Miracle Bowl
MIRACLE BOWL – August 24, 2024 – Marietta, Georgia, USA
By Georgia standards, Mark Whittingham was not a college football fanatic. Still, he loved watching the game and remained a loyal supporter of his alma mater, BYU. Since graduating and moving his little family across the country, he looked back fondly on the days when he was a student. One of the best parts of the carefree lifestyle he remembered was attending football games in person. BYU’s team was inconsistent, often losing close games in heartbreaking ways, but Mark enjoyed the atmosphere and comradery and took the highs with the lows.
As he looked forward to the 2024 football season, Mark dreamed of once again being in a stadium with his favorite team. He brought up the idea with his wife, Henrietta. “What if we made a quick trip out to Utah for a game?”
Henrietta tended to worry more about family finances than Mark. She gave him a dismissive look and said, “Sounds pretty expensive. What’s wrong with watching on TV?”
“It’s not the same as being there.”
“Usually, it’s better. I remember almost freezing to death sitting through night games in the snow.”
Without any support from Henrietta, Mark continued to plot a trip to a football game. He studied BYU’s upcoming schedule and tried to decide which games the team might win and if they would be played under reasonably warm conditions. Most pre-season prognosticators were pessimistic about the team, projecting they would only win four or five games. The experts expected BYU to finish near the bottom of the standings for the Big 12 Conference with no hope for a winning record or post season bowl game.
“This doesn’t look good,” Mark said to himself. “How am I ever going to convince Henrietta to fly out to watch them lose a game?”
As he was just about ready to move on from the idea and maybe try again in 2025, Mark was struck by something Henrietta posted with a magnet on their refrigerator. Written in fancy calligraphy letters on the back of an index card were the words, “Faith Precedes the Miracle.” Mark knew very well that the phrase was supposed to have a religious meaning and apply to miracles like recovering from cancer. But he wondered if there might be room in the universe for a football miracle. If he took a leap of faith, maybe he would witness something amazing.
For Mark, the most amazing football thing he could hope to see was BYU playing in a prestigious bowl game after a winning season. He looked up the best possible bowl a team from the Big 12 Conference could reach and discovered it was the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas on December 28th. Of course, if the team had an undefeated season, they might skip the Alamo Bowl and go right to the College Football Playoff. But that seemed like too much of a faith leap. The Alamo Bowl felt like just enough of a stretch.
Mark secretly looked up ticket prices to attend the Alamo Bowl and to fly to San Antonio. If he purchased them early, before the season started and no one knew who would end up in which bowl, tickets for the game were relatively cheap. And he could always resell bowl game tickets if things did not work out. Airplane tickets were a different story. Booking those four months early would truly take some guts and faith.
Mark kept any possible plans to himself while he pulled up airline websites several times per day to check on ticket prices for San Antonio. He was probably hoping for a sign, like a massive price drop, that might confirm he was supposed to move ahead. But prices remained steady and without some external prompting, Mark may have stalled out and let the Alamo Bowl idea fade. Then he happened to overhear his boss discussing his work performance and whether he deserved a promotion.
“The thing about Mark is he’s a solid guy, but he doesn’t have a lot of vision,” the boss said in what he thought was a confidential conversation. “He’s not a risk taker. We need someone bolder in that position.”
“No vision, huh? Not a risk taker?” Mark said to himself as he stewed over the boss’s remarks. “I take risks all the time. I can be as bold as anyone around here.”
To prove his spontaneity, that afternoon, Mark used his credit card to buy Alamo Bowl and plane tickets for himself, Henrietta, and his three-year-old son. When he got home and saw Henrietta, he felt less bold and avoided telling her for two weeks. He knew she would eventually see the charges on the credit card statement, so he finally came clean one night while she was laughing about the way their son tried to hide a pea up his nose.
“Oh, I have some good news,” Mark began. “You always say how hard it is to find me presents. This year, you don’t have to worry about me for Christmas or my birthday.”
“You found something you want?”
“Yeah. Well actually, I already bought it. But it can count as my present.”
“What is it?”
“We’re all going to a BYU football game.”
Henrietta accepted the announcement the same way she might have accepted news that her in-laws were coming for a visit. She sighed and said, “What day? Hopefully, I can get together with friends still in Utah.”
“It’s not in Utah,” Mark replied sheepishly. “I’m thinking bigger. We’re going to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. At the end of December.”
“BYU’s playing in San Antonio?”
“If they win a bunch of games this season. I’m showing faith they will. I got inspired by the card you put on the fridge. Faith precedes the miracle.”
“You’re saying you bought tickets to a game that BYU has a chance to play in but you don’t know for sure. In San Antonio, where we don’t know anyone.”
“I bought game tickets and plane tickets. But no matter what, it’ll be fun. San Antonio’s supposed to be nice.”
“Was this part of some weird bet or dare? Why would you do something like this?”
Mark grinned crookedly and shrugged. “The card. I wanted to be bold.”
“How about talking with me first the next time you decide to be bold?” Henrietta walked to the refrigerator and yanked off the Faith Precedes the Miracle card.
Football season began and Mark had never felt more invested in BYU’s performance. He anxiously tuned into every game and watched the team win their first three matchups, which included an unexpected victory at SMU. Game four was a bigger test, a night game against Kansas State, ranked #13 in the country. Surprisingly, BYU dominated in a wild 38-9 victory.
At 4-0, sports writers began wondering if BYU might be good. The team entered the national spotlight with a #22 ranking. And the winning streak continued. Mark stayed up late anxiously watching ESPN as BYU squeaked through one close game after another. He tried to explain to Henrietta how magical the season was. “In the past, they would have lost games like this. But they keep coming from behind and finding ways to win.”
With three-quarters of the season over, BYU had reached a record of 9-0 and was ranked #7 in the country. Experts began predicting bowl matchups and BYU was supposedly headed to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta as part of the College Football Playoff. Mark made the mistake of explaining this to Henrietta.
“You’re saying BYU’s going to play right down the road from us in Atlanta?”
“It’s just a projection at this point.”
“And we’ll be flying to San Antonio to watch some random teams play.”
“Don’t worry. The Peach Bowl thing is a longshot. I’m sure they’ll lose a couple of games and end up in the Alamo Bowl.”
In reality, he was not sure at all. The team was playing like they were destined to go undefeated, leaping right past the Alamo Bowl on their way to a National Championship. As he watched the last three games, for the first time in his life, Mark tried rooting for BYU to lose. But for a true fan, that was as hard as trying not to breathe. Instead of sincerely hoping for a loss, Mark found himself feeling indifferent about the outcome. If the team won the rest of their games and went on to greater glory, he would be happy. If they slipped up a little and ended up in San Antonio, he would be happy too. The Alamo Bowl tickets were like an insurance policy against disappointment.
As Mark flippantly predicted to Henrietta, BYU did have a couple of losses still in them. They finished 10-2 for the regular season. Most of their fans felt let down, but not Mark. At the beginning of December, an official invitation was issued for BYU to play in the Alamo Bowl. Up to that point, Mark had kept his ticket purchase secret from everyone but his wife. Now he printed out receipts showing when they were purchased so he could prove his prognostication powers to anyone willing to listen.
“It was the first time I’ve gambled on anything,” Mark told his friends and coworkers. “Boy, did it pay off.”
The University of Colorado was chosen as BYU’s opponent in the Alamo Bowl. Coached by Deion Sanders and featuring newly selected Heisman winner, Travis Hunter, Colorado’s participation instantly elevated interest in the game. Game and plane ticket prices soared. Lucky for Mark and his little family, they had planned way ahead and paid a fraction of the price demanded of less visionary fans.
When he got to San Antonio, Mark was happy to see so many BYU supporters dressed in blue, although they were outnumbered 2 to 1 by Colorado fans. As the game started, Mark had the sinking feeling Colorado might win in a blowout. He told himself that the result did not matter and his greatest satisfaction had already been met. As the game went on, his premonition proved entirely wrong. The game was a blowout, but in BYU’s favor. They dominated from start to finish, wining 36-14 in front of a TV audience of 8 million people and a sold-out stadium. It was the most glorious sporting event Mark had ever seen and he and his family were some of the last fans to leave the Alamo Dome.
“What’s next? Where’s BYU going next year so I can plan my trip?” the person sitting next to him in the stands asked after Mark told him the story of how he got there.
“I have no idea,” Mark replied with a laugh. “I’m afraid I used up all my prediction power on this one. But it was nice to be bold and right. For once.”
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