VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) — 644 days. On Saturday night when Valdosta State takes the field against Savannah State, that's how long it'll have been since the Blazers strapped on the red and black to play a meaningful football game.
For head coach Gary Goff, it's led to a lot of sleepless nights. you can't mimic game reps in practice, and he's a little anxious to see how his players, and even his coaching staff, handle the stresses of a game. if anything, this team is excited. Goff said he hasn't had to hype up this game too much to get this group ready to play.
"Usually in camp you hit kind of a lull, we haven't," he said Wednesday. "Everyday they've been excited to get out here with each other and work hard. I told them Monday, I was thinking over the weekend about my talk with you guys about the upcoming opponent and all that kind of stuff and I just realized, I don't have to say anything, you guys are so ready to play a football game. They looked at me and said coach, you don't need to say a word. Let's go play a game."
Goff admitted it's a little concerning the amount of excitement there will be Saturday. Now, it's about channeling all that emotion and not getting too amped up in what will surely be an exciting night.
"I want to make sure that we are even keel. We're focused on our assignments and our alignments and all the little stuff because sometimes you get so hype and so excited you forget about some of the very important details," he said. "It has been something we've talked about on a regular basis these last two weeks, but I also understand, even myself, we're going to be pretty jacked up to play this game, so we'll all need each other to calm down, take a deep breath. Let's go play some ball."
Saturday night's match-up with Savannah State is set for 7:00 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium in Valdosta.
