Aaron Perkins has a green-and-black wedding ring that hints at the depth of his allegiance to Marshall University. His three children all have middle names tied to the school. He hasn’t missed a home football game since the mid-1990s and goes to most of the road games as well.
“I always assumed I knew what the word ‘surreal’ meant, and what it felt like,” says Perkins, a mortgage loan officer in town. “I realized Saturday that I had no idea. I know now. I experienced it.”
Saturday was Marshall 26, Notre Dame 21. Playing at Notre Dame Stadium was a once-in-program-history opportunity for the school. Actually winning is the kind of thing fans of the underdog talk about for the rest of their lives.
