Yes it was.
The Wildcats of The University of Kentucky and the Tigers of Clemson University.
A good old fashioned knock down, drag out.
I thought this would be a hard fought game, and I wasn't dissapointed.
Both teams seemed to be evenly matched. One team just didn't get it done when it counted the most.
I had a chance to shoot Clemson football earlier this year, and I didn't do it.
I think the editor from that company wanted me to cover them all year.
It's just more of a drive from my house than I want to take every Saturday.
After I saw the Clemson team walk the field with head coach Dabo Swinney, I began to second guess myself.
One of the things I love about college football is the traditions and ceremonies that surround the game. I've got a lot of them that i've yet to mark off my to-do list before I can quit taking up space on the sidelines.
The game started out with Kentucky seeming to have the upper hand. Here Wildcat runningback Derrick Locke runs around left end early in the game.
Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker passes from the pocket. As you can tell, I've started to get bored and started to drag the shutter. Maybe bored is not the right word i'm looking for. I was cold, it had started to snow, me knees were starting to hurt, I had a couple of decent images. I was just looking for something a little different. I do that sometimes. I love dragging the shutter at night games when both teams uniforms are colorful.
Kentucky quarterback Morgan Newton drops back to pass.
Derrick Locke takes a pitch and runs around left end as I drag the shutter again.
Music City Bowl MVP C.J. Spiller looks good as I finally catch a slow shutter speed image of him.
One of the problems with televised games and especially bowl games is the dead time between change of posession, time outs, quarters, etc..... I know the schools, conferences, sponsers, bowl committees, and who ever else that has a claim to the TV rights need to sell air time(commercials), but dang if it don't make for long lapses in concentration when you have your mind on the game. During one of these lengthy lapse of concentration, I noticed the reflection of the high definition scoredboard / video screen in the windows of the pressbox. Nice and colorful, right?
See......I did shoot something besides slow pan images. Quarterback Morgan Newton of Kentucky.
One thing I kept on noticing was the bottoms of the Clemson players cleats. They wuz shiny. I ain't never seen shiny bottom shoes. What will they think of next?
Clemson would keep pluggin' away. Sometimes they would come up a little short. Here Tiger tight end Michael Palmer almost makes the catch. But that pluggin' away would pay off for Clemson, as they would later score to go ahead.
As time was winding down, Kentucky head coach Rich Brooks begin to work the officials.
With about five and a half minutes remaining in the game, Kentucky was facing a fourth and nine and lined up to punt, when they called for a fake punt. I kinda had a feeling that would be a good time for one.
The Kentucky punter, Ryan Tydlacka, received the snap and pulled the ball down and ran around right end. After gaining enough for the first down, he was introduced to the game of football by Clemson safety Spencer Adams. I bet he wont fake another punt again.
I was across the field on the Kentucky sidelines waiting for the Clemson players to give a Gatorade bath to head coach Dabo Swinney. Just as they dumped the bucket of Gatorade over his head, Clemson runningback and Music City Bowl MVP C.J. Spiller walked into my frame. You know.....the more I look at it, the more I like him being in the frame. I think it adds something to it.
