Fast forward to Saturday morning and I'm on the train to Chicago, getting pumped about our road trip to South Bend, Indiana. We left the city around 12 with the 2 hour drive ahead of us. We crossed from central to eastern time, getting there about an hour before kickoff.
We used the drive over to catch up on each other's lives and reminisce about college and our experiences at the Big House. Talked about the work life, the "real world", and the great city of Chicago. He just moved downtown three days ago so there was a lot about the city to share.
When we got there we saw a guy selling tickets, and we asked him the offer and pondered our chances. Its always a bit risky to go with your first possible sale, so we went to park and saw him on our way to the stadium. We got them at 10 below his offer, 20 above face, and started on our journey through campus.
After a few minutes we were really happy with our decision as not only were they good seats - he was the only guy we saw selling tickets all day. This was just a continuation of our good luck as the rainy weather held off and only allowed a spritz on the crowd, and the game was definitely one worth watching.
Our timing on everything couldn't have been better. We walked into section 5 just as the national anthem was playing, and the flag was being raised, then lowered down to half mass. There were tons of people continuing to flow in to the already sold out game. We made it up to our row and were delighted to be seated next to some fellow michigan fans - sophomore students who made the 2.5 hour drive down that morning.
In a nutshell, this game was exciting - an emotional roller coaster that had me cheering, cringing, trembling, and screaming for the boys in maize and blue.
Things started out quick in the first quarter, foreshadowing what was looking to be a great game. The, the ND quarterback got hurt and taken out of the game. (He got hit in the face and couldn't see out of his right eye). It was as if someone poked a hole into the balloon of the stadium as you could feel the energy just deflate out of the ND fans, and their interest almost decrease entirely.
I didn't drive 2 hrs and pay 100 to watch a blow out game . . .
Luckily, after some amazing plays and an epic run by Denard Robinson, the Michigan spirits were back up as we were leading, and would continue to do so for the majority of the game. Going into halftime, there was still no word on the ND quarterback.
The Michigan band played a collection of Lady Gaga songs- Bad Romance, Poker Face/Papparazzi, and Just Dance. The flags and dancers were dressed in black leotards and blonde wigs with bright pink bows in their hair. It was a pretty good performance, entertaining to say the least. The ND band started off with some rhapsody in blue, continued with some other jazzy tunes, then finished with a rendition of "America the Beautiful" while in a formation that outlined the United States and said "USA". I've always been a fan of the halftime shows, but never wanted to make the time commitment to be in the marching band.
Back to football, the 3rd quarter brought the stadium back to life as their starting quarterback ran onto the field. Everyone had the feeling of "alright! Now we're gonna see a game" and see a game we did with several close goals on both sides, and an incredible 95yard run on the ND side. Once that happened I was just in shock. No one saw it coming, and no one could believe that it actually happened.
Nothing much happened the rest of the third quarter, as all the major excitement happened in the last 5 minutes of the game. We were 8 points ahead, and seemingly doing anything we could to just hand them the game. Luckily they didn't want it bad enough - throwing us 2 (maybe 3) interceptions which could have lead to major plays. Even though their major run had me shaking with nerves, I knew our guys would be able to answer the call and give us a win. After too many close calls and wringing my hands with worry, it happened- we scored!!! It was such a great feeling to deflate the ND spirit with only seconds left on the clock and come through with victory.
I WAS SO EXCITED!!!
The stadium, well 75% of it was speechless. You could feel it in the air. Previously the sun came out to try and lift their spirits, but once we scored it went back to hide behind the clouds. Stunned, the ND fans all stayed as the teams left the field and their band took formation to play their alma mater. It was quite epic to sing "Hail to the Victors" in south bend, in the ND stadium.
We were all smiles, saying GO BLUE! And high fiving anyone wearing the coveted maize and blue gear. Walking back to the car we paused to take pictures with Touchdown Jesus and soak in the feeling of victory.
Although the spirit of away games is nothing like winning at home, there's something fun and addictive about following your team and cheering them on.
Bowling Green, and potentially Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue are in my future travel plans for the upcoming weeks, and I hope our team can deliver as exciting a performance.
One thing though, we may want to look into a new kicker. Or just assign that guy more drills at practice.
~Jenna
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
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