Jonathan and I set out Friday to go to Kentucky's FIFTH straight bowl game. We've been to the previous four and plan to try and keep going to all the rest as long as we can. I'd hoped that UK wouldn't go to a bowl game in Tennessee this year. We got our wish but not in the way we hoped. The BBVA Compass Bowl is the bowl game for the last eligible team in the SEC. Once Kentucky lost to Tennessee, they fell all the way to this bowl in Birmingham Alabama. I bought us tickets right after they announced where Kentucky would play.
We left for Birmingham on Friday. The ride down to Birmingham was uneventful. It's pretty much a straight shot on I-65 from Nashville. We stayed at the Hilton Perimeter Hotel. It was a very nice hotel. The desk staff was very friendly and acommodating. We did find out the Pitt band was staying there. They were very nice and well behaved. We checked in and then went to grab a steak dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse (which was excellent). We spent the evening just relaxing at the hotel.
We got up the next morning to a cool, sunny windy day. I went to McDonalds to get breakfast. I was asked "Do you want to try our new oatmeal?". I almost laughed out loud then ordered a few sausage biscuits. We ate and got ready to go to the game.
One of the big reasons we stayed at this hotel was it had a shuttle to Legion Field. I'd heard bad things about the parking there and that the field was in a bad area of town. The shuttle bus was very nice even having TVs tuned to ESPN on it. Our drive went fine. As we approached the stadium, I could see that the neighborhood was really bad looking. I was glad we'd rode on the shuttle bus. The bus brought us right up to the field.
The game is at Legion Field. This field has been there since the 1920's. It was the location of the Iron Bowl (the annual Auburn-Alabama game) for many years. They finally left when the stadium did not keep up with the quality of their home stadiums. The stadium certainly looks its age. I especially noticed this as I walked around. I noticed it more as the game progressed. The sound system was inaudible most of the time. We couldn't tell what penalties were called or what was going on. One of the two video boards went out as well. The seats were almost all bleachers except for a few suites. The seating was cramped as well. But as a guy next to me said, until UK starts winning more games, this is what they'll (and we'll get).
Pitt had been through a lot. Their head coach resigned (he was really forced out). They hired a new coach only to fire him a week or so later after he arrested on a domestic violence charge. Their defensive coordinator agreed to coach even though he'd accepted another job too. UK's quarterback Mike Hartline was out for the game because he'd been arrested at the end of the season. Pitt was a slight favorite.
Kentucky quelled the first Pitt drive with an interception. UK drove to the 35 but QB Morgan Newton fumbled. The game went back and forth with UK kicking a field goal to go up by 3. Uk drove down the field and could not convert a 4th and literally one inch. Pitt took a 6-3 lead. Uk had to punt with about a minute left in the half. UK's punter took forever and ended up getting his punt blocked. Pitt recovered at the 10 and soon scored a touchdown. It was 13-3 at the half. Uk started the 2nd half with the ball and stalled near midfield. Incredibly they tried a fake punt and failed miserably. Pitt drove 25 years for a TD to go up 20-3 and the game was pretty much over.
Needless to say there were a lot of upset UK fans. We couldn't understand why they didn't use the All American Randal Cobb more or run Derrick Locke more. They never went to the other backup HQ - Ryan Mossakowski. I'll save the rest for my UK futures blog entry later. We stayed til the bitter end (a 27-10 loss for the worst bowl loss in UK history). We took the shuttle bus back to the hotel and got our car and headed home.
We hoped that the UK basketball team would make it up for us. Jonathan and I listened to the game on the way home. Uk fell behind by 11 at the half. They rallied to tie the game and even take a slight lead, but ultimately lost by 7. We then listened to Seattle pull off the upset over New Orleans and the first half of the Jets Colts game.
The game didn't turn out like we'd hoped, but we had our usual good time just hanging out together as usual. We'll keep going to the games every year. Although, I am not so sure we'll get the chance next year. I'll talk about that later...
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