As a football fan, it's easy to get ahead of yourself, to focus on the gargantuan game on the horizon instead of the merely really big game straight ahead.
So a sports writer who should have known better (blush, blush) asked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman on Tuesday if he felt like he was living a nightmare during last weekend's off week as he caught a glimpse or two of No.1 Alabama's 10-0 win at LSU, since the Mocs play at Bama on Nov. 19.
Said Huesman with focus to make any Moc Maniac proud: "No, I was living a nightmare watching Wofford-Furman."
UTC, of course, hosts Wofford - which won 34-27 at Furman - this Saturday at Finley Stadium with the winner all but assured of an FCS playoff berth.
Not that Huesman had nothing to say about the Bama game, which will be shown on one of ESPN's myriad of channels.
"I kind of wish it wasn't on ESPN or any other television channel, to be honest with you," he said with a slight smile.
But first there's worrisome Wofford on the schedule, with its 6-3 overall record and 4-2 Southern Conference mark, those losses coming in heartbreaking fashion at Samford (28-26) and in overtime against The Citadel (24-21).
"Both teams are playing for a whole lot," Huesman said. "I think both teams are playing for their playoff lives. I know Wofford understands that and we understand that it's a huge game. They're a really good football team, and really good on defense."
UTC has been really good all year, despite its 22-14 loss at The Citadel a few weeks ago. Good on defense. Good on offense. Good on special teams.
The Mocs have been so good, in fact, that Huesman hasn't shied away from openly saying of their potential: "Hopefully, (this season) won't end until Frisco (Texas, the site of the FCS national championship game)."
But it will end, and that alone seems sad, given the eight wins the Mocs have posted in their first nine games by an average victory margin of 24.8 points. Other than that one tough afternoon at The Citadel, made tougher by the second-half absence of running back Derrick Craine due to injury, it's been a dream season from start to near-finish.
"They all seem to fly by at my age," Huesman said. "Maybe the older you get the faster everything moves. It seems like just yesterday I was winning the member-guest at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club with Tony Leach - I can still remember my second shot at the second hole - and that was in June.
"But when you're winning, when you're playing for something in November, it really flies by, even when you never want it to end."
And when you're not winning?
"If you're 3 and 7," Huesman said with a grin, "you send your assistants out recruiting every day."
It's the recruiting that has done so much to make this a championship program of late, even if that lone conference loss to The Citadel figures to keep the Mocs from the 2016 SoCon championship after three straight years of accomplishing that goal. Yet both Huesman and junior quarterback Alejandro Bennifield say that winning hasn't happened only because UTC has really good players.
"These seniors," said Bennifield, referring to such stalwarts as Craine and C.J. Board, Xavier Borishade and Keionta Davis, Nakevion Leslie and Corey Levin, Henrique Ribeiro and Justin King, to name but eight, "they've been great leaders for the entire team. Some are vocal leaders, some are quiet leaders, but they've all helped start something special here."
Part of it is special because the character of this team has been special, which is by design, though certainly an imperfect science.
"These guys truly love each other," Huesman said. "There's great team chemistry, not a jealous bone in their bodies. That doesn't happen every year."
But when he and his staff recruit, signing good kids as well as good athletes is a top priority.
"Character is huge," said the eighth-year head coach who graduated from UTC in 1983. "It's not even close. That's No. 1. We want character and strong academics, then everything else. And there are enough of those kids out there to build a winning football program.
"Now everybody takes risks, especially academically. And those sometimes become the best stories. Anybody with a 26 or 27 on his ACT ought to graduate. But it's the kid you took a chance on who becomes an honors student that makes you proudest."
He's had it the other way in his long career, especially as an assistant before returning to his alma mater as head coach.
"Oh, I've had times where I've walked onto the practice field telling myself, 'If I have to look at this kid one more time, I'm going to puke,'" Huesman said. "But not with these guys. This has been a great group to be around all season."
Whatever happens Saturday against Wofford, at Alabama the following week or beyond, UTC football fans should never lose sight of that in the days, weeks and years to come. Because as Huesman said, seasons such as this fly by way too quickly, especially when you never want them to end.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.