ARLINGTON, Texas – It’s been two years of pandemic chaos and uncertainty.
But for one day, it stopped for the University of Cincinnati faithful. For one day, they were satiated, and things felt – dare we say it? – normal again.
There was hope. There was joy. There were tears, laughter and embraces.
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But there was heartbreak, too. And a loss that would have cut so much deeper for so many if it weren’t for the fact that this day, no matter the score, was already a success story the second the Bearcats stepped onto the field.
“Just being here is a win,” University of Cincinnati 1962 alum Jim Thatcher said as he left the AT&T Stadium after the 27-6 loss with his son and grandson in tow.
Thatcher and all those who traveled so far to see this contest in person won't soon forget how their "Go UC" chants drowned out the "Roll Tide" calls from the fans in crimson and white. Or the way Bearcat football alum and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce strutted in his Cincinnati jacket on the jumbotron, head nodding to the sound of cheers, his excitement echoing across the sprawling 80,000-seat arena.
Even when UC was trailing the Alabama Crimson Tide 17-3 at halftime, no heads were bowed.
“We’re a second-half team,” Dom Davolio, UC class of 2009, said at the half with not so much as a flinch.
Fellow alum Audrey Schnur agreed: “We have a lot of game left in front of us.”
Ethan Green, a UC football commit from Fremont Ross High School in northern Ohio, sat by the band with his mother, Marisa Fairly. She flew him down to Texas so he could see his future team play in the biggest game of their lives, and in the program’s history.
Green said his confidence “wasn’t broken at all” at the half. Green had already been welcomed into the Bearcat family by an entire section of the stadium, showering him with congratulations and appreciative handshakes.
“Win or lose, my guys will still walk away with heads held high that we even made it here,” Green said.
Others weren't quite so confident but had friends there to remind them of what was really important.
"Just sit down, relax," UC alum Devvin Dunaway, of Madisonville, told his buddies whenever they got heated over a bad play. “Look at where we’re at," he said, referring to the Cotton Bowl. "We didn't lose anything here."
Some were just glad that could be anywhere at all. To think that a year ago an event like this was impossible due to the pandemic gave Kathryn Socrates a whole new appreciation for Friday's bowl game.
Despite being vaccinated and boosted, she said it felt weird going down to the concourse to buy a beer without a mask, she said, adding that they rarely went anywhere during the pandemic.
She and her husband made an exception, of course, for the game, being the diehard Bearcat fans they are. Socrates even says their three young children, all under the age of 5, "all were Bearcat fans in utero." (The baby Bearcats are back home in Cincinnati with their grandparents this weekend, cheering the team on from afar.)
Fans found a lot besides concessions when they roamed the stadium. A lot of people bumped into old friends and colleagues they had only seen via screens since before March 2020. The were easy to spot. Just follow the screams.
“In a way, it’s like a reunion,” 1996 UC grad Michael Hoagland said. He flew in from his home in Boston and he wasn’t disappointed in the whole experience, no matter the score.
“A win would be great... but we won,” he said.
“We won this year.”
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