Fiesta Bowl - Gameday

I'm writing this blog after a post-football high. Tonight, the Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles for their first playoff win in 13 years. The Cowboys have always been my number one love, football-wise, and they will always be most important in my football life.

And I can say that tonight's victory against the Eagles (especially Philly) does a lot to make up for what happened in Glendale, Arizona on Monday night. Because there's only one thing to describe the Fiesta Bowl itself.

It sucked.

The rest of the trip was great. The resort was amazing. I've posted 22 pictures of the resort on my facebook, and it will demonstrate how amazing it was there. I thought the Suns' game was great, and I loved walking down the ten-mile walk to Zipps with Matt and Ashley. As far as a trip goes, I would've given it an A or an A+ up until game day.

And the day of the game didn't start off horribly. I woke up, threw on some purple, and I met Ashley for a late breakfast. January 4th was, coincidentally, Ashley's birthday, and we went to the buffet for breakfast. They had an amazing selection of breakfast foods, and while it was expensive, it was delicious. And it was awesome to be around so many Frog fans in the middle of Arizona.

A few minutes later, Ashley and I were throwing the football around in the hotel courtyard with a little football we were given by Anthony Travel. It was hard to throw because it was tiny and covered in smooth plastic on one side. But it was fun to throw it around and get ourselves ready for football.

Before we knew it, we were ready to head to the stadium. The Fiesta Bowl threw together "College Football's Biggest Party" near the stadium, and we were set to be there for a few hours before kickoff.

There was a nice 30-40 minute drive out to the stadium from Glendale, and when we arrived, we all experienced Ominous Feeling Number One.

The whole party was bright orange. We looked out, and the entire crowd seemed to be Boise-based. It turns out that the Boise side of the party was simply closest to the entrance, but even then, there seemed to be twice as many Boise fans as TCU fans. Maybe TCU fans were elsewhere, or maybe Boise fans just really like free hot dogs and potato salad.

But it was the start of something that felt wrong. The party itself was a bit dumb, especially with the $20 ticket cost, and I'm not sure we would've gone if it wasn't included in our package. There were some interesting things there, including the bearded "college football guy" from the Allstate commercials, but it was, all in all, pretty dumb. We waited in a line that stretched half-way across the party for a meager hot dog and a scoop of potato salad, and everything else was expensive.

There was a bit of an online sportsradio station at the game, and they were asking for predictions on the score. Boise fans were conservative: 21-20 Boise, 27-24 Boise, 17-14 Boise.

TCU fans were a bit more confident. 35-7. 40-14. One kid even said 80-0.

Ominous Sign Number Two - Overconfident TCU.

We did shoot a bit of a video for something called "Fear the Frog" that was supposed to air on the Mtn network. Ashley and I would've been a big part of this one section, but I don't know if we'll ever see it.

Anyway, after a bit at the party, we went and found some of our other friends at a tailgate. Then, it was time to go inside the stadium. The game was going to begin soon.

When we got in, the stadium was beginning to fill up, and we noticed something odd. We were in the corner of the TCU section, and we noticed that half of each section was full. The other half was speckled with fans, but it wasn't nearly as full as the other side. We wondered if these were the tickets that Iowa fans had bought and tried to re-sell.

Anyway, the players eventually came out for warmups...and we had another ominous sign.

Ominous Sign Number Three - Boise's fans are freakin' loud. When TCU players came out for warmups, there was a pretty loud cheer for them. When Boise players came out, there was a roar. I turned to Ashley and told him we needed to jump out to a lead to take the fans out of the game.

Eventually, the game was getting ready to start. In pregame, they had alumni players from each team. Boise State's player was their quarterback from their earlier trip to the Fiesta Bowl, Jared Zombranski (or something like that, I'm not looking his name up). He never played in the NFL, although he did try out for the Cowboys, I believe. TCU's, of course, was Mr. Tomlinson. I wish "better alumni" was worth eight points. That would've helped.

So TCU received the ball first, and this was the matchup that I was most excited about. Because we knew Boise's offense was great, but I trusted the TCU defense to hold them. But our offense was also top five in the nation, and I hadn't heard much about their defense. I knew that they were giving up points against their WAC opponents, and I assumed we'd be able to move the ball.

The first drive, however, Andy Dalton missed two wide-open receivers. It looked like he was nervous, and maybe the crowd was affecting him.

Ominous Sign Number Four - Andy Dalton looks shaky.

TCU's defense, as it did all night, held Boise for a bit...and eventually TCU got the ball back. Over the speaker, it was announced that TCU's audio equipment wasn't working, and that both teams would not be allowed to use their radios.

Ominous Sign Number Five - Technology fails TCU.

The first play after the announcement, Dalton threw a pick-six. Boise was up 7-0. And my legs stopped working. The whole week, I was worried about the game, but I wasn't worried that we were going to lose. TCU, if they were able to get a big win, would be in position to make a run at the Associated Press Number One ranking. They wouldn't play in the national championship, but they could still get a share of it.

Now we had just given Boise the lead, and Kellen Moore hadn't done anything yet. It was bad. TCU was able to fight back and get the score to 10-7.

And I was confident that TCU was going to be okay at that point. The offense was struggling, but all year, the TCU coaching staff was able to make the right adjustment. Gary Patterson was able get the team focused. It was obvious at that point that Andy Dalton was affected by the crowd, and the whole team was playing like a team that hadn't been on TV before.

But the second half wasn't a whole lot better. The TCU offense was based on the running game all season, but the whole game, TCU only ran the ball ten times with running backs. It wasn't that the running game wasn't working - for some reason, the Frogs just didn't want to run it.

TCU tied it at 10, and the defense was doing it's job. They allowed only three points, and the game was turning into a punt fest.

And TCU, for a while, remembered who they were playing. Early in the second half, TCU burned a timeout when Boise State was about to punt. They saw something they didn't like, and they didn't want to get burned by a fake punt.

But with a 4th and 9 from their own 32-yard line, Boise did what they do. They got cute. I turned to Ashley, and I said it. "They're going to fake punt." I just had a feeling.

Ominous Sign Number Six - A Touch of ESP.

It was crazy in a lot of ways. Boise was unable to move the ball, and while their defense was playing well, they would be giving the Frogs the ball in field goal range to take the lead. And it was nine yards they had to get...not one or two.

But this was Boise. The nation was expecting them to get cute, and they couldn't move the ball otherwise. The snap was done, and I saw a TCU player break through. I thought he was going to block the punt, but instead, I saw a Boise player run for the first down.

And that was the ballgame. There was still enough time for TCU to do something about it. Heck, there was still another fifty yards that Boise needed for the go-ahead score. But, for all intensive purposes, that was the ballgame. TCU's defense, which was solid all night, was shell-shocked. A few plays later, Boise led 17-10.

TCU had a couple chances to tie it. A TCU receiver dropped a ball in the endzone, and Dalton missed a guy who was wide open with nothing separating him and the endzone. Two chances to score. Two failed opportunities.

And even with 99 yards to go, one minute on the clock, and only one timeout left, TCU still had a chance. And with only thirty yards between them and a tie, Dalton threw his third pick. And the game was over.

TCU was supposed to win the game, and they'd just lost by seven. I was upset, I was angry, and I was sad. This year was supposed to be special, and it'd just ended on the worst of notes.

And the worst thing is that I think TCU was the better team on the field that night. TCU had played its worst game of the year, their quarterback played the worst game of his life, and it took a risky fake punt to beat the Frogs by seven.

TCU was the better team. TCU is the better team. And that's why things hurt so bad.

As we were walking out the stadium, there was a logjam on the stairs. I was mad, and I didn't want to wait in line for no reason. There were two sets of stairs, and they crossed each other on each floor. I noticed that the other set of stairs weren't being used, and I decided to jump them. The night had been terrible, and I needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

I almost broke my neck doing it, but Ashley called it the smartest move of the night. We made our way to the bus, and we went back to the hotel. When we got back, I wanted to get out of my purple and get some alcohol in me. I wanted it so badly that I decided to sprint down the hallway to my room.

And I ran as fast as I could, my body full of angry and depressed emotion. I ran so fast that I felt like I was flying with no control of my legs. I probably run a 4.8 40, but I felt like I was running a 2.0.

We had a drink at the bar with other TCU fans, and then we went to bed. It was awful, and I wanted to sleep it off.

Next on the blog, I'll wrap up the trip with the final day in Arizona, and I'll give my thoughts on the loss, the game, and the future.