Sooie! Alabama students eat BBQ for grades

The group had a few places in mind, but they also created a Facebook group and took suggestions for other stops. They were soon overwhelmed with hundreds of recommendations, many from complete strangers.

"That's how we knew we were on to something, when we threw out the idea and were just covered up with recommendations," said Lee, who designed the Web site.

An exercise in writing
The point of the endeavor, at least academically, was for the students to develop their writing, and they say that their storytelling and descriptive skills have improved as a result. Richey said he learned that it wasn't enough just to say a restaurant's barbecue sauce tasted good. "You have to describe it, say it's sweet as molasses or spicy hot."

At Mozer's urging, they also expanded their focus beyond what was on the plate, capturing the uniqueness of a place like Dreamland, with concrete floors painted crimson, bare light bulbs and walls covered with old license plates and autographed photos of football players.

Vaughan swept through each restaurant taking photos, Richey edited video for YouTube and Foster did most of the blogging.

"They've really put a lot of effort into it," said Mozer. "They're all focused on improving their writing; that's one thing I heard from all of them."

The barbecue guys had few problems along the way. Birmingham-Southern gave them a $700 grant for gasoline, and most nights they slept with friends or relatives.

The trip wasn't without snags, though: Lee got food poisoning after a stop in Raleigh, N.C., but he remained on the trip.

"Two days later I was eating pork again," he said.

Foster's pants are fitting a little tighter — he thinks he gained as many as 7 pounds — but it was worth it.

"We actually calculated that my GPA is going to go over 3.0 because of barbecue if I make an A," said Foster, a junior majoring in business administration. "Who'd have ever thought it?"

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