Students react to Super Bowl 51

James Whitley, Reporter

AACC students witnessed a historic Super Bowl Feb. 5 and were surprised with the outcome of the game.

The New England Patriots came back from a 25-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime, the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, and also the first Super Bowl game to go into overtime.

In an informal poll of 10 students, six said the Falcons were going to win at halftime.

Keshawn Chambers, a sophomore electrical engineering major, said the Patriots were relentless.

“I thought the Falcons had it,” Chambers said. “[Falcons] played hard but the Patriots never gave up, even down by 25 points.”

Andrew Belb, a sophomore business administration major, said people doubted the Patriots.

“I really thought the Falcons were going to win,” Belb said. “But I think everyone counted [the Patriots] out and you can’t make generalizations about that team.”

Skylar Marks, a junior engineering major, said this was the most exciting Super Bowl of all time.

“With what the Patriots went through to win, that game was unbelievable,” Marks said.

Eight students of the 10 students in the poll also said they enjoyed this year’s Super Bowl commercials, while some said this year’s commercials were very political. Some of those commercials featured companies including 84 Lumber and Budweiser.

The commercials were reacting to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from predominantly Muslim countries.

Dr. Matthew Yeazel, a faculty member in the Psychology department, said the advertisers have done a great job of appealing to an audience that doesn’t watch football.

“The excitement is not only on the football field, it’s what funny commercial is going to come on next,” Yeazel said.
Yeazel also said the Super Bowl halftime show appeals to the same audience that are mostly interested in watching the commercials.

Two of the 10 students said the rap group Migos, a rap group based in Atlanta, should have performed at the Super Bowl halftime show over Lady Gaga.