#but i’m taking this like a champ i have to stay on campus until 5 please pray for me

[loverofallthingssmart]

would recommend buying pants on ur period so u can then wear those when ur period comes

[trashfor-imagines]

My Senpai | 4

Ushijima x Reader

Summary: You’re Goshiki Tsutomu’s older doting sister, second year at Shiratorizawa and captain of the girl’s track & field team. At your brother’s first practice you sneak in to support him and end up meeting the impressive force that is his captain. Warnings: None really. Mentions sex. Spoilers: We’re encroaching on manga territory. Takes place after Karasuno v Shiratorizawa.

Author’s Note: Sorry for not updating in forever! I lost my original chapter and got discouraged. I started rewatching Ushijima episodes to refresh my grasp on his character.

[1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5]

-

It was a shock. You never thought Shiratorizawa was capable of losing this year. Ushijima appeared unaffected, but that was just him. It was always mental for him and he had the ability to act with a sort of chivalric grace whenever faced with conflict. God, your boyfriend was really cool. Your brother, however, it broke your heart to see him cry.

After the award ceremony, you raced down to wait by the bus. Ushijima walked out first, his head held high. Noticing you, he simply rested his large hand on your head before getting on the bus. Quiet hello’s and thanks for coming’s were whispered to you. Your little brother could barely make eye contact, the last one to get on the bus. Reaching for his hand, you gave it a squeeze before letting it go and heading for the bus that brought the cheer squad.

The ride felt long. You spent most of it listening to music and playing with the sleeve of Ushijima’s spare team jacket he’d given you shortly after dating. You smiled and chatted occasionally with your fellow students, but the topics of discussion were focused on how Ushijima and the third years were doing. They expected you to have the answers and quite frankly, you thought it was obvious.

Getting back, you made your way into the gym to see the team working on serves. You sat quietly on the sidelines and watched as everyone gave their all, letting out their frustrations from the day. You never knew you could find the slams of volleyballs to be comforting to where they could put you to sleep. Or maybe you were just exhausted. Either way, you woke up from being carried.

“Wakatoshi,” you mumbled, snuggling closer to his chest.

The two of you snuck into your dorm room, stripping down into your underwear and entangling under the sheets. Ushijima’s body was like a radiator, warm and comforting.You ran your fingers through his hair patiently. If he wanted to talk, then he would. Until then, you whispered little praises to him, pressing kisses to his shoulder between sentences.

“I won’t lose again,” he spoke quietly.

Months passed and things continued to go well between the two of you. They were better than ever honestly. During Christmas you visited each other’s families at his request. You didn’t even have to prompt it! Your parents loved him. They thought he was quite the protector type and approved. His mother ended up accepting you once she realized you were intelligent and genuinely loved her son. Your personality had definitely thrown her for a loop.

Graduation was soon approaching and the two of you decided on a five year plan together. Long nights were spent discussing goals and dreams, wondering if they would be compatible with one another. He intended on going pro right after school; the Schweiden Adlers seemed most likely and they were based in Oita. You still had your third year of high school to finish, but you were applying to Kyushu University for architecture. It was in Fukuoka and closer than your other options to Oita. It was just a couple of hours by train or car. You also had plans to stick with track and field and keep your spot on the national team for as long as you could. You both had your eyes on the 2016 Olympics.

For a year the two of you managed to maintain a healthy long distance relationship.

After graduation, there were farewell and congratulatory parties almost every day, but the most fun for you was going apartment hunting, together. It was like a vacation, enjoying the beaches and hot springs. You spent a week staying at his apartment where the lease was ending soon. He said the two of you needed a new place together, that his current apartment wasn’t fitting enough for you. On your third day in Oita, Ushijima decided on the place, a 2 bed and 1.5 bath townhome instead of a one and one apartment. When you told him it was a bit expensive, he said it was perfect because he wanted you to have your own space at home to study for school without being bothered by him. You cried right there and he handled it like a champ. The two of you moved in a week before you started school.

“Wakatoshi!” you called to him from the rooftop terrace. He appeared, sticking his head out from the sliding glass door. You wiped your cheek, smudging dirt across your face. “Can you help me move this bag?”

He slipped on his outdoor shoes and walked over, lifting the bag of dirt and moving it to one of the two raised garden beds that he built earlier today. The two of you had plans for a small vegetable garden. “I thought we were going to plant seeds after lunch. I’m almost done cooking.”

“I know, I just got really excited. I was staring at your beautiful work and couldn’t help myself,” you cooed, giving him starry eyes.

Sighing, he set the bag down where you needed it before taking your hand and dragging you back inside. “We’ll do this after lunch. Together.”

“Aw, are you jealous I tried to start before you?” He didn’t say anything in response, making you grin. “My handsome farmer, I’m so sorry.”

After lunch, the two of you filled the garden beds with dirt and carefully planted seeds for carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, marigolds, lavender, and scarlet plume celosia. Ushijima had done quite a bit of research on complimentary plants. Hours really. Hours spent doing online research and drawing diagrams of how the garden should be set up for its fullest potential.

You were watering one of the garden beds when you caught a glimpse of Ushijima squatting with a spade in his hand. It was so cute how concentrated he was and how much attention he was giving this simple task. Biting your lip, you sprayed him briefly. He blinked, as if not comprehending what happened and looked up, as if blaming the sky. A muffled laugh escaped you. You went back to watering the garden bed as he went inside. Minutes later you heard the glass door slide open and didn’t pay much mind to it. Suddenly you felt chilled and were thoroughly soaked. Moving your hair from your eyes, you looked up to see your boyfriend holding a bucket over your head.

“Wakatoshi!”

Soon you were off to university, moving into a small dorm room with a single suitcase. Your dorm was littered with photographs of you and Ushijima and it was hard to cope with the fact that you wouldn’t see him through at least the rest of summer, maybe not even until the end of September if your school’s track team did well.

For a month you and Ushijima would call or FaceTime every night and tell each other about your days. He was quite proud of the garden the both of you planted and would send you progress photos and then describe what he saw in fine detail. Honestly, you didn’t realize your boyfriend was capable of being so invested in something other than volleyball. There were a few times you tried spicing up your phone calls, but honestly Ushijima didn’t get it. He was terrible at phone sex. It was fine though. Summer break was.... just a few months away.

It was a Saturday night after track practice when you got a phone call from your boyfriend.

“Wakatoshi! You’re calling early. I haven’t gotten back to my dorm yet,” you spoke, excited to hear from him.

“(Y/N), I’m lost.”

Your brows raised in surprise. “Lost, how? Do you need me to look up how to fix something?”

“No, I’m somewhere on your university’s campus.”

You felt your heart skip and you immediately ran toward main campus. “Okay well tell me what you see.”

In thirty minutes you were in your dorm taking a shower and Ushijima was reading the newest shonen jump he picked up at the train station on your bedroom floor. You came out with your hair in a towel and one of Ushijima’s t-shirts you had stolen. He set aside his magazine and pulled you down into his lap, holding you tight.

“I’m so surprised you came. I’m so happy,” you squealed, burying your face into his neck and running your fingers through his hair.

“I missed you too. I can stay for two days, but then I must go home.”

Pulling back, you let your fingers run over the stubble on his jaw, pouting a bit, “So what do I owe this short visit?”

His stare was intense and a faint blush kissed his cheeks. “I recognize that a few times you’ve tried to... initiate some things on the phone. I admit I’m not very good at it, so hopefully my presence now can make up for my... lack of experience.”

“Wakatoshi,” you breathed out in surprise, gazing at him with so much love. He literally traveled almost three hours because you were horny without him. Pulling the towel from your hair, you knocked him over onto his back as you jumped him.

Visits like these happened sporadically and soon it was fall. Track and field season was over which meant you could make your weekend visits home to Oita. You’d leave Wednesday nights and head back to school on Sunday mornings. Despite the second bedroom serving as a private study for you, you found yourself curling up to Ushijima almost always - as long as he wasn’t busy.

This was life for a couple of years. The two of you had become quite the duo. In fact, throughout your relationship, you had only argued about two things:

You broke your phone once and he wasn’t able to contact you and he freaked out from not knowing what was going on.

He forgot your anniversary and cancelled on your date for volleyball and you laid in on him for it.

Things were great until the 2016 Olympic qualifiers came around. You had broken a metatarsal in your right foot at the first qualifying meet of the 2015 season. You were out for the next eight weeks and even then, you weren’t going to be in shape to qualify because you had to go through physical therapy and get your athletic abilities up to par. Your coach told you that staying on the national team, going pro, and qualifying for 2020 was still possible for you. It didn’t stop the feeling of complete and total devastation that wrecked you and you were jealous.

Ushijima wasn’t sure of how to help you; he’d never seen you so vulnerable before, never seen you so sad, but he did his best to support you, even if that meant being a punching bag. He was consistent, despite things he had going on for his own Olympic goals.

After two months it was summer break. You had to go through physical therapy and you moved back home to Oita, transitioning to online classes for the second term of the year. Because Ushijima’s love language was different from most, you found yourself being forced to do your PT homework exercises, no matter how down and bratty you got.

“Wakatoshi, I don’t want to do stairs,” you groaned, curling up into a ball on the couch.

“You must, or you won’t be ready to start training any time soon,” he replied simply.

Your foot was throbbing and you were on your period, and everything just felt like shit. All you wanted was to watch anime and eat the small bag of chips you had hidden under the blanket you were under. Ushijima had been so strict with your diet and honestly all you wanted were trans fats, sugar, and carbs. With ease, he ripped the blanket from you, exposing you in your underwear clutching a bag of Calbee honey butter flavored potato chips.

“You should get up and walk the stairs now,” he said, prying the bag of chips from your hands, “if you want these back.”

Throwing your legs over the couch, you winced, balling your hands into fists in frustration. You got up, favoring your left foot, which he noticed. He walked up the stairs and sat on the top step, waiting for you to follow. Biting your lip, you moved slowly, trying to ignore the pain. There were 14 steps to the top and you had to go up twice and down twice. You were doing fine until your second trek up the stairs. It was a misstep and you slipped and you were clinging to the stair case, crying. It was embarrassing for you to be like this in front of him. This sweet giant quickly enveloped you in his arms and had you lying on your side of the bed, gently caressing your foot as you sobbed through it.

When you were calm again, Ushijima left for a while before returning, dinner in hand. The two of you sat in bed and had the meal he made in silence. You’d barely eaten, but you waited until he finished before you curled up to his side.

“I’m so sorry, Wakatoshi.”

“I would be surprised it you took this easily. You’re a competitive person. It’s one of the things I find attractive about you,” he replied. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders, his fingers gently running up and down along your own arm.

“Really?” you asked, feeling shy. He hummed in affirmation, glancing down to make eye contact. Smiling, you played with the hem of his shirt that was beginning to ride up. “What else do you... find attractive about me?”

“You’re thoughtful, kind. The way you pursue your passions and you’ve encouraged me to pursue my own; you believe in people wholeheartedly.” A thoughtful expression settled on his face as he spoke on effortlessly. He paused and his brows furrowed briefly before settling into a relaxed expression. “You’re beautiful.”

Placing a kiss to your forehead, you watched as he got up and headed to take his evening shower.

While you couldn’t compete, you concentrated on therapy and school and finished your courses early for your degree. You picked up a simple class to stay enrolled until your four years at school were up*, this way you could go back to competing your last year of university. The summer of 2016, Ushijima took you with him to Brazil. Japan didn’t win, but the competition was incredible. You got to meet with track and field athletes and it reignited your passion for competition.

You’d graduate come spring and then your focus was on 2020 Tokyo.

-

*In Japan, early graduation doesn’t exist. It was explained to me that if you attend a 4 year university, you have to be a student for 4 years before graduating, even if you complete your degree early.

tag list: @hihiq​

[petty-revenge-stories]

Another “teacher won’t let me go to the bathroom” story

I went to a pretty small high school, our graduating class was about 80+ people. Because of this, the rules were pretty relaxed. Dress code was to dress professionally, lunch was open campus, you could pretty much do what you wanted as long as you weren’t breaking any rules. This included going to the bathroom. Some teachers would have rules like make sure the teacher sees you leave so they know you aren’t missing, some had bathroom passes which never got used. It was mellow.

One of my teachers, I’ll call him Champ, didn’t like you going to the bathroom during his lectures, so you basically were expected to wait until he was done talking unless it was an emergency. Champ was also kind of arrogant- he used to be a bad student and had an epiphany when he was older that education was super important and he was convinced that everyone else could feel the same if he just tried hard enough. A really nice guy, great teacher, but he could be a dick if you didn’t agree with him.

I have endometriosis, I didn’t know this in high school, all I knew was that periods were so painful that I had to stay home and cry all day sometimes. I’m all better now thanks to surgery and meds, but it was rough at the time. I get up during his lecture because I’m cramping badly, and at least in the bathroom I could cry in peace. I stand up, and he turns around.

Champ: hey cmunk13, can this wait until I’m done?

Me: sorry, no.

I was super embarrassed and didn’t want to say much else so I kept walking out.

Champ: well you’re going to have to wait until I’m done.

Me: it’s an emergency.

Champ: are you going to throw up?

He laughed. This pissed me off, and I was already in pain so I snapped and said

Me: no, it’s just that I’m on my period and it hurts so badly i was going to curl up in a ball in the bathroom and cry. I could do that here, but I thought it would be more distracting to the class to have me crying in the corner than to just leave quietly.

Again, small school, so everyone knew I was in a lot of pain and had been super nice about it. People would send me class notes and catch me up when I was out, just a great community. Even people I wasn’t friends with, even people who didn’t like me, they didn’t want me to be publicly humiliated by our teacher. So, they weren’t exactly thrilled at the teacher for pulling this.

Cut to later in class, my friend stands up to go to the bathroom. My teacher turned around to nod to let them go, and they said

“If it’s ok, I’m going to go take a shit. It may take like 5-10 minutes, so I’ll ask someone for notes when I come back.”

Which prompted everyone in his class (not just my class, every class he taught) to declare why they were going to the bathroom in detail for about a week. It was small, but it made me feel so loved- and it’s my favorite petty revenge.

(source) story by (/u/cmunk13)

[pettyrevenge-base]

Another “teacher won’t let me go to the bathroom” story

I went to a pretty small high school, our graduating class was about 80+ people. Because of this, the rules were pretty relaxed. Dress code was to dress professionally, lunch was open campus, you could pretty much do what you wanted as long as you weren’t breaking any rules. This included going to the bathroom. Some teachers would have rules like make sure the teacher sees you leave so they know you aren’t missing, some had bathroom passes which never got used. It was mellow.

One of my teachers, I’ll call him Champ, didn’t like you going to the bathroom during his lectures, so you basically were expected to wait until he was done talking unless it was an emergency. Champ was also kind of arrogant- he used to be a bad student and had an epiphany when he was older that education was super important and he was convinced that everyone else could feel the same if he just tried hard enough. A really nice guy, great teacher, but he could be a dick if you didn’t agree with him.

I have endometriosis, I didn’t know this in high school, all I knew was that periods were so painful that I had to stay home and cry all day sometimes. I’m all better now thanks to surgery and meds, but it was rough at the time. I get up during his lecture because I’m cramping badly, and at least in the bathroom I could cry in peace. I stand up, and he turns around.

Champ: hey cmunk13, can this wait until I’m done?

Me: sorry, no.

I was super embarrassed and didn’t want to say much else so I kept walking out.

Champ: well you’re going to have to wait until I’m done.

Me: it’s an emergency.

Champ: are you going to throw up?

He laughed. This pissed me off, and I was already in pain so I snapped and said

Me: no, it’s just that I’m on my period and it hurts so badly i was going to curl up in a ball in the bathroom and cry. I could do that here, but I thought it would be more distracting to the class to have me crying in the corner than to just leave quietly.

Again, small school, so everyone knew I was in a lot of pain and had been super nice about it. People would send me class notes and catch me up when I was out, just a great community. Even people I wasn’t friends with, even people who didn’t like me, they didn’t want me to be publicly humiliated by our teacher. So, they weren’t exactly thrilled at the teacher for pulling this.

Cut to later in class, my friend stands up to go to the bathroom. My teacher turned around to nod to let them go, and they said

“If it’s ok, I’m going to go take a shit. It may take like 5-10 minutes, so I’ll ask someone for notes when I come back.”

Which prompted everyone in his class (not just my class, every class he taught) to declare why they were going to the bathroom  in detail for about a week. It was small, but it made me feel so loved- and it’s my favorite petty revenge.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[isabella-casey]

RUNNING THE PARIS MARATHON

In April 2017 off very little training, I managed to pull off what seemed like the impossible; I ran the Paris Marathon. This post is about the trials and tribulations surrounding the adventure.

THE PRELUDE TO THE STORM

  In June 2016 I moved to Lyon, France to complete a year-long student exchange as part of my Melbourne University Arts degree. Adapting to the set of challenges which accompanied this move wasn’t just tough, it was painful. To name a few, there were visa requirements to fulfil, notoriously difficult French bureaucracy to contend with, subjects to be selected without a subject master-list or guide, a foreign uni campus (and city) to navigate, not knowing a soul upon arrival and a language barrier to overcome. Suffice to say, I was stressed out to the max for the first few months and it was a struggle to simply enjoy myself. However, down the line I did manage to meet some people, one of whom, Jake, was running the Paris marathon the coming year in April. I immediately saw this as an opportunity to improve my situation as it seemed like a goal that was big enough to cut through the stressful fog of my new French life.

  First, I had to get my body into a state which could actually start running again as I had lost a lot of fitness since my arrival so I joined a yoga studio with my friend John Paul. After a couple of weeks of attending yoga classes daily and waking up my body, I started running again. However, before I could get into any kind of running groove, winter came and it was time for me to travel (mostly by myself) during the Christmas break. From Lyon I took a bus to Paris and stayed with a nice French lady in her Airbnb, went to many galleries and caught up with John Paul before he left to spend Christmas in the US. I then took another bus to Brussels and explored the Christmas markets, ate some waffles and oysters and visited many more galleries (all of which were Magritte heavy). From Belgium I caught another bus to Amsterdam and met up with some family friends, the Van Schaiik’s with whom I was to spend Christmas. We explored Amsterdam for a couple of days before heading to the Dutch countryside to meet up with their extended family and have an authentic Dutch Christmas in Oudewater. Over this time, due to the freezing weather, living out of a backpack, and being constantly on the go, no runs were completed. However, Emily Van Schaiik was training for the 100km Oxfam walk so we did do a full day’s hike through the beautiful pastors of Holland, followed by a long bike ride along one of their many premium bike lanes. Little did I know that this would be the only exercise I would complete throughout my winter travels *gasp*. After a good stint in Holland which included trips to Utrecht and Baarle-Nassau, I bid “vaarwel” to the Van Schaiik’s and caught a train to Berlin. This is where I saw my first snow for the winter and it was nothing short of a thrill (I may or may not have shed a tear). It was a bit of a shock being by myself again after spending time with a close family over Christmas but, needless to say, travelling alone is character building (especially in the snow!) From Berlin, I took a train to Prague and revelled in the heavy snow that fell there, despite it taking me ten times as long to walk through the slush in my Melbourne boots. After sampling Prague life for a good week and a half, I was lucky enough to take a couple of trains to the Austrian Alps and do a week’s skiing. Unfortunately, during this time I caught a bad cold which knocked me for six, but skied on I did! After an incredible week in Hopfgarten, Austria it was time to come home to Lyon, commence another semester of French university and finally start training for the marathon. The only problem was, was at this time it was only 5 weeks until race day and the weather was often below freezing! Nonetheless I commenced “training” and began running regularly along the Quai du Rhone, through the Parc de la Tête d'Or and up the steep steps of the Croix-Rousse, a village in the hills of the city. In addition, I got back into yoga which was my only cross training. In this way, I began to enjoy living in the city of Lyon way more and really appreciated what it had to offer. I was seeing sunsets from the top of the Croix-Rousse with the snow-capped peaks of the Chamonix alps in the distance and I interacted with the giraffes, deer and other zoo animals that dwelled in the park/free zoo, Parc de la Tête d'Or. These are just some of the experiences that opened up to me in the short time that I was training for the marathon. Even though the I never managed to increase my training distances above 20km, I saw so much of the city that I otherwise would not have seen and perhaps more importantly, had a purpose (on top of becoming fluent in French and travelling as much as possible.)

THE EYE OF THE STORM

   Very quickly, the date of the marathon weekend came upon me. Two days before the race, I caught the bus from Lyon to Paris. Needless to say, my pre-race preparations were totally unconventional. The day before the big 42.195km’s, I spent the day racking up a high walking mileage, exploring the city of Paris. In the morning I headed to the race village to pick up my race bib, had lunch in the Jardin des Tuileries, and visited the Musée de l’Orangerie, revelling at the panoramic paintings of Monet’s nymphs and clearing my head the day before the race. As I was staying in a small Airbnb apartment atop Montmartre, that night me and my friends did a warm up jog around the church of Sacre Coeur, stretching our legs on its steps and popping in for a quick visit before bed time. Like I said, my preparations were unconventional and totally surreal. During this time I was having visions of other runner’s night-before rituals and trying not to be nervous about the fact that I was so physically unprepared that I didn’t have any. Nevertheless, after loosening up around Sacre Coeur, my friends and I made some pasta for dinner in our tiny Parisian apartment and that was about as ritualistic and planned as it got. The following day (Sunday the 3rd of April) we awoke nice and early, caught two metro trains and arrived at the Arc de Triomphe to, omg, run a marathon.

   It was a cold, sunny morning and I remember standing at the start line and being astounded by some of the French runner’s nutrition supplements - many had brought chestnut cream and various jams to consume throughout the race (I brought energy gels). Despite this weird nuance, we all lined up together to attempt to run the epic distance and the race finally commenced. The first 1km was achieved by simply running down the cobble stone paved street of the Champs Elysees. As you would expect, however, the running became harder and by the time I was passing the spectacular Eiffel tower, it did not seem so spectacular. I was in a world of hurt, slowly trudging along, vowing to do more training the next time I was to attempt such a long race. With Paris being a relatively small city, the race itself covered an incredible number of historical sites, including the Louvre, Place de la Concorde and the Place de la Bastille. It also ran through the Vincenne and the Boulogne woods at both ends of the city, along the Seine river and through the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed.

  One thing I learnt from my first marathon experience was that you get what you train for. I never exceeded a half marathon distance in training and, low and behold, it was around the 22km mark where my body started failing and my average time/ km ballooned out. Not only that, but my pre-race nerves led me to tie my shoe laces too tight, so I had to stop several times to loosen them up as my feet became painfully numb. Because of this, my time for the race was nothing to brag about. However, I had known that my training wouldn’t be sufficient, so to offset my physical unpreparedness I had tripled down on mental preparations, vowing never to quit the race no matter how hard it got. More than anything, it was this accumulated mental toughness that got me through the second half of the run.

  The final stages of the race came around the Louis Vuitton foundation and as I was hobbling along, I saw John Paul, who had visited the Louvre while I was running and then came to cheer me on at the end. He ran with me for a couple of hundred meters and then I powered through to the finish line.

THE AFTERMATH

  All in all, it was a tough run but an incredible experience that made me stronger. When it was over, I called my parents in Melbourne then caught the metro back to Montmartre with my friends to get changed and head off to the Marais area for dinner. It’s hard to believe that such an epic event only spanned the course of a day, but it is one that I will remember forever and use to spur me on through other tough moments in life. After taking 2018 off, I will give running a marathon another go this year, most likely at the Melbourne marathon in October. I hope to achieve a much faster time compared to the Paris race, but then again there will be far less astonishing sights to see, so I’m sure that I will.

[I’m a 23 year old Melbourne Uni Arts student. Into yoga, running, travel, art, music.]

INSTAGRAM: belle__casey EMAIL: icasey@student.unimelb.edu.au

[placetobenation]

Welcome back college football fans! For the first time this season, the defending champs actually had to sweat out a game, while ND rebounded and Wisconsin starting to look like a contender! The first playoff rankings are around the corner, how have things shaped up? Scott & Logan have your hottest takes!

SCOTT:

Dabo finally had to sweat: In the past few years, Clemson has taken care of business against North Carolina. Well this past Saturday one thing was clear: Mack Brown is not Larry Fedora. The Tigers had made everything look easy through the opening month of the schedule. The closest call had been a 24-10 win against a ranked Texas A&M team that didn’t reach the end zone in until the final seconds of a game long since decided. But Clemson had all kinds of trouble getting going Saturday, from Travis Etienne’s first quarter fumble to senseless penalties. It took the defense’s goal line stand on a Tar Heels 2 pt conversion attempt to hold on 21-20. Brown has revitalized the Tar Heels program and they almost shocked the world. Clemson needs to look in the mirror and realize what ALMOST happened.

Nice recovery for the Irish: After a gut-punching loss in Athens, Notre Dame came back home this past Saturday to face the rejuvenated Virginia Cavaliers. This time it was ND’s defense that propelled the 35-20 victory. The Irish defense had eight sacks and a fumble return for a touchdown. Virginia wasn’t intimidated and went back and forth early on, leading 17-14 at halftime until the Irish defense took over. Tony Jones had 131 yards rushing at 3 TD to pace the ND offense. Cavs QB Bryce Perkins was spectacular in the first half, with help from Reed, who finished with eight of his career-high nine receptions in the first 30 minutes. Perkins completed 18 of 22 passes (82 percent) for 235 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He was just 12 of 21 for 99 in the second half with two interceptions as the Irish defensive front dominated.

Sun Devils upend Cal: Eno Benjamin’s three TD led Arizona State to a 24-17 win over previously undefeated California. The Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) bounced back from a 34-31 loss to Colorado in the conference opener last week thanks to a strong performance by Benjamin and the defense. Benjamin had 29 carries for 100 yards, also scoring on an 11-yard run in the first quarter and a 4-yarder in the third quarter. Daniels added 174 yards passing and 84 more on the ground on an injured ankle as Arizona State picked up another road win against a ranked team after topping Michigan State 10-7 two weeks ago. The Golden Bears (4-1, 1-1) lost their perfect record and quarterback Chase Garber to a right shoulder injury, spoiling their highest ranking in a decade. The loss also left the Pac-12 with no undefeated teams before the end of September. Once again, the Pac-12 will be without a playoff team…because they’re just not that good.

Badgers keep trucking along: Aside from the phony fauxback uniforms that Wisconsin & Northwestern wore Saturday nothing was too shocking as Wisconsin backed up the previous week’s win over Michigan. Taylor ran for 119 yards and his 11th touchdown of the season, Wisconsin got two scores from its defense, and the Badgers defeated the Wildcats 24-15. “(I’m) proud of the way the guys battled and fought against a really good football team, a team that we’ve always had tough games with,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. Taylor carried 26 times to help Wisconsin (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) avenge its 31-17 loss to the Wildcats last season. Ohio State better be looking over their shoulder.

Academies Update: Army had a bye this past week, they’ll be back home at Michie Saturday to play Tulane. Navy lost at undefeated Memphis 35-23 last Thursday. This week a big Commander In Chief trophy battle as the Middies host Air Force, who beat San Jose State 41-24 Saturday.

LOGAN:  

Auburn Hands Out Beatdown: Auburn has been one of the early surprises of the season, in the fact that not only are they good but appear to be one of the best teams in the country. They would welcome Mississippi State into Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday for a conference clash. In a little less than 6 minutes of game time, the Tigers jumped out to a 21-0 lead after taking advantage of less than stellar punts and a turnover. Things would only get better for the Tigers as they took a 42-9 lead into halftime, completely dominating the Bulldogs in every phase of the game. This allowed the Tigers to coast in the second and come away with a dominant 56-23 victory. If the Tigers continue to play at or near this level the rest of the season, they could possibly be contending for the SEC Championship.

Bama Grabs Top Spot in Polls: Coming off last year’s National championship defeat to Clemson, Alabama came into this season ranked just behind the Tigers and have remained in that spot throughout the season so far. They were able to take care of business business against Ole Miss by the score of 59-31 in a game in which the score isn’t really indicative of how dominating the Tide was. Clemson on Saturday struggled with and narrowly escaped North Carolina, after a failed two point conversion ended the upset hopes. Due to this struggle though the voters in the polls this week decided that the Tide were deserving of the top spot in the polls. While polls at this point in the season mean next to nothing, it has got to feel good to be back on top and especially because it means you took over hated rival Clemson. 

Texas A&M Escapes Dallas with Close Win: While as I talked above about Auburn being one of the surprises of the season, Texas A&M has to fall on the other side of that equation. The Aggies have not been terrible this season so far but they aren’t quite the SEC contenders everyone thought they could be. This week however they traveled to Cowboys Stadium in Dallas for their annual clash with the Razorbacks of Arkansas. Arkansas was coming off a loss to San Jose State, so this should’ve been a cakewalk for the Aggies. The game proved to be anything but a cakewalk. The Razorbacks would not only hang with the Aggies but lead at multiple points in the game. The Aggies were able to kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter to officially put away Arkansas and escape Jerry World with a 31-27 victory.

Penn State Rolls in Midweek Clash: Penn State sophomore QB Sean Clifford had big shoes to fill this season, taking over for Nittany Lions great Trace McSorely and recently transferred Tommy Stevens. So far he has not disappointed and you can look no further than the thrashing he gave Maryland last Thursday. He managed to score two touchdowns the first two places he touched the ball, running one in and throwing for another. He would go on to throw two more TDs, while also leading the team in rushing. With the amount of top teams in the Big Ten this year, Clifford will have plenty more opportunities to prove himself, but one thing is for sure and that is the future is bright for this talented youngster.

Hurts Continues to Dominate: Jalen Hurts and the Oklahoma Sooners were always going to be in the conversation as a team for national championship contention and Hurts as a player in the Heisman conversation. They have not faltered at all to this point, thoroughly devastating every team in their path. Hurts, along with Johnathan Taylor, have to be the early favorites to not only get invited to New York but walk away with the Heisman in tote. While Oklahoma, to me, has looked like the best team in the country. The difference between this Sooners team and ones of the past, is that it appears that this team can put a defense on the field that can stop some people. They were able to hold the usually high powered offense of Texas Tech to just 16 points and only 314 yards of total offense. The Sooners and Hurts have a chance to make this a special season in Norman, but they need to stay focused and keep their eyes on the prize to achieve those goals.

With a new #1 team in the polls and the first CFP list around the corner, games start becoming important. Which games are the biggest on the schedule this weekend?

**ALL GAMES SATURDAY EST UNLESS NOTED***

Noon: #14 Iowa at #19 Michigan

3:30pm: #7 Auburn at #10 Florida

7:30pm: #25 Michigan State at #4 Ohio State

8pm: California at #13 Oregon

[thinkingswan]

3/18/17

Start out on campus, students are clearing out for the end of the spring semester Something about my mom having sent a moving truck for no reason because I only own like 5 things I meet up with the people who I know are staying on campus for the summer program The summer program I'm in is to repair and run an old decrepit ride in a very forgotten area of Disney world The ride is called the Flip and it's a traditional lapbar style wooden ride. The appeal of the ride are the several choices available to the riders. There is a comedy club path, a museum? path which I had believed was a concert path, and a dragon path, almost like the yeti ride at animal kingdom. The ride also incorporates a tied in ice cream parlor, and riders can access ice cream sometimes on the Ride. The leader of the program is a shady, older man who I don't know with a beard. There are students my age, about 20-25. There is a very handsome boy who looks like the lead singer of mumford and sons. Also Maggie Racine was there, who I was never really friends with but she was there. After one meeting, Maggie and another girl were climbing a nearby tree and I decided to join them (I cannot climb trees in real life) and it was amazing, I climbed like a Champ all the way to the top of the spindly tree. I saw that I was very tan, wearing khaki shorts and a tee shirt, my hair short and light for summer. I get to the top and people cheer from below and then I gracefully drop to the ground, playfully letting the tree thwap to the ground. The cute guy was watching. He invites me over to him and tries flirting with me, but I can't understand what he's trying to say, so I take it upon myself and make out with him. It was great. Then I got montages of very events that I can't remember exactly in order. I remember my first ride-through was with the dragon route. I was alone on the ride and I was terrified by the dragon. It was huge and blew real fire. It was so big that only the head fit inside the indoor area for this section. I remember scenes of me operating the ride for patrons, not having been trained on the button and being afraid that not everyone was secured. I remember hearing a conversation in another food stall complaining about a new composting program. I said that the mouse was getting green. The program leader revealed that our funding had been cut and we would no longer be paid for our time. I said I would stay until the end of the week. I ate an ice cream cone with the cute guy in the area where ice cream is mechanically served on the ride. I had to take another ride, this time with a full car of patrons. This path starts out with interactions with little sound makers and instruments that make lights and sounds happen and I had believed this path was a concert path, like the bugs life 4d show in a ride. However, we had to get off the ride and walk around a very scary wooden shack environment like the Swamp at Brookfield zoo. It was a museum for WWII memorabilia for some reason. I said aloud, I'm a history major and even I find this boring as hell. Someone said to me, it's all a ruse for the scary part about the ash man. There were viewing areas and exhibits all showing very graphic violence from the war. I was too scared to enter any of the offices because I was sure the ash man was hiding in one of them. I saw a burnt man covered in ash with huge butcher knives and a gas mask peek out from a room and a screamed. Then, another man, a member of my program, tackled me to the ground and tried to sexually assault me. I threw him off of me and began beating him, then pinned him down and waited for the program leader to come get him.