Found in the wastebasket of the Times' Steve Kelley

Sports Column Template

From: Sports Columnists of America

Instructions for use: After a big home win by a formerly moribund college football program.

This team is different. Older. More mature. Much more resilient.

These [name of team (plural)] aren't like their recent predecessors, so willing, so quickly, to pack it in, to quit in the face of adversity.

[have intern throw in a few paragraphs of details from the game here]

This was the [sun-kissed/blustery, gray] Saturday we learned about the [year] [name of team]. We discovered that the recent [name of team] swagger isn't false. There is bite to their bravado.

[Name of team] might not be a top-25 team, but it is capable of sweeping its home games and proved Saturday that, at [record of team], it is a legitimate bowl contender.

It rewarded the [team color]-clad pack that came to [name of stadium] more ready for this game than it has been for any game in four years. The seismic shake of the stadium on third downs rekindled the memories of [some game] back in the halcyon days of [name of team] football.

The crowd of [attendance] woke up the echoes. It was a reminder of just how much fun Saturdays on [some street near stadium] used to be — and can be again.

[have intern insert more details from game here]

These [name of team (plural)] played old-time [name of team] football.

They survived their mistakes. Came back from a [amount of deficit] deficit. And held a flammable [name of opponent] offense to a mere [number of first downs] first downs in the second half.

This was, without a doubt, the most meaningful victory in the [number of coach's years]-year [name of coach] tenure. It was the first game that truly meant something since former coach [name of former coach] started the program on its rapid decline.

[Name of team] needed this win to shine some light on the program. It needed to win a game like this, on an afternoon this perfect, in front of a [national/regional] [radio/television] audience to regain some stature, to open more doors to the homes of more recruits.

And beating [name of opponent] tells [name of team]'s hard-suffering fans the [name of team (plural)] are on the way back. The [name of coach] Era is beginning. The future can be as bright as the late-afternoon sun that soaked the stadium green.

And here's Kelley's column on Sunday!