#71 South Alabama

Mobile, AL

Hancock Whitney Stadium

November 11, 2023

South Alabama 21 - Arkansas State 14 (ESPN Recap)

As a late Halloween costume this year, I did my best Connor Stallions impression: standing sideline for the entire game dressed head-to-toe in Arkansas St coaching gear and cheered on the Red Wolves, watching them fall in narrow defeat. La’Damian Webb was a problem on the South Alabama side of the field and the ASU QB1 made a bunch of questionable throws throughout the game. Cannot knock the Ark St defense for holding an explosive offense to just 21 points.

Mobile, Alabama has the twang and deep south vibes you would expect, but it also has a charming downtown area, a 2-building high rise skyline, and beautiful water views from various parts of the city. Sam S and I took two short Delta flights into MOB, grabbed lunch at the gluten-free-friendly Cheese Cottage, and then traveled to Hancock Whitney Field. The drive to campus was a bit more grungy and lacked noteworthiness and campus itself underwhelmed. The campus and airport are all 30 mins away from downtown which is an important distinction as Mobile is cool, but USA’s campus didn’t slap for us.

We participated in defensive warmups and took our spots right on the edge of the filed at the 20-yard line.

Perfect spot for when the opening game kickoff by Ark St came right to us on a horrible KO.

Fun game where the rain luckily held off and ASU kept it close. Nearly going down 18 with 3 mins left, they were able to force a fumble on Webb inside the +25, drive down field, and score a TD on a miracle 4th and long to cut the score to 7. The defense delivered a 3-and-out on the subsequent possession and was ready to get the ball back with 1:45 left and no timeouts, when a walk-on ST player ran into the punter, giving So Alabama a 1 st down and ending the game. Betting this game was difficult for me all week and did not go well. The only bet that I even came close to making that would have won was the U55 (which I didn't take). Every other bet I made or thought about making did not win.

In the crazy impressive category, I met a guy on the Arkansas St sidelines who has been to every Arkansas St football game for the past 48 years. Every home game, away game, and bowl game. 468 consecutive Arkansas St football games without missing a single one. His name is Ron, and this is Ron.

He is a retired athletic trainer for the team which makes a little bit more sense, but it’s still 468 straight games through sickness, weddings, funerals, etc for 5 decades without a missed game. I spent a lot of time thinking about that this weekend. He is honing down on 50 years and 500 games before he hangs them up. Ron is a real one and has been to more FBS stadiums than I have (giving him credit for now-FBS programs that at the time he visited were not).

The most unique part of being dressed as a grad assistant coach on the sidelines was that we were aggressively heckled by the student section from South Alabama. They were in the face of the offensive players most of the game, but as coaches walked past the section, they taunted the coaches too. Sam and I were subject to the taunting despite not being coaches. Now let me tell you, this was incredibly entertaining as a non-coach being confused for a coach. "Hey coach! You're an idiot! Do more coaching and less walking!" as well as "You suck coach. Game is over. Pack your equipment and head back to shitty Arkansas!" There were many inappropriate, but hilarious taunts directed at the players. 100% they heard the comments and it had a non-zero impact on their mental attention on the sidelines. Kudos to the USA fans for a solid Sun Belt taunting exhibition. I expect this to be the first and last time I get fan vitriol while on the sidelines of a CFB game. It was amazing!

At the end of the game, there was no field rush, but since we were coaches we obviously participated on the field for post-game handshakes. I got caught by Sam trying to keep the serious solemn face on during handshakes, because, ya know, we lost and all.

Everyone liked the light show.

We hit up Squid Ink for dinner and then Loda Biergarten to watch the three late-night west-coast CFB games where UTSA and Boise behaved and Oregon didn't, before flying home Sunday morning.

This was the final stadium for the 2023 season. Put up 10 games (9 new stadiums + Red River) this year in 7 weekends of travel. See you next fall!