The RedHawks End It, and Greg Price Says Goodbye
Cleveland State35
Miami (OH)49
- Game
- 2032 CFP Quarterfinal
- Site
- Neutral site
- Result
- Loss
- Record
- 12-2
Miami (OH) 49, Vikings 35. In the playoff quarterfinal.
We had the bye, we had the rest, and the RedHawks came out and beat us by fourteen. Joe Snyderwine’s team was better on the day. I tip my cap. Nadia texted Donna, not me: “I’m sorry. Tell Mickey I mean it.” Donna read it to me. I believed her.
Twelve and two. Big 12 champions, 8-1 in the league. Greg Price, our fifth-year senior, the kid who waited a year on a bench and then won his job back, threw for 5,146 yards in his last season. He leaves with 16,422 career passing yards and 192 touchdown passes, tied with Amar’e Hocker for the most in school history. Dakota McNitt caught for 1,853 yards and made All-American, and leaves as the school’s career leader with 6,664 receiving yards and 87 touchdown catches.
And this, folks, is my favorite: our offensive line took home the hardware. Seth Molinaro won the Outland and made All-American. Bobby John, our center, won the Rimington. And Iosefa Savoie, our linebacker, won the Butkus. Big Stan is painting a new board for the big men: The Trenches. It’s two sandwiches stacked on one plate.
Zero pierogi. But I’m proud.
A fourteen-point quarterfinal loss to Miami (OH) ends a twelve-and-two season that included the worst loss of the Dolan era and a Big 12 title won by beating the team that delivered it.
I want to write about Greg Price, because this was his last game. In 2029 he started a national title game as a redshirt freshman. In 2030 he lost his job and spent a year holding a headset. In 2031 he won it back and won the O’Brien. In 2032 he led the Vikings to a Big 12 title. That’s a career with a lesson in it, and the lesson isn’t about football.
My father never met Greg Price. But on Sunday, a good day, I told him it was Price’s last game. My father said, “He listened, Kenny. Tell him that.” I’d like to. Greg, if you’re reading: a seventy-nine-year-old— no. An eighty-year-old man in Sarasota who played cornerback at Parma in 1968 has been following your career for four years. He says you listened. That’s the highest compliment I know.
Teresa says someday she’ll get me on a real vacation. I said, “We’ll see.” She said, “You always say that, Kenny, and then I win.”
Back and forth
The Trenches, Kenny. Two sandwiches on one plate.
For two linemen. Stan has finally honored the people who do the actual work.
Your dad’s message for Price.
“He listened.” Four years. Through everything. He never forgot.
A quarterfinal loss to the RedHawks ends a season of extremes, a goodbye for the kid who waited, and a sandwich board for the big men who took home the hardware.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.