Colton’s Corner: Uncovering the truth of Trident Gate

To quote the legend Ron Burgundy: 'Boy, that escalated quickly.'

Underneath the Bobcats historic comeback against Nevada, contributing to the best start since 2013, is one of the wildest stories both I and the entire college world have ever heard of–one that is quickly becoming part of Bobcat Lore.

Trident Gate–the unofficial name–had swept through not only Texas State but through the college football nation, as rumors of a band member throwing a trident–yes, that same kind of trident used by both Aquaman and Poseidon–at the Nevada football players.

The story quickly grabbed the attention of the College Football Internet with hundreds of both Anchorman and Aquaman memes swarming my X-formally known as Twitter site, while even making some national media outlets.

With the narrative taking on a life of it’s own, including a word of mouth story alleging a TXST band member threw the trident at the opposing team, it’s time to figure out what actually happened before halftime.

The telling of the story comes now from eyewitnesses who personally saw the incident go down.

First, a little back story. Nevada owns not one but four tridents associated with the team.

Two of the tridents, coated in gold, celebrate a defense that once forced a turnover, while the other two tridents, coated in silver, celebrate the offense scoring a touchdown.

Despite being in a landlocked state with the university nowhere near the ocean, the tridents are connected to the USS Nevada, which was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 when it was attacked by Japan, leading the United States into World War II. The ship was repaired and was part of the Normandy D-Day Invasion of June 6, 1944. The battleship was then sent back to the Pacific to participate in the close of the war with Japan.

Now, back to last Saturday.

Just before halftime, the Bobcat Marching Band prepared to take the field for their traditional halftime performance.

With the Nevada football team still on the sidelines, the band was forced to go behind the Nevada sidelines and wait before taking the field.

And then it happened. For reasons not completely explained, Nevada had left one of their turnover tridents unattended on the ground.

A group of students appeared to sense an opportunity and began egging on some of the band members to give them the trident.

One of the band members allegedly took the bait and proceeded to pick up the trident and give it to the student section.

The now hijacked trident was passed around through the student section before the Nevada equipment staff had to literally fish it out of the stands before returning the trident back to the sidelines.

The band member who allegedly gave the trident to the student section was then given a police escort out of the stadium.

Though this story is not a full-on recreation of the infamous Anchorman scene, the tale of a team’s turnover item literally being fumbled is a story of its own.

As of this writing, it is unclear what disciplinary actions remain to be implemented regarding the student purportedly involved, as there is no official statement coming yet from the university.

Though Trident Gate may have certainly peaked in terms of interest, the story may not be finished just yet.

cmcwilliams@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc