I remember it like it was yesterday, which most of it I should since I just rewatched the game yesterday from some old DVDs that my brother had made of the game.
It was 2005 and My father, brother, sister, and myself drove the two hours to T-town in order to see our first Alabama football game of the year. It had been a hard run of years with the probations and coaching carusel at the University of Alabama, but things seemed on the precipace of change.
We had a huge comeback against Southern Miss (including possibly the best catch ever from Tyrone Prothro)to keep an early disaster from occuring and strong wins over South Carolina and Arkansas had put us in a position to really make a push for the SEC West with a victory over #5 ranked Florida.
We arrived in Tuscaloosa a few hours early and my father and sister went to meet one of my father's friend's while my brother and I went to hang out with some of his high school friends who were living on campus. We hung out for about an hour watching the early games and talking about any current news and our predictions for what would happen.
Mine, by the way is listed below from my website that I was maintaining at the time.
Alabama vs. Florida – Man, I am looking forward to this one. Alabama and Florida both come into this game undefeated, something that fans could have only dreamed of a few weeks ago. Florida is riding high with three victories already under their belt in the SEC (South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky). Alabama has two themselves against South Carolina and Arkansas, but have already used up two freebies this season. With only one left it is getting to be crunch time for the Crimson Tide. Both teams have already had their ups and downs. Florida has looked very good in three of their four games, but looked unorganized and unfocused against Tennessee two weeks ago. Alabama on the other hand has only had one solid game so far in their win against South Carolina and have looked shaky in their other three. When things are going well for Alabama, their offense can go for 200+ yards on the ground, 300+ through the air and to multiple recievers or a combination of the pair and their defense has been solid throughout. Florida has yet to establish a rushing attack, but with their high octane passing game, the numbers that they are picking up on the ground have been plenty enough so far. However, I believe that Alabama will come out strong this week. They will key on stopping the Florida running game and then drop back to protect against the long pass plays. If they can manage to frustrate Leak, they have a chance of causing some turnovers and arrant passes. Look for Alabama to start off with some early long passes as they did against Southern Miss in an attempt to put early points on the board in anticipation of a high scoring game. However, they will quickly settle into a steady regime of pounding running plays to try to wear the Gators down. The key thing to watch are the halftime and end of third quarter scores. If Alabama is within two touchdowns at the half and within one touchdown at the end of the third then they will have an awesome shot at an upset and Shula's first signature win. I think that Alabama will come out strong offensively and hold the Gators to only a couple of big drive and win a very important game 31-17.
So, we discussed what we thought and I had a really good feeling about the game. A few others did as well, but just as many people were skepical about our chances of winning the game.
After the hour, we met back up with my sister and father and walked to the stadium. As always the entry from the bowels of the stadium to field level is a sensory overload. The light and greeness of the field, accompanied by the sounds of at least 40,000 fans and the band just overcome you.
So, we quickly made our way to our seats and the buzz about the game was palpable. Everyone was talking about it and getting pumped up. Then the game began. The first series was exactly what the crowd needed. Our defence was dominant and even after Prothro fumbled the punt, the defense stood up again to force another punt. Then, the game took its final step into the fan frenzy when Brodie Croyle hit Tyrone Prothro in stride for a long touchdown pass. This was the loudest that I had ever heard the crowd at Bryant-Denny stadium.
At this point, all fans seemed to be pulled into the atmosphere and there was not a person left sitting or silent as we continued to chant, and sing, and scream our team on.
The game continued to fall about as well for us as it could until "The Incident" when Tyrone Prothro broke his leg in such a graphic manner. In the stadium, you could see the play and the flag and then that he was down, but you were just thinking that we should have had a touchdown and at least got the 15 yards. However, as he stayed down in the endzone, hushed chatter began to move around the statium. People with radios began to get in the information about how seriously the injury was and everyone's high was completely floored. It took quite a while to get him on the stretcher and then off the field. However, how composed he was as he left gave people the idea that he would be OK and the cheer for him as he left was deafening.
By this point, the game was nearly over and as the clock ticked down it was obvious that for the first time in years, we had a huge victory. The fans in attendance were also the hardcore fans. After so many years of average success, the fair weather fans and tag-a-longs were gone leaving tickets for the true fans and they came through amazingly.
As the clock finally began its countdown for the last minute of gameplay, the band started up and the crowd went crazy. People were screaming themselves horse, throwingout their arms shaking their pom-poms, and hugging each other estatically. We ususally leave right before or right after the game concludes, but in this one, we stayed about half an hour afterwards to soak in the atmophere and the endorphines from the huge win.
I still remember coming home after the win and watching the game again and seeing the highlights. I had never heard so much of the audience over a broadcast before and it was great to be part of that group.
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