TicketsThey say everything is bigger in Texas.
After 24 hours in the Lone Star State, the Bearcats would agree. The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport is big. The Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center is big. AT&T Stadium is big.
The College Football Playoff is big, and as the Bearcats prepare to make their debut in Friday's Cotton Bowl Semifinal against #1 Alabama, they're looking pretty big too.
The plane that took the team and a collection of staff and family members from CVG to DFW on Sunday––a Boeing 767––was one of the few that could accommodate the Bearcats' size, though one unnamed member of the offensive line still managed to hit his head on the ceiling. When the plane landed in Texas it took five buses adorned with Cincinnati Bearcats graphics to get the team to the hotel in Grapevine.
The first night's event was a trip to the Cowboys' Sunday Night Football matchup with Washington. It's hard to overstate how different AT&T Stadium is from Nippert. One was completed in 1924 at the cost of less than $5 million, adjusted for inflation. The other opened in 2009 after $1.3 billion of construction. As Coach Fickell likes to say, the best team doesn't win, the team that plays the best does. The same ethos could apply to the stage Friday. Humble beginnings don't matter at kickoff. Cincinnati and Alabama will be on equal footing inside the most impressive stadium in America––another impossible-to-believe moment in a season filled with them.
The Bearcats didn't stay long at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night, leaving at halftime to get back to the hotel for some rest, relaxation, and cowboy boots. Every member of the Bearcats' traveling party received a pair. (Sources confirm Coach Fickell went with a light brown model.)
The rest of the evening was spent in the VIP Hospitality room, which is filled with arcade games, pool tables, massage chairs, and enough free candy to make Willy Wonka swoon. The Cotton Bowl does it right.
The Bearcats returned to AT&T Stadium on Monday morning, but this time the field was theirs, although the Cotton Bowl field has yet to be installed in the stadium. It was Cincinnati's first chance to put on helmets and beging their final preparations for the Crimson Tide.
After practice, select members of the team met with the media, including QB Desmond Ridder, who shrugged off the spotlight he's helped place on his 4th-ranked Bearcats.
"For us, it's really just been about us, and will always continue to be about us."
Read More - Offensive Line Looks to Lead Bearcats, Team Begins Practicing in Dallas
- Bearcats Land in Dallas, Ready for Cotton Bowl Prep
After 24 hours in the Lone Star State, the Bearcats would agree. The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport is big. The Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center is big. AT&T Stadium is big.
The College Football Playoff is big, and as the Bearcats prepare to make their debut in Friday's Cotton Bowl Semifinal against #1 Alabama, they're looking pretty big too.
The plane that took the team and a collection of staff and family members from CVG to DFW on Sunday––a Boeing 767––was one of the few that could accommodate the Bearcats' size, though one unnamed member of the offensive line still managed to hit his head on the ceiling. When the plane landed in Texas it took five buses adorned with Cincinnati Bearcats graphics to get the team to the hotel in Grapevine.
The first night's event was a trip to the Cowboys' Sunday Night Football matchup with Washington. It's hard to overstate how different AT&T Stadium is from Nippert. One was completed in 1924 at the cost of less than $5 million, adjusted for inflation. The other opened in 2009 after $1.3 billion of construction. As Coach Fickell likes to say, the best team doesn't win, the team that plays the best does. The same ethos could apply to the stage Friday. Humble beginnings don't matter at kickoff. Cincinnati and Alabama will be on equal footing inside the most impressive stadium in America––another impossible-to-believe moment in a season filled with them.
The Bearcats didn't stay long at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night, leaving at halftime to get back to the hotel for some rest, relaxation, and cowboy boots. Every member of the Bearcats' traveling party received a pair. (Sources confirm Coach Fickell went with a light brown model.)
The rest of the evening was spent in the VIP Hospitality room, which is filled with arcade games, pool tables, massage chairs, and enough free candy to make Willy Wonka swoon. The Cotton Bowl does it right.
The Bearcats returned to AT&T Stadium on Monday morning, but this time the field was theirs, although the Cotton Bowl field has yet to be installed in the stadium. It was Cincinnati's first chance to put on helmets and beging their final preparations for the Crimson Tide.
After practice, select members of the team met with the media, including QB Desmond Ridder, who shrugged off the spotlight he's helped place on his 4th-ranked Bearcats.
"For us, it's really just been about us, and will always continue to be about us."
Read More - Offensive Line Looks to Lead Bearcats, Team Begins Practicing in Dallas
- Bearcats Land in Dallas, Ready for Cotton Bowl Prep