Utah State vs. Auburn

So you probably all are wondering how my ride went this weekend, right? As it turns out I got a call Wednesday night from a fellow Aggie here at Duke, Mitchell, who happened to have an extra ticket to the USU vs. Auburn game. When an opportunity like that comes along I take it!

I met up with Mitchell and two other Aggie fans, Eric and Eric, on Friday afternoon and we started the long drive to Auburn, Alabama. We went through South Carolina and Georgia before crossing over into Alabama. It was a long drive but the exceptional company made the trip go by quickly.

The next day we caught a shuttle to the stadium. Of course, there were a ton of Auburn fans tailgating around the Stadium.  This is where we first encountered the phenomenon known as Southern Hospitality. We were greeted more than several times with a “Welcome to Auburn” and a “Glad that you could make it down.” It made me ashamed of the way all the fans in Utah, choose any school you’d like, treat fans from other teams. I wish everyone could see what we saw and learn how you should treat others.

The game more than exceeded my expectations. Since we are Utah State and Auburn is the defending national champion I was only hoping that the Aggies would post a few points. I can honestly say that I have never seen Utah State play as well as they did that day. We consistently were getting first downs and marching right into the end zone. The Aggies had the lead most of the game. Unfortunately, USU’s weakness, the defense, showed as they let a ten point lead slip away in the final four minutes of the game. However, I was not disappointed! Utah State posted more yards than Auburn and the Aggie quarterback, true freshman Chuckie Keeton, looked sensational. I have little doubt about making it over 0.500 this year.

After the game we headed to Atlanta where we tried for an hour to get into the Boise State vs. UGA game but that didn’t work out. Sunday we went to the World of Coke in downtown Atlanta; it’s pretty much a Coke-a-cola museum on coke. The history of Coke with their classy marketing scheme was very neat. At the end there was a taste test where one could taste Coke products from around the word. Of course I didn’t taste any of it as my tummy cannot tolerate carbonation, but it was still fun to see all the different flavors of pop. After that we hit the road and made the uneventful trip back to Durham.

All and all it was a great time. Spending time with friends and making new acquaintances is always fun. I only hope that more road trips, with these great men, comes sooner rather than later.