Feasting On The Atmosphere Playoff Foes Enjoy Best Of The Holiday
Eating Thanksgiving dinner with their football teammates is a tradition for I-AA playoff opponents Montana and McNeese State, and the custom continues today.
The University of Montana has been in the playoffs the last five years; McNeese, six out of the last eight years. The first-round games are always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so there’s no time to go home.
In Lake Charles, La., the McNeese State football players will be dining on deep-fried turkey with all the trimmings, cooked by booster club member Bill Pousson and his wife, Darlene.
“Every year we’ve been in the playoffs, we’ve done that for them,” he said in a telephone interview.
On the menu this year are 25 turkeys, 60 pounds of candied yams, 150 pounds of rice dressing, 100 pounds of cornbread dressing, as well as rolls and other side dishes and desserts brought by wives of the coaches.
Pousson, who owns a seafood restaurant, says deep-frying a turkey is the only way to go.
“It’s a lot better than baking ‘em. It gets ‘em real juicy ‘cause when it hits that grease it sears it and seals all the juice inside,” he said.
Before the turkey hits the grease, the meat is injected with seasonings, including garlic, onion and pepper.
He said it takes about 70 minutes to cook a 20-pound turkey.
“I can fry four at a time,” he said. “It’s easy when you’ve got the equipment.”
The football players arrive between noon and 1 p.m., load up their plates and watch football on the big screen television in a booster room.
“We try to do it like a home atmosphere,” Pousson said. “Everything but the recliners.”
The Montana players are going for the home atmosphere, recliners and all.
“Years ago we used to have a team dinner for the kids at the Red Lion,” said Montana coach Mick Dennehy. “It just seemed like every year the numbers dwindled. It just seems like the kids would rather eat at somebody’s house.”
Dennehy and his wife, Sheila, have invited a few players to their home.
“It kind of started off as all of the married guys and their wives, and then it included all the engaged guys and their fiancees,” said Dennehy. “We’ll have a half a dozen or eight or nine guys over. It’ll be fun.”
The parents of quarterback Brian Ah Yat took a sabbatical from their education jobs this fall and moved to Missoula from Hawaii.
“I think they’ve got most of the Hawaiian kids at their place,” said Dennehy. “I’m sure that they’ll have a traditional Hawaiian feast as well as turkey.”
Dennehy said players that live in the Missoula area invite teammates home.
“Between the kids going home and the kids kind of getting dispersed here in town, everybody gets taken care of,” he said.
“We practice in the morning, turn ‘em loose to have a nice, big meal and get on the plane Friday and go,” he said.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 6 p.m. MST.