Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was fortunate enough to attend Mondays game as a neutral with a good friend. thought I would share some thoughts.
getting there- very little if any signage for those not knowing the area or where to park.
Parking - shambles, we pulled into a lot that could possibly have been prepaid parking only. the 2 attendants had no clue what was going on, one walked off to try and park someone the other just waved us through- ah well $50 saved. AT one bend in the lot there were 11 yes 11 people with flags , 9 standing doing nothing, 100 yards on a field that could have taken 10 rows was blocked because everyone had parked at the front. one of the unemployed 11 could have made a lot more spots. we eventually ended up as far away from the exit as we could be BUt there was a gate onto the main street within 50 yards, we hoped it would be opened up later. a pedestrian exit could have saved a mile walk.
Fans- there was a LOT of tailgating going on. Clemson clearly outnumbered Bama fans. pre game was very easy going lots of mingling with no trouble. A mere ONE Clemson fan, drunk as a skunk was telling any non Clemson fans 'f**k you'...classy.
Getting in-chaos . no signs to tell you where to go. security was a joke, 100 lines funneling into 3 in a tent. someone behind me said 'if this is typical Bucs ,no way would I follow them.
Stadium. we had seats in the third tier ,goalline. fantastic view, seats small and tight fit (no Im not a fat ******) , sound system too high with feedback.
Pregame. awesome
Game :- First half Bama ruled by virtue of their D and Clemson not ticking, second half Watson showed the Heisman committee what a mistake they made. he was superb, Williams made the fancy catches , renfrow did the business Wes Walker style. Clemson couldn't run, Bama couldn't pass. Watson was the difference. Bamas D got wore down and they also gave away too many penalties. the final drive was amazing, kudos to Swinney . 1st and 2 at the goal with 6 seconds , everyone expected a FG and OT. they went for it and scored with 1 second left. a sack or a tackle and they lose. the noise when they scored was amazing.
fans inside. we sat with a mix. obviously more Clemson than Bama, and boy could they make some noise. A Clemson home game is definitely on my list now,
the Bama fans were pure class and gracious in defeat, congratulating the Clemson fans on victory and saying what a great game it was despite the result. One or two Clemson fans lacked any class and were taunting the opposition. this continued outside and we saw one scuffle involving 3-4 Clemson fans and an elderly Alabama one...shame
Parking at the end. Chaos. They didn't open the gate so we sat for 2 Fr****n hours to get out. RJ stadium needs to get its act together big time,
so all in all, we paid $800 a ticket to watch one of college Fbs great games and it was worth it.....
congrats to Clemson, commiserations to Alabama ...the difference was a great QB to a good freshman one. who knows Atlanta 2018 could be round 3.
we finally got home at 4.15am......................still buzzing
I attended both last year's game in Phoenix and this year's in Tampa, and there was a definite contrast. Phoenix simply had their act together much better, but they had just hosted the Super Bowl the previous year so the logistics were fresh in their minds. Tampa has just started renovating their stadium and they definitely need it. I understand that the big HD screens, scoreboards, and sound system are all new and that replacing the seating will be next. The restrooms could use some attention also. Signage was pretty bad, and the logistics for where to go and how to manage the crowd was chaotic. We took Uber to/from the game and that was problematic too - they had the ride sharing drop off/pickup set up across the highway in the NY Yankees training facility, which was OK except that traffic was so bad after the game it was hard to find a driver who wanted to brave it (took about 30 - 45 minutes to get a driver). They also evidently had no communication with Uber about how they wanted the drivers to approach and leave the Yankees facility which resulted in mass confusion. Nevertheless, as a Clemson alum/fan I (of course) enjoyed the whole experience immensely. The crowd was very well behaved, Clemson and Alabama have many connections and the fan bases always seem to interact with respect.
Being a Clemson alum, I thought it was very rude the way they booed Spurrier. He is from SC and should be respected as an honorary captain, regardless. You would think college educated people could conduct themselves better in public, especially when representing your team on National TV.
Being a Clemson alum, I thought it was very rude the way they booed Spurrier. He is from SC and should be respected as an honorary captain, regardless. You would think college educated people could conduct themselves better in public, especially when representing your team on National TV.
Spurrier got booed by the stadium.. not the Clemson fans..
The Clemson fans generally hate him for his time at Carolina and the Bama fans hate him for his time at Florida.
The rest hate him for what he did to the Redskins.
The only two groups of people who sort of like him are Carolina and Florida fans.. And a fair number of Carolina fans are still miffed at him for the way he left.
I bet the last 6 seconds will live with you a long time
We were in the corner of the end zone where Hunter Renfrow scored that final TD - happened right in front of us! I was a new graduate in 1981 working my first job and couldn't be there for that National Championship win, so it was pretty special to be there this time.
I'd imagine a lot of Alabama fans have become a bit jaded given the school's success over the last 8 years. Not to mention how much money their fans have spent going to all of the big bowl games they've been in during that stretch. It must not be cheap to attend these bowl games, I am always amazed when you see several thousands of fans making the trip year after year.
Being a Clemson alum, I thought it was very rude the way they booed Spurrier. He is from SC and should be respected as an honorary captain, regardless. You would think college educated people could conduct themselves better in public, especially when representing your team on National TV.
It was kind of stupid to have him (Spurrier) be an "honorary" captain considering he coached at Clemson's rival (USC) and while not a Bama rival, I don't think Bama fans really liked him for his time at Florida. When ESPN showed him as a captain I literally said to myself "What the hell is he doing here, he's going to get boo'd by the entire stadium" and sure enough that's pretty much exactly what happened.
As for the Clemson touchdown and the game being over if there's a sack or tackle, I think Clemson still had 1 timeout left at that point so they would've used it to kick the field goal to force OT.
We were in the corner of the end zone where Hunter Renfrow scored that final TD - happened right in front of us! I was a new graduate in 1981 working my first job and couldn't be there for that National Championship win, so it was pretty special to be there this time.
funny enough so were we....Block 343 !!! great view
It was kind of stupid to have him (Spurrier) be an "honorary" captain considering he coached at Clemson's rival (USC) and while not a Bama rival, I don't think Bama fans really liked him for his time at Florida. When ESPN showed him as a captain I literally said to myself "What the hell is he doing here, he's going to get boo'd by the entire stadium" and sure enough that's pretty much exactly what happened.
As for the Clemson touchdown and the game being over if there's a sack or tackle, I think Clemson still had 1 timeout left at that point so they would've used it to kick the field goal to force OT.
(last paragraph)
However, that touchdown was scored with 1 second to spare.
Perfect timing, but no room if something went wrong and 1 more second got used up.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
