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Now that the 2018 season is in the books, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the 2016 Cotton Bowl. What is your favorite Cotton Bowl memory?

Simply put, this was my dream -- my Rose Bowl moment for WMU football. The entire experience was beyond what I thought possible for WMU. As for my favorite memory, it was walking into AT&T stadium and realizing we had more fans than Wisconsin. I could go on about the Gaylord Resort, the Battle of the Bands, or the tailgate but I will leave it at that.

(12-24-2018 12:51 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  Now that the 2018 season is in the books, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the 2016 Cotton Bowl. What is your favorite Cotton Bowl memory?

Simply put, this was my dream -- my Rose Bowl moment for WMU football. The entire experience was beyond what I thought possible for WMU. As for my favorite memory, it was walking into AT&T stadium and realizing we had more fans than Wisconsin. I could go on about the Gaylord Resort, the Battle of the Bands, or the tailgate but I will leave it at that.

The one thing I hated was Wisconsin's tight end making all those third down and forever impossible catches and touchdowns. Without that guy WMU wins that game.

(12-24-2018 10:05 AM)brovol Wrote:  

(12-24-2018 12:51 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  Now that the 2018 season is in the books, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the 2016 Cotton Bowl. What is your favorite Cotton Bowl memory?

Simply put, this was my dream -- my Rose Bowl moment for WMU football. The entire experience was beyond what I thought possible for WMU. As for my favorite memory, it was walking into AT&T stadium and realizing we had more fans than Wisconsin. I could go on about the Gaylord Resort, the Battle of the Bands, or the tailgate but I will leave it at that.

The one thing I hated was Wisconsin's tight end making all those third down and forever impossible catches and touchdowns. Without that guy WMU wins that game.

Troy Fumagalli. I'll never forget that name.

(12-24-2018 10:05 AM)brovol Wrote:  

(12-24-2018 12:51 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  Now that the 2018 season is in the books, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the 2016 Cotton Bowl. What is your favorite Cotton Bowl memory?

Simply put, this was my dream -- my Rose Bowl moment for WMU football. The entire experience was beyond what I thought possible for WMU. As for my favorite memory, it was walking into AT&T stadium and realizing we had more fans than Wisconsin. I could go on about the Gaylord Resort, the Battle of the Bands, or the tailgate but I will leave it at that.

The one thing I hated was Wisconsin's tight end making all those third down and forever impossible catches and touchdowns. Without that guy WMU wins that game.

We started out poorly, as I recall. Didn't Wisconsin have two quick drives for TD's? Then we got into out groove and it became a real game.

Agreed on that TE, he shredded our secondary. Dunno if we would have won had he not been there, but it certainly would have been a closer outcome.

That was our day in the sun, it won't ever come again-at least not in my lifetime.

I'd like to note that several folks now calling for Lester's head were doing the same thing for PJ in his first and second seasons. Same ole, same ole.

For me the Cotton Bowl and the entire season was more than I could have ever expected as a devoted Bronco fan of nearly 40 years. My favorite memories are that we make it into a 5 day vacation with my wife, one daughter, and brother's family of 4, toured Dallas, Waco, Ft Worth, AT&T Stadium, team hotel, team buses, met players families, Battle of Bands, and the game day experience. Everywhere I went, there were people wearing Bronco garb. We outnumbered the Wisconsin fans in every way. I saw some old college friends that I had not seen in over 20 years and they came from NJ, Atlanta, and all over the country. The game got off to a bad start but then we held tough and I will never forget the roar of the Bronco crowd when Terrell scored our first touchdown. I will cherish the entire trip! I assume that we will never get to do it again. The Cotton Bowl was done first class all the way!!

(12-24-2018 11:15 AM)BroncoPhilly Wrote:  

(12-24-2018 10:05 AM)brovol Wrote:  

(12-24-2018 12:51 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  Now that the 2018 season is in the books, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the 2016 Cotton Bowl. What is your favorite Cotton Bowl memory?

Simply put, this was my dream -- my Rose Bowl moment for WMU football. The entire experience was beyond what I thought possible for WMU. As for my favorite memory, it was walking into AT&T stadium and realizing we had more fans than Wisconsin. I could go on about the Gaylord Resort, the Battle of the Bands, or the tailgate but I will leave it at that.

The one thing I hated was Wisconsin's tight end making all those third down and forever impossible catches and touchdowns. Without that guy WMU wins that game.

We started out poorly, as I recall. Didn't Wisconsin have two quick drives for TD's? Then we got into out groove and it became a real game.

Agreed on that TE, he shredded our secondary. Dunno if we would have won had he not been there, but it certainly would have been a closer outcome.

That was our day in the sun, it won't ever come again-at least not in my lifetime.

I'd like to note that several folks now calling for Lester's head were doing the same thing for PJ in his first and second seasons. Same ole, same ole.

Nope. It was different people calling for Flecks head them. The same people who still resent him now for winning big after they insisted he never would. Fleck didn't inherit a champion lever team like Lester did. He truly had to reinvent WMU football. Lester didn't need to, but did anyway, not unlike what Enos did at CMU when he got there.

(12-24-2018 12:45 PM)ru4wmu Wrote:  For me the Cotton Bowl and the entire season was more than I could have ever expected as a devoted Bronco fan of nearly 40 years. My favorite memories are that we make it into a 5 day vacation with my wife, one daughter, and brother's family of 4, toured Dallas, Waco, Ft Worth, AT&T Stadium, team hotel, team buses, met players families, Battle of Bands, and the game day experience. Everywhere I went, there were people wearing Bronco garb. We outnumbered the Wisconsin fans in every way. I saw some old college friends that I had not seen in over 20 years and they came from NJ, Atlanta, and all over the country. The game got off to a bad start but then we held tough and I will never forget the roar of the Bronco crowd when Terrell scored our first touchdown. I will cherish the entire trip! I assume that we will never get to do it again. The Cotton Bowl was done first class all the way!!

I remember walking in downtown Dallas with my son prior to the Battle of Bands. There were WMU fans everywhere -- only a handful of Badger fans until they bussed them in from their hotel. The Battle of the Bands was a great experience as well -- I felt like the BMB won the battle! It was a beautiful day in downtown Dallas.

I did not make it to the Cotton Bowl itself, but the season as a whole was just an incredibly magical journey. One of my best friend’s daughter was a senior in 2016 and we tried to make her understand just how special and once in a lifetime this season was. Her senior year is a season that will be talked about in Kalamazoo for the rest of her lifetime. I did not discover this message board until sometime after the 2016 season, so don’t have a long history here like some of you do, but is always interesting reading the comments. Anyway……..the season highlights for me:

• When gameday came to town. The weather was so crappy that we debated on going, but I am so glad that we did. It was a total blast and another once in a lifetime event.

• When the team left for the championship game with the bus parade through downtown. I just happened to be down there for another reason and decided to hang out by the side of the road. Love him or hate him, Fleck knew how to get this town fired up.

• I did attend the MAC championship game in Detroit and that was another amazing experience. 45.000 people with about 75% of the crowd being WMU. I don’t think I have ever seen such enthusiasm and it was a total blast. When the interception happened in the 4th quarter, the crowd pop was so loud it can still make the hairs on my arms stand up thinking about it now.

• Although I did not attend the Cotton Bowl, we had a group of about 30 people at Jac’s in Portage for the game. The place was absolutely packed and everyone was into it. My poor wife is a Wisconsin grad and was only one of two people in the whole bar dressed in red, but she had a good time too.

It was an incredible experience and WMU darned near won the game!

That said, it is highly unlikely any MAC team will have that opportunity again. Too many hurdles. Everything went WMU's way that season...except for a previously unknown Badger TE who had a career day.

The bloody marys I made at tailgate were the best bloody marys I've ever had. It was my first (and probably last) trip to Jerry's world. The road trip down was really fun as well. Stopping in some random city in Oklahoma was funny. I don't remember much of the game because of the aforementioned bloody marys.

(12-24-2018 04:06 PM)sdsly Wrote:  I did not make it to the Cotton Bowl itself, but the season as a whole was just an incredibly magical journey. One of my best friend’s daughter was a senior in 2016 and we tried to make her understand just how special and once in a lifetime this season was. Her senior year is a season that will be talked about in Kalamazoo for the rest of her lifetime. I did not discover this message board until sometime after the 2016 season, so don’t have a long history here like some of you do, but is always interesting reading the comments. Anyway……..the season highlights for me:

• When gameday came to town. The weather was so crappy that we debated on going, but I am so glad that we did. It was a total blast and another once in a lifetime event.

• When the team left for the championship game with the bus parade through downtown. I just happened to be down there for another reason and decided to hang out by the side of the road. Love him or hate him, Fleck knew how to get this town fired up.

• I did attend the MAC championship game in Detroit and that was another amazing experience. 45.000 people with about 75% of the crowd being WMU. I don’t think I have ever seen such enthusiasm and it was a total blast. When the interception happened in the 4th quarter, the crowd pop was so loud it can still make the hairs on my arms stand up thinking about it now.

• Although I did not attend the Cotton Bowl, we had a group of about 30 people at Jac’s in Portage for the game. The place was absolutely packed and everyone was into it. My poor wife is a Wisconsin grad and was only one of two people in the whole bar dressed in red, but she had a good time too.

I often wondered if the younger generation realized how big of deal it was to attend a New Years day bowl. As a freshman at WMU in 1988, I remember how big it was just to make it to the California Bowl -- the lone MAC bowl at the time.

I experienced Gameday and the MAC Championship as well -- both great experiences. I remember Gameday visiting BG back when Urban Meyer coached them. I never thought I would experience Gameday in Kalamazoo.

After the Cotton Bowl game, my son and I took in the post game party outside AT&T stadium complete with a country band. The weather was absolutely perfect -- 70's and sunny. I was able to catch up with MotownBronco to boot. They had the Rose bowl playing on two giant screens at the party. It was cool and gray in Pasadena --which made me feel like we had the better experience overall. The only thing I felt like I missed out on was a New Years day parade -- but the Battle of the Bands made up for it.

As for the whole season. I went to 12 of the 14 games. Only missing the games @ Illinois and @ Ball State. Best moment had to be taking my recently graduated (from the engineering school) son and daughter out to Dallas. I'll always be indebted to P. J. for that. Without him, none of this was possible!!!

Almost didn’t go to the game my wife was pregnant, high risk. My family watched her for me while I was there. So glad they did. Best sports experience of my life. Would live that year over and over even with the loss at the end.

Quote:Only missing the games @ Illinois and @ Ball State.

Those are out in BFE...

Quote:Almost didn’t go to the game my wife was pregnant, high risk.

No matter what sex-ed taught me about high risk pregnancies -- I'd put it all on the line if it meant winning the Cotton Bowl!