In a word? Yep.
That’s the thing about dynasties. There’s far more work in maintaining them then creating them. One season of perfection was just that for the Golden Tigers; a black college football “national championship,” an amped-up fan base in Alabama, and the hatred of the entire SIAC.
Year two was a true exercise in how to be the best. TU was the target of the best that every team they faced had, and behind Jacary Atkinson, the Golden Tigers showed that they were up to the challenge. Only a bad call in the back of the end zone could derail them from staying on the best side of the win/loss column for two consecutive seasons, and even that couldn’t rain on the parade of those enjoyed a throwback team for the ages unfolding before 2009.
But with Atkinson gone and replaced by a talented-but-youthful Jeremy Williams, the Tuskegee aura has dwindled in the eyes of supporters, opponents, and everyone else who has an emotional investment in how the Golden Tigers perform. They lost to Miles, a much-improved SIAC squad, but certainly below the radar of black college football enthusiasts in projections for the SIAC football crown.
And what’s worse, the Golden Bears appear to have in Carlton Hill what Tuskegee enjoyed for two years in Atkinson.
So is this the end for the Golden Tigers reign over the fancy of black college football? Should fans expect a win each and every time out of TU? And with the impressive look of Albany State and Miles, can we even consider Tuskegee the class of the conference this year?
There is a mutual benefit that fans and haters can share in having little room to debate who is the best. Tuskegee, for two years strong, was the best. And while the Golden Tigers could very well take this loss and go undefeated for the duration of the season, there’s still a sense that they are vulnerable.
And vulnerability just isn’t part of the dynasty formula.
