Purp
Active Member
I got where you were going and agree that no single moment from that game stands out as a memory, but the entire night itself is unique in that way for me.Was just picking out individual moments (the Utah game really didn’t have one outside of maybe the kickoff fumble). If we’re picking entire games.... Utah, OU 2014, Baylor 2015.
I agree that atmosphere will never be matched and I don't think it will even if we host OU in the final game of the regular season with an undefeated record on the line. There were decades of pent up fan frustration unleashed that night after generations of low expectations. Even though we all went in expecting we should win that night, I think most of us expected a very close battle and the blowout nature of that game from the very first kickoff mixed with those decades of ineptitude and combusted. Add in the fact that the stakes were such that only one undefeated non-BcS conference team would get a chance at a BcS bowl game and it got even more intense.I still have dreams about that Utah game. I have always said we will never get to that atmosphere again. However, I have faith that if we can get our program back to the top of the Big12 and get gameday on campus for a night game then we could see something special. We just haven't had that marquee game in the new stadium where all eyes are on FW and AGCS.
P.s. this is not a bat signal for maniac and others to witch about the new stadium seating. Back to respecting how awesome that highlight video was and god bless Brian Estridge.
Moments since that night (Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl in particular) have raised expectations to a level that we won't be so shocked to win games like that. And now, with the conference championship game, even if we lost our perfect record against OU on the last game of the regular season we'd still have a chance to redeem ourselves the next week. Conversely, if we won that game we'd still have to play the game again the next week on a neutral site to try to remain undefeated.
For these reasons I don't think that atmosphere can ever be duplicated. It was a perfect storm of circumstances, angst, pre-game hype, and absolute dominance that created that atmosphere. I just don't think the circumstances or hype will ever match up quite like that again even if the pre-game hype and dominance do.