Give me Liberty...

Kentucky has only made it to three straight bowl games from 1950-52 when the coach was a guy named Bear Bryant. They've never won three in a row so this year's Autozone Liberty Bowl was their chance to do that.

We took out Friday morning and drove to my sister's house in Memphis. She only lives 3 blocks from the Liberty Bowl. So, we were able to park there, visit with my family for a while, and then walk over.

Kentucky has started the tradition of the "Cat Walk" over the past few years. UK fans line up from the team bus to the entrance of the stadium. This generally happens more than two hours before the game, so we've never participated. With the proximity to my sister's house, we walked over for this one. It was very neat. You could see the players up close, tell them words of encouragement, and even shake/slap hands with them. I was especially interested in speaking to Joker Phillips (the offensive coordinator and heir apparent to Rich Brooks) since he played at UK when I was there. Two things you realize is how big the players are and how young they look (since they are college kids).

There were a lot of East Carolina fans when we first got there. When we got there the second time, a lot more UK fans were there. They eventually announced the attendance at 56,000. The stadium wasn't nearly full though. There were way more UK fans there than ECU.

The game did not start off well. Kentucky was tacking horribly and gave up several big plays. The offense was sputtering. The defense made a key stop at the end of the first half to keep ECU out of the end zone. It was still 16-3 at half.

Kentucky got the ball to start the 2nd half and the whole game turned the other way. Winston Guy had dropped two straight kickoffs so DB David Jones was now on the kickoff return team. He took the kickoff at the one, sprinted through the first wave, cut to the sideline and took it the whole way for the TD. Lonas Seiber had the XP blocked, but it was now 16-9. The teams traded possessions and then UK scored on a TD pass to tie the game. ECU kicked a field goal and UK did the same.

The clock wound down and ECU got the ball deep in its own territory. Sam Maxwell then ran an interception back for a TD but it was called back for defensive holding. The teams traded possessions and then Micah Johnson picked up a fumble and took it in for a touchdown. The play was reviewed and reversed even though it didn't look like conclusive evidence to me. ECU drove to near midfield. They fumbled again and Ventrell Jenkins snatched up the fumble and rumbled (he weighs 285 pounds) for the touchdown. Seiber had another XP blocked, so the lead was only 6.

Kentucky kicked off and the ECU returner appeared to go to his knee to catch it on the one yard line (He'd done this before on previous kickoffs). After ANOTHER review, he was ruled down there. They got a first down but Kentucky held. With a little over 2 minutes to go and three timeouts and deep in their own territory, they punted. Uk took over and ground out two first downs to run out the clock. Of course, we were ecstatic.

Some random notes

• We stopped at Krystal on the way. I had the mistaken idea that since the burgers were little, the prices would be too. We paid more for three of us to eat then we normally do at McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. I love those Chili Pups though.


• The Liberty Bowl is an older stadium located on the Fairgrounds there. They have buildings for livestock, displays, etc. It's an older non NFL type stadium where most of the seats are bleacher type seats. Fortunately, I got us tickets in section with chair back seats. I doubt I'd be in an upright position today if I had not.


• I was walking around the concourse minding my own business (looking to buy a commemorative t-shirt) when some crazy ECU fan jumps right up in my face and starts yelling about how great ECU is and how they are going to win. I just looked at him like he was crazy and walked around him.


• We kept seeing Mike Hartline (the UK quarterback) run to the south part of the stadium where the UK locker room was. I found out after the game he had "flu-like" symptoms. Wow, poor guy and he still played really well.


• Sara Evans was the half time performer. I've always liked her, but she must not like UK since she faced the ECU side the whole time. Plus, she sang one of my least favorite songs of hers (Suds in the Bucket)


• The officiating (I think it was a Big 10 crew) wasn't very good. They missed several calls both ways. Donna said the ESPN announcers were commenting on how bad it was too


• Wonder who will be the UK quarterback next year? Hartline is a junior, Randall Cobb is a sophomore and they have two pretty good recruits coming in. Plus, we've got to do something about our placekicking game. I know the blocks may have not been Lonas Seiber's fault, but they looked like pretty low kicks to me on the XPs. We were groaning every time he lined up to kick (one lady would cover her head with a blanket every time, she could not bear to watch)


• Right after David Jones ran the kickoff back, a guy came back to his seat and asked (I kid you not) "Did I miss anything?". Uh-huh, you did :-)


• My brother in law Richard is an Ole Miss alum, so he was equally happy about their Cotton Bowl win. If you had asked anybody before Friday which of the SEC teams playing that day would be the one to lose, I would say very few would have said "Alabama"

Since we left from my sister's house, we had an easy time getting out. And bless her, she had packed ham sandwiches and chips for the drive home. I didn't eat at the game although the foot long corndogs were very tempting. The drive home was without problem.

Jonathan and I have seen history. No UK team has ever won three bowls in a row. I know it's not a BCS or even a major bowl. However, I've suffered through a lot of pain as a UK football fan (including a 0-10-1 season my senior year there) so I am loving this post season thing...