Alabama vs. Florida State

Last night I was among the 85,412 fans who attended the Alabama versus Florida State game in Jacksonville, Florida. I went with my father-in-law Mitch. He is a good guy and loves the Seminoles but he is ridiculously unreliable. Usually he says he is going to go to a certain game then the week of same he will mail me the tickets to hold onto “just in case he doesn’t make it.” He usually does not and I end up scrambling at the last minute to find someone to go with. Based upon his past performances, for much of the day I was unsure if he would be going. I kept calling and checking to see if he had made his drops and he would tell me where he was. Becks made the drive to Jacksonville with me just in case he did not show up. Around 3:00 p.m. he still was not at his house and I was making plans to leave without him.

However, he actually showed up before I left. Becks was happy because she got to skip the game and spend time with her niece. As he was early we made it for kickoff. The stadium was packed with Florida State fans on the home side and Alabama on the visitors side. Each schools’ fans were behind the appropriate team. Unlike Florida/Georgia. Alabama and FSU have similar colors (red/maroon and garnet) so the split was not as apparent. There were some Alabama fans sitting with us in Section 219 and they were nice. I have to give them credit for their hounds tooth hats, they were pretty cool.

The game was great as the Seminoles won 21-14. The first half was pretty depressing as we could not move the ball. Luckily, our defense stifled Alabama and at the half it was a 0-0 tie. At the half a change in quarterback occurred and Xavier Lee replaced Drew Weatherford. This was the spark FSU’s offense needed at he led the ‘Noles during the second half and had two nice touchdown passes. Passes that the receivers had been dropping earlier in the game were caught during the second half. From where I was watching, it looked like the ‘Noles played harder/better for Lee than they did for Weatherford. Based upon this performance, I would hope Lee starts next weekend against NC State.

Overall, the experience was great! I really hope that Florida State thinks about having a “home” game each year in Jacksonville. It was such a good time and it had a bowl type atmosphere and from what I have read, it seems the ‘Noles and ‘Bama each made a nice profit as a result of the game being in Jacksonville.