Texas Bowl Champions, Ten Wins and a Number Next to Our Name
Cleveland State31
Tennessee24
- Game
- 2025 Texas Bowl
- Date
- 2026-01-01
- Site
- Neutral site
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 10-3
TEN WINS. TEXAS BOWL CHAMPIONS. HAPPY NEW YEAR, CLEVELAND.
Vikings 31, Tennessee 24, on New Year’s Day in Houston, and the Josh Dolan era just did something it hadn’t done yet: it finished ranked. Number eleven in the final AP poll! There’s a number next to our name, folks. I want it tattooed on my forearm. Donna says no. Donna says a lot of things.
And the season these guys had, my people. Amar’e Hocker, a three-star freshman, threw for 3,817 yards. Terion Stewart ran for 1,085, his second straight thousand-yard season. Elijah Boyd led us in receiving with 844. Donny Stephens led the defense with 66 tackles, and Larry Yates picked off four.
I gave my spare seat in Houston to Jess Reyes. My neighbor! The woman who worried about the Hawai’i players last year! She wore Leo’s horned helmet, which fits her better than it fits him, and when the clock hit zero she grabbed my shoulders and yelled, “MICKEY, WE WON.” We. That’s a Viking, folks.
Jersey thirty-two gets a gold star. Five pierogi.
Ten wins. A bowl trophy. A final top-eleven ranking. Respectfully: wow, again, for the second straight year, which is itself a trend I’ll need to write about at length.
The honest summary: the Vikings went 5-3 in the Big 12 and finished fifth again, but they beat Miami (OH) at home, won by eighteen in Athens, and closed with a seven-point bowl win over Tennessee on New Year’s Day. They did it with a freshman quarterback who threw for nearly four thousand yards. The losses were ugly. The wins were beautiful. That’s a young team. Young teams get older.
I called my father at midnight, after the game. My mother put him on. He said, “Did the kid win?” I said, “The kid won, Dad. Ten wins.” He said, “Tell him I said don’t get cocky.” He remembered his own line. He remembered the kid.
The Doom Model has asked for the offseason off. I’ve granted it. It’s earned the rest; it’s been wrong a lot.
Back and forth
Ranked, Kenny. Ranked.
Eleventh. I’m going to need everyone to stay calm.
Your dad remembered the kid!
He remembered the kid. Best thing that happened all season. Happy New Year, Mick.
Ten wins, a Texas Bowl trophy, a number next to our name, a neighbor who now says “we,” and a father in Florida who remembered.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.