One of my newer coworkers graduated from the University of Tennessee. And a couple of other coworkers graduated from the University of Cincinnati. And these two schools just happened to be playing each other in football last weekend! So what better way to spend the weekend than with my friends watching these two schools fight it out on the gridiron?
Of course, since I have no loyalties to either side, I was the unbiased observer. But the two parties made a few friendly bets as to who would win the game. Whichever team lost, the loser had to wear the winning school's colors to work on Monday. It made for a very interesting build-up to the game and a lot of smack talk during the game!
So we had reserved a cabin near Gatlinburg for Friday and Saturday nights, and we spent the weekend down in the hills. We got in late Friday night and set up shop in the cabin. We played a few friendly games of pool and air hockey and then rested up for the big day on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, we drove to Knoxville for the big game! It was warm, no doubt, with temperatures around 85 degrees. But as my UT friend claims, normally early September is much warmer in Knoxville, so it appears that we got a very nice day of weather. We milled around campus for awhile, soaking in the game day atmosphere and then headed over to Neyland Stadium. Our seats were really awesome, as you can see by my photos.
The Bearcats took an early lead with a sweet 65-yard scoring play from running back Isaiah Pead. I got a few good photos of him as he ran it in and scored right in front of us. Up until that point, the UT crowd had been pretty loud, but that score quieted them down a bit. Of course, the Volunteers came right back, scoring back-to-back TD's to take a 14-7 lead. Then, UC quarterback Zach Collaros threw a touchdown to Adrien Robinson to tie the game back up at 14-14 after one quarter.
After that, the Vols started to pull away. They scored two more times in the second quarter to take a 28-14 lead into halftime. It wasn't looking good for my UC buddies, but there was still a chance for a comeback.
But in the second half, the Vols started to wear down the Bearcats. Tennessee scored twice more in the third quarter and led 42-17 after three. Then they put the finishing touches on the victory, kicking a field goal late in the fourth quarter to come away with a 45-23 victory.
While UC came out firing, they were simply overmatched in this game. While the UC offense is good, their defense simply could not stop the Vols' attack. UT quarterback Tyler Bray had a career day, going 34 of 41 with 405 passing yards, 4 touchdown passes and no interceptions. He also added a rushing TD for good measure. The UT receivers also had great days. Justin Hunter had 10 catches for 156 yards and a TD. Fellow wideout Da'Rick Rogers had 10 catches for 100 yards and 2 TD's. The Bearcat defense just could not stop the UT passing game.
For UC, running back Isaiah Pead had a good game, gaining 155 yards on 14 carries. But his 65-yard TD run accounted for a large portion of those yards in only one play. Quarterback Zach Collaros was 21 of 34 for 230 yards with 2 TD passes and no interceptions, while receiver D.J. Woods had 9 catches for 111 yards.
Here are some photos from the game:
All-in-all, an exciting game and a good time had by all. It's always fun to get away for a weekend and do something fun. I had never been to a college game other than at Ohio State, so this was a pretty cool experience. Granted, the game day experience in Knoxville was pretty impressive. There were about 94,000 fans at the game, and the fans are passionate. But give me a game at the 'Shoe any day. It was good to experience another team's home field, but it just doesn't feel right to hear "Rocky Top" all the time instead of "Hang On Sloopy."
But regardless, the mountain scenery was pretty cool. Check out this sweet panorama photo I took from our cabin on Sunday morning:
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