The Smudge Pot Trophy Game, Redlands (0-2) at Cal Lutheran (1-1)

Saturday, September 26, 2026

It was a Saturday just made for college football.

After watching two good games on TV, Texas-Tennessee and Iowa-Michigan, we headed up to Thousand Oaks for great hole-in-the-wall dining experience at Bad Ass Street Tacos with Joanne and Paul Sabolić and an NCAA DIII football game.

Now, it was not just any DIII game, it was the annual battle for the Smudge Pot Trophy and the opening game of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) for both teams!

Redlands Bulldogs

0 Wins - 2 Losses

at

California Lutheran Kingsmen

1 Win - 1 Loss

The Kingsmen in this poster is holding the Smudge Pot Trophy.

For those of you urban type followers of this blog who do not know what a smudge pot is, let me explain.

Both the Redlands and Thousand Oaks areas have a history as communities economically founded on the citrus fruit industry. One of the fears when you enter this area of agriculture in these warm farming towns is a sudden drop in temperature that can freeze and ruin the crops.

Enter the smudge pot which is an oil burning device used to create heat and smoke to save the day.

Now you know.

Joanne, Paul and Laurie in front

of CLU's William Rolland Stadium

It's a stadium with a small art

gallery that only I got to enjoy

during the pre-game

I liked this piece of art the best until . . .

. . . I saw what the Great Artist

was creating right in front of us

Here come the Kingsmen!

The game was played at a fast

and furious pace from start to finish

At Halftime, CLU led 14-7

The Smudge Pot Trophy

up close and personal

At the end of the Third Quarter,

it was still close, CLU up 21-14

The Fourth Quarter was when the Kingsmen put the game away with a dominating performance.

CLU (2-1, 1-0 SCIAC) - 40

Redlands (0-3, 0-1 SCIAC) - 14

While we were enjoying our Smudge Pot Trophy game, the Washington Huskies were playing on TV thanks to an 8:00 p.m., made for TV, kickoff time.

We would get home in time to watch the Second Half of the Huskies game, the BIG-10 Conference opener for both teams.

Huskies wore black tonight

People, our colors are PURPLE and GOLD!

Minnesota Golden Gophers

2 Wins - 1 Loss

at

Washington Huskies

3 Wins - 0 Losses

The task sounded simple

But was not as it turned out

Minnesota (3-1, 1-0 BIG-10) - 27

Washington (3-1, 0-1 BIG-10) - 24

As usual, it is tough being a Husky fan.

Fun from the net . . .

A random ad from Sandy Brucker's historical

family home town in Italy appeared

on Facebook this morning . . .

. . . as did this ad for my next suit

It should help in my continuing campaign to bring back sexy.

A great Saturday on all but the Husky football level.