I wanted to drop by and share my impression after getting home.
We were in town from Friday afternoon thru Sunday morning, so not near enough time to do all we wanted. Just means we'll have to come back sometime in the future.
Friday impressions are in my previous post.
On Saturday, we parked in the Fairgrounds Blue Lot. Getting to our parking spot was interesting, but in the end, it just makes for a good story. The narrow drive lanes in the Fairgrounds Parking Lot were seriously crowded with tailgating activities. Made for difficult driving. Many Gamecock fans had to literally move their chairs, cornhole games, grills, etc. to allow us to drive thru!. We received some good-natured ribbing as we creeped thru at a snail's pace, but nothing out of line. Once we parked, Gamecock fans right next to us came over and make us feel very welcome. Made some new friends that day.
We walked over to the RV section of the Fairgrounds and tailgated with some Bama friends that brought their RV. Multiple Gamecock RV'ers stopped by, and we made even more new friends. Good folks.....
Strolled by the Cockabooses before game time. I'm envious of anyone that has access to one of those. Without a doubt, the best tailgate setup I've ever seen. My only disappointment was not seeing the inside of one of those. Maybe next time.
We sat in one of the Bama sections (503), but were on a lower row than the Bama allotments, so we're in the midst of Gamecok fans. Very passionate fans, but everybody was friendly and welcoming. I sat next to a 9-year old kid that has to be your team's number one fan. This kid was into the game the entire game.....I don't think he ever stopped yelling or talking the entire game. Some might find that annoying, but this kid knew his football. He knew the players, he knew the game, did some appropriate trash-talking and ribbing, and to be honest, I was pretty dang impressed that a 9-year old could be that into a football game. I had to dodge a couple of towel wavings he had going!! But no big deal. He stayed until the end, and gave me a sad fist-bump and "....Good Game...." afterwards. A pretty impressive kid for sure.
Your pre-game atmosphere was impressive. I wish Bryant-Denny could get that pumped up before a game. I thought Williams-Bryce ranks up there with some of the better stadiums I've been to. Access was easy. Toilets and Concessions were convenient. Fans were pumped and into the game.
As far as the game.....we're thrilled to get an SEC road win, for sure. But SC made us look bad at 3 elements we're normally pretty good at; Defense, Running Game, and Number of Penalties. You guys moved the ball on us more than most, and you held us to under 100 yards rushing, 76 to be exact.....two rare items for us. Your Freshman QB is the real deal. If he has time in the pocket, he's capable of dropping dimes on anybody. He even made a few rushed throws that are pretty dang impressive for anybody; much less a Freshman. Your D-Line and LB'ers shut down our running game. I believe your crowd noise affected us and caused some penalties. We had 11 penalties which is really high for us under Saban. After watching the recording of the game late last night, we got away with a 12th penalty (Holding on the punt return that was originally downed on our 1-yd line, but you had to punt again after a called penalty). I'm sure Gamecock nation is disappointed, but either Bama is much weaker than normal, or SC is much stronger than your average fan thinks. Time will tell I guess.
After the game, we did a late dinner at Motor Supply. Great dinner and great atmosphere. I highly recommend it for any of you that haven't been there.
Anyway, thanks again for all the information and for great SEC Hospitality. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Columbia.
Reach out to me if you ever come to Tuscaloosa. I would like to reciprocate in some way.