo spelled it himself. It’s going on the fridge, then in the time capsule, then in my casket.
Big Stan says he’s naming the sandwich next season. Jersey thirty-one gets a gold star. Five pierogi.
Respectfully, wow.
Nine wins, a bowl trophy, a Mackey Award and a first-team All-American. I came into this season with a spreadsheet, a fake plant and a firm commitment to disappointment, and I’m leaving with a ten-point bowl win over Army and a strange warm feeling I’ve been told is “satisfaction.”
The honest summary, because I owe it: the Vikings finished 5-4 in the Big 12, fifth in the conference, unranked in the final poll. There are things to fix, starting with the night Ohio came to town. But a first-year staff that goes 9-4, wins three one-score road games, beats Miami (OH) in a shootout and wins its bowl has built something.
I called my father after the game. A good day. He knew the score before I said it; my mother had told him, and he’d been holding onto it for an hour so he could tell me. “Liberty Bowl, Kenny.” Pops used to say never trust a lead. Pops never saw a Mackey winner in green.
I’m not saying I believe. I’m saying the door is open a crack.
Back and forth
Say it, Kenny. Say “I believe.”
I believe this was a very good season. Full stop.
That’s so close.
Put it in the case. Then we’ll talk. Merry Christmas, Mick.
Nine wins, a bowl trophy, a Mackey Award, a crayon Viking on the fridge, and a doubter who said “Merry Christmas” in print, which is basically a confession.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.