Plenty of fans were especially excited to welcome college football back at full throat, and it showed.

ESPN analyst and SEC Network host Paul Finebaum recapped the weekend during his regular segment on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX in Birmingham, Alabama. For Finebaum, it goes beyond the stadiums and the scoreboards as he offered a historic perspective.

“As far as an opening weekend, Cole, there’s no getting around it,” Finebaum said. “You think back to 20 years ago this coming weekend and the return after 9/11. That was a different type of emotion. I don’t want to be a guy who dismisses the fact that a lot of people are still suffering, but it felt real, and you saw it in the 2 stadiums you were in. I experienced it just being at the Alabama game. It was spectacular. I just think back to a year ago this Labor Day. We were still 3 weeks away from the first college game in the SEC and we weren’t even sure that would happen.”