Since we didn't get in until after Midnight Friday/Saturday we slept in and had breakfast at our hotel (Hampton Inn - Mountain Brook) and headed over to Legion Field at about 9:15am. Only a ten minute drive, getting a parking spot in the Legion Field lots was a breeze. We stopped by the UFAA Tailgate to say hello to Scott Francis and Shirly Lynn. Since everything around the stadium was a swamp they just had a couple of tents set up. Not much for frills but we just wanted to say hello to them anyway.

We took a few pictures outside by the Bear Bryant "memorial" and under the Olympic rings (they are there since B'ham hosted Olympic soccer in '96. The outside reminded me a little of the old Gator Bowl only with even more rust.

The inside of the stadium was dumpy but it was like being in a time machine when people cared more about what was happening on the playing field instead of how nice the toilets are and whether there were chairbacks or not. I had never been before (watched the 93/94 SECCGs on TV as well as E Smith's breakout game in 87) so it was great to see to me. I could envision Alabama playing Auburn and Bo Jackson diving over the goalline on the other end of the stadium from where we were or when Bear brought in a team from USC to show the Bama admins that it was ok to have black players on the team.

As for the play on the field it was evident that we were willing to give up a bunch of short passes to try and let them make their own mistakes. When we tackled well, that worked. I was ok with giving up a bunch of yards too and with the short field their only plays that worked were jump balls vs. Poole or other guys not named Hargreaves. Their WRs are great at adjusting to the ball and their QB is a quick thinker system kind of guy. The sideline seemed pretty juiced after Poole's TD (guess he learned his lesson - get to the sideline/corner instead of trying to run the QB/OL over on the way to a pick six) and stayed that way. Neither team came out particulary excited but I think the early 11am local time spot contributed to that. I'm with Investi - I didn't feel like the game was in doubt. People were freaking out on every ECU completion but if they complete a pass for 2 yards - so what.

I really like Coach McNeill and I hope he stays at ECU for a long time. I do think he is wrong when I read that he said post game that not many gave his team a chance. I picked us 28-24 (reluctantly) but most of the national media seemed to like ECU since they scored so many points throughout the year.. but our defense isn't UNC's defense.

I haven't watched the TV replay of the game... maybe it was Dave Neal and Andre Ware's horrible analysis that had Gator Nation on the edge of their seats... but I was confident enough to buy a sweatshirt at halftime and I never buy bowl stuff until victory is sealed. I learned my lesson when I got a 1992 Sugar Bowl sweatshirt with a game ticket as a Christmas gift. I got to wear it once before ND beat our ass and that was that. I still have it somewhere.

We headed back right after the game - took some side streets to get out so it was a breeze. We had hung around to watch the trophy ceremony etc so traffic did clear a little. We stopped at Niffer's in Auburn for dinner and I wanted to show my fiance Auburn's beautiful campus since we don't play there for a while and who knows when we will be out that way again. We finally got home at 12:45am.

It was a great bowl trip and I am glad I made it. It was well worth the 7 hours of driving each way for me.