We’re back from NC State and as we promised friends and family we can back with a BIG VICTORY! Ahh the ride home is always so pleasant after the sweet tastes of victory, hopefully we’ll get more and more of that taste. So here’s the scoop on UCF’s big win over NC State to start the 2007 football season, this was only our 2nd ever BCS victory and first since 2000 when we beat Bama…luckily I was at both!

Pictures & Videos

First off here is the link to pictures and video. I took a lot of “quick” vids with my camera and I put a few of the best up on Google Video so they can be easily viewed but they aren’t the best quality, so I also put them on my site for those that have a fast connection and want the best quality. Here the two videos up on Google

UCF Players and Fans Celebrate the NC State Victory


Kevin Smith finds the end zone for the 2nd time as UCF fans go nuts

More NC State Road Trip Videos (full quality so may take long to download)

NC State Road Trip Pics

Trip Comments

The Road Trip:
Drove up with my uncle and his 6 boys, so there were 8 of us in one mini-van. Met up with my uncle’s father and nephew who drove over from Atlanta and met us at the tailgate. Word of caution if anyone ever follows in our footsteps, don’t plop flags on the only windows you can actually open with that many men in one car. We made that mistake and it cost us dearly on the way home.

The Tailgate:
Speaking of tailgating we had a great extended group that also including Leger Douzable’s family, my friend Gena and her large crew full of die hards, and my buddy Paul. Mike Greco’s family even joined us towards the end. Thanks Eric for letting us use your grill, that sucker was full all day. Can’t say enough nice things about Leger’s parents they are incredible.

The Enemy Fans:
We got of lot of boos and attention walking towards the stadium from NCST fans, but luckily a nice man warned us about going in the direction we were headed as it was a rowdy student section. He recommended we cross the street and take a different route, we took his advise although I hear not all UCF fans were so lucky. Other than that just about all NC State fans we encountered were very friendly, I had a couple of nice conversations after the game. Very classy indeed.

The Pre-Game:
I really liked NC State stadium, it was very cool how it is set deep below ground level. Walking in I couldn’t help but think about how the next time I walk in a stadium it will be on UCF’s campus. Met Corey Rabizinsky’s dad before the game, I have a friend at work who is a friend of their family’s so I’ve been meaning to say hello. He was very nice and I could tell very excited about not only the game but the season.

The Game:
The tale of two halves as we could barely have played a better game in the 1st half, especially defensively. In the 2nd half the defense broke down a little but considering how long they were out there I think they still did a remarkable job. They get the game ball. The offense (minus Kevin) needs to work on some things, but I have faith those problem can be addressed. The UCF fans there (2,000+) stood the ENTIRE game and made a ton of noise, I heard the players really enjoyed that. After the game in talking to some of them they couldn’t say thank you enough to the fans that came up.

I really could go on and on about how special this game was to all Knight fans, but I trust that if you are reading this then I’m probably preaching to the choir. I will say that I am so thankful as a LONG TIME UCF fan that has gone to many road losses that we were able to finally get a big victory again. It just makes you feel so good because you know what good it will do for this program. So thank you to all the players that played!

The Chant:
Only criticism of the UCF fans is the U-C-F chant that has been put on speed, this isn’t new but it’s time to make a stand. It starts slow like it is supposed to but someone kicks into overdrive and people start chanting the letters so fast that it ends less than 15 seconds after it starts. We need to get back to the nice and steady U—C—F—U—C—F. I joked with my cousin Ryley about starting a facebook group for this purpose. Hey they do it for everything else.