JORDAN'S JOURNAL: December 15
12/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 16, 2010
Editor's Note: Senior co-captain Jordan Gafford will provide insight on Miami's trip to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile through a series of journals on MURedHawks.com. While the team is in Oxford, entries will be posted at various intervals, but will appear daily from Mobile.
The MAC Championship game was the most fun I have ever had wearing the Red and White. Northern Illinois was a solid team, but to beat them and be outright MAC Champs was an awesome feeling. It made it more special that we played well and the team really came together as a unit. The last two games of the season (Temple and NIU) were the best all-around team efforts by a Miami team in the five years I have been a RedHawk and I am so proud to be a part of the turnaround.
After the game, we all celebrated on the field. I didn't want to leave the field, and it seemed as though our fans did not want to leave either. What a change a year can make! To see the pure joy on the faces of the guys was something I will always remember. The last couple years we have all been through a lot of tough times and hard work. To see it all pay off in the end was awesome.
When we got on the bus, we all started debating where we would be playing in our bowl game. Being the old man on the team that I am, I just sat back and listened to the guys with a big smile on my face because I was just thankful to be going to a bowl - I wasn't sure I would ever have that opportunity.
Saturday, Armand Robinson, Coach Haywood, and myself were presented with the MAC Championship trophy at the hockey game. It was so fun to see people excited about football again. I wanted so badly to have a successful football team for the student body to rally around, and to finally have that is sweet.
The next day, we found out we were going to be heading to Mobile, Alabama to play MTSU in the GoDaddy.com bowl. In speaking with Dr. Bates, he was telling me how awesome this bowl experience was going to be, and how fortunate we were to be headed there. Just listening to him talk about it got me hyped.
The next couple the guys focused on school, lifting, and rehabbing injuries. We are in the middle of finals and the coaches are really on the guys to finish the semester strong. This team has come a long way academically and the guys are really doing a great job in the classroom.
This past Monday and Tuesday, Nate Williams, myself, and a host of people from the athletic department headed down to Mobile for a site visit. Our plans were slighted altered due to the weather. We initially were going to fly on a tiny little plane out of Oxford... I was not too thrilled about that and neither was 315-lb Nate Williams. We ended up flying commercial and had a great time down in Mobile. The people there are awesome. They truly are excited about us coming down and love football. The hospitality people took great care of us and I can't wait to get back down there and get some more seafood.
I hope that all our fans will seriously consider joining us for the game. I promise you will have a good time.
Practice starts on Saturday and the guys are excited to get back to work. Only 22 more days!
-- Jordan
