2012 Gator Bowl Champions

Happy New Year!

Not that I'm keeping track, but this year's resolution is to get back to work on this blog.  I took an extended hiatus while we were busy traveling this Fall; however, that doesn't mean that we didn't do a whole lot of living in Birmingham and exploring some new spots in Metro Detroit.

Thus, here goes the first post of 2013, and I thought it was only fitting that the first major event of the year was Northwestern's victory on New Years Day in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl against Mississippi State ending a 64-year long streak without a bowl victory!  This was certainly the year for the record books:

• Our 5th straight bowl appearance (11 overall)
• First 10 win season since 1998
• First bowl victory since 1949
• Fitzgerald's 50th win as a coach becoming the all-time winner at Northwestern
• We attended 7 of the 13 games, and our record was 5-2

Even though the 'Cats led 13-0 early, they missed some opportunities that could have made the score 21-0, but of course, Scottie and I were happy to take the lead.  Of course, that didn't last long at Mississippi crawled back into it with the 'Cats leading by 3 at the half.  Big credit goes to Budzien who had a tremendous year kicking in 17 of 18 field goals this year.  The two he made in this game were 30+ yards out.  In the second half, after Mississippi State tied it, the 'Cats came back in a big way with Simian scrambling out of trouble that led to a touchdown, then a nice drive that included an infamous Colter run led to a touchdown with a sneaky run by Simian, of all people!  There was another big interception by the 'Cats that led to Venric Mark touchdown, and a big stop on defense for the final drive.

After the 'Cats intercepted, we popped the champagne, and jumped up and down in jubilation.  This just doesn't happen often for 'Cats fans, so we made sure to yell extra loud and high-five a whole lot.  It was fun to watch Fitz finally get doused with gatorade after a bowl game and hear his post-game remarks.  A lot of emotion there and everywhere for purple nation!  You can relive all the highlights here.

Since moving to Birmingham, we have kept up our season tickets to Northwestern football games (officially and unofficially), but we've also managed to attend 2 of the last 5 bowl games skipping this year's TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl and last year's Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.  But we did watch the 2008 Alamo Bowl, attend the 2009 Outback Bowl in Tampa, and attend the 2010 Ticketcity Bowl in Dallas!  Each of those last 4 games were close with us losing two games in OT, but this time, it was a solid 34-20 victory to remember for quite awhile...or at least until the Fall!

Thanks 'Cats!