Early in the 2022 football season, Friend Randy said that if his beloved FSU made it to a postseason bowl game, we were going. Well, FSU did make it — to the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando — but Randy decided we should go to a closer game. So we went back to the Birmingham Bowl to see the East Carolina Pirates play the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Full disclosure: Randy wanted to go to the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery to see Georgia Southern play Buffalo. But that game kicked-off at noon Eastern time, and I didn't want to wake up so early in the morning. So we compromised and went to Birmingham, which had a 6:45PM Eastern start. The only down side to this decision was that the entire game was played after dark. We could have used a little sunlight warmth. Actually, we could have used a lot of sunlight warmth. It was cold.

University of Alabama-Birmingham's Protective Stadium has replaced historic Legion Field for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. I mean, it does have larger bathrooms and more convenient concession stands, but its seats aren't any more comfortable and the place isn't wrapped in the smell of BBQ. I mean, it's fine. I'm just old fashioned.

Sadly, the game itself wasn't as good as our last visit. The Chanticleers' starting quarterback knocked himself out of the game in the second quarter, bouncing on his head in the end zone right in front of us, and the team never recovered. (The backup's nameplate read "Guest," which Randy and I had a lot of fun with: the poor temporary replacement wasn't even given his own account!). We left at the end of the third quarter when the game was very obviously over.

Despite these minor problems, Randy and I agreed we both had a great time and will have to try to make going to some bowl game an annual tradition. Maybe we'll get to the Camellia next year... depending on kickoff time.

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What a difference a week makes. Last week Sanford Stadium was abuzz with nervous anticipation as SEC rival South Carolina roared into town in their current bid for national dominance. This week felt more like a relaxed church reunion as Coastal Carolina limped in to take their whipping from a far superior Georgia team.

See that? That's what Sanford Stadium looks like in the 4th quarter of a 59-0 football game. Even the students had long gone home.

Georgia normally opens the season against a weak opponent to try to pick up steam for the coming season. Because of our participation in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (Pre-Season Edition), we don't get our first gimmie game until today. And boy, was it a gimmie. Coastal Carolina found no way to compete with Georgia, outmatched on offense and defense. Even their mascot seemed deferential and outclassed, spending most of the game looking but unable to spot any of the few Coastal Carolina fans in attendance.

I mean no disrespect to the Chanticleers. Their slaughter was simply a necessary sacrifice to the football gods to restore Georgia's honor after two consecutive losses to open the season. And the Bulldogs made the most of the situation, playing hard enough that even Russ, the curmudgeonly substitute-Uga, came out of his dog house to see what all the fuss was about. Briefly.

No point to get too excited. After all, in 4 previous games against Division I-A schools in the past decade, the Chanticleers had lost by a combined 164-13. Now make that 223-13. Go back to sleep, Russ. There's nothing to see here.

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