Fans

[UConn07]

It needs to be said...

Notre Dame/Stanford - overtime - place is rocking.

UConn/Temple - overtime - after a missed FG told me all i need to know about the UConn fan base. Completely dead - i was screaming at people in sec 202 that the players deserve better, the players deserve our support. It's bad that the only response I got was from a Temple fan after the game that said, 'our fans are the same way.'

It's sad - they deserve more...

 

[Adios]

Notre Dame fans have been waiting for a long time to rise back up. We just started at this level. So far so, so good. Except for the PP hire. Temple fans, on the other hand, have been suffering for a VERY long time.

 

[ZooCougar]

In '06 we had a pretty big OT win against Pitt at home. The crowd was pretty loud. Back then there was still some hope and the team was quite obviously too young an inexperienced to win more games that it lost. I think people realized that.

I don't know if our fans are apathetic, I think they are just weary. We have been offensively challenged for quite some time and fans probably thought that the team and coaches pissed the game away.

 

[UConn07]

In '06 we had a pretty big OT win against Pitt at home. The crowd was pretty loud. Back then there was still some hope and the team was quite obviously too young an inexperienced to win more games that it lost. I think people realized that.

I don't know if our fans are apathetic, I think they are just weary. We have been offensively challenged for quite some time and fans probably thought that the team and coaches pissed the game away.

Whether its a game we should win or not, game on the line in OT - when there isn't a home field advantage with the game on the line, something is wrong with people.

 

[coachcap]

The general feeling in Section 103 was that the game NEVER should have come to overtime & the fans were numb over what they had just witnessed. With plain eyes you could tell which team had momentum & which one couldn't get off of the field soon enough.

 

[UConn07]

The general feeling in Section 103 was that the game NEVER should have come to overtime & the fans were numb over what they had just witnessed. With plain eyes you could tell which team had momentum & which one couldn't get off of the field soon enough.

Coach - agreed, when Temple tied it, all you had to do was look at the body language of both teams. THAT is when the team needs the fans the most, not the fans sulking and crying in their soup about what just happened. Game was still winnable and the fans quit on the team.

 

[ZooCougar]

The general feeling in Section 103 was that the game NEVER should have come to overtime & the fans were numb over what they had just witnessed. With plain eyes you could tell which team had momentum & which one couldn't get off of the field soon enough.

Yeah, exactly. They were weary. On Saturday we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

-Bad offense
-Head coach is less articulate than mushroom
-Team hasn't won two games in a row in forever

What was funny was the TV guys were carping about how Temple had never won two BE games in row before.

Coach Ozymandias hasn't won any two games in a row since he started haunting our sideline.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

APATHY

that is all

 

[UConn4ever]

I was standing in 229 in overtime and was told numerous times to sit down

 

[CTMike]

It needs to be said...

Notre Dame/Stanford - overtime - place is rocking.

UConn/Temple - overtime - after a missed FG told me all i need to know about the UConn fan base. Completely dead - i was screaming at people in sec 202 that the players deserve better, the players deserve our support. It's bad that the only response I got was from a Temple fan after the game that said, 'our fans are the same way.'

It's sad - they deserve more...

You can pretend that our fans should be as interested as two long established, successful programs engaged in an exciting back and forth- but you are kidding yourself. UConn versus Temple is a far cry, especially as P has sucked the life out of the program and fans. Did you notice how fans were interested in the 1st quarter when we actually showed some life? Notice how they weren't when we lifted off the throttle? Me leaving with 5 minutes left in the 4th wasn't a comment on the players. They DO deserve more- more competent coaching.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Why are you surprised. UCONNs fanbase for football consists of the diehards (like us on this board) and about another 25k fairweather fans that go to the games to drink in the parking lot and attend the game when they get to it. Then they leave early.

UCONN is not Michigan I dare say we are not Rutgers fanbase wise.

A 7 loss last season followed by this crappy stretch we are in the middle of is going to test who is in and who is out.

You will see a lot of empty seats the last 2 games if this doesn't turn around.

Uconns fanbase is made up mostly of people who are with the team win or tie(again except the diehards).
I had a guy in my section who left a game last year because he said he wanted to go watch Florida play (so there you go).

 

[sanchez42885]

Fans had nothing to do with the loss- hell that was the fullest the stadium has been all season. First quarter was great- then the wheels fell off. Whether we were loud or not wouldn't have impacted the outcome of this game. Poor FG kicking, play, and coaching lost this game.

I'm a diehard, have had season tickets since the Rent opened, go to 1-2 road games every season including every bowl game and i'm even becoming apathetic because of the play on the field. I'll never stop attending home games and screaming my head off but I canceled plans to go to the Cuse game Friday and will watch from home and save myself the drive. The only way i'm spending any more money on this season is if we somehow miraculously rally for a Pinstripe Bowl bid. If the core of the fanbase is becoming apathetic due to poor play what do you think the rest of the fans think?

 

[uchusky32]

There was a reason the fans were quiet in overtime. 14 pts all scored in the 1st period. 3 missed fgs in regulation. A coaching staff that took the air out of the ball in the 2nd half. Your at home and again you play not to lose. I've been to 2 games Temple and Maryland (live in Maryland) was in total shock that this was a close game it shouldn't have been. The team mentally isn't ready to play for most of the season and that falls on the coaches. Were I was sitting we were pissed and the only reason we were quiet was out of respect for the players. Because we wanted to boo the coaches but.

 

[Stinger92860]

I was standing in 229 in overtime and was told numerous times to sit down

well u are 7'1".......

 

[phillionaire]

the fans aren't the ones making horrible play calls. the fans aren't the ones not executing. the fans aren't the ones that missed 4 field goals.

 

[huskymedic]

A coaching staff that took the air out of the ball in the 2nd half. Your at home and again you play not to lose.

I believe we passed (or attempted to pass) more in the second half than we did in first half. CW also got sacked on 3 of the first 4 possesions of 2nd half.

 

[Husky25]

Does anyone know the policy of the bus carrying students to/from the game? I am particularly interested in if the students, as a whole, leave the stadium under their own valition or if the buses leave the parking lot at a certain time (i.e. 3 hours after kick off), thereby forcing evacuation the student section?

If it is the former, the actions of 18-21 year olds should be all you need to know about the quality of the product on the field and if a change of some kind is needed. At the end of the day, they are as casual a fan as (maybe moreso than) anyone. The prospect of tailgating and having a few pops on Saturday mornings gets them into the parking lot and initially through the gate, but the product is what keeps them in the stadium. Winning keeps them coming back and consistent winning builds a fan base. However there is also something to be said for style points too. It seems the program needs to find a way to entertain the students enough to push back the consumption of their first post-attendence beverage to post-game...and for those that don't take the bus, what else do they have to do later on in the day besides further consumption? Just a thought...

 

[UCFBfan]

I was wondering the same thing about the student buses.

As for the fans leaving, did anyone who didn't go to the game catch any of Michigan St - Iowa game? If you did, did anyone notice the stadium and how empty it was? The weather was crappy but it was half full, if that. By OT it looked even emptier. We're talking two major programs playing and an empty stadium. So maybe this isn't totally empathy related and instead maybe it's just not becoming financially possible for a lot of people to go to the game? I don't know the answer and I know that tix to a B1G are much more expensive than UConn tix but I think there's a growing number of programs that are experiencing lower attendance numbers. It's easy to see at all levels. If anyone watches NFL RedZone on Sundays you can see empty NFL stadiums as well. Just some random thoughts but it all leads to the fact that if the product is not exciting, you're not going to get fans in there.

 

[Adios]

Way before the Big 12 schools were winning national championships, their attendance numbers were horrible. Even when they were highly ranked. That was before the 1950s. Oklahoma won their first national title in 1950.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Sooners_football,_1930–1939

Notice their attendance numbers even when they were ranked. This is back when Oklahoma and Nebraska were in a conference called the Big 6. The Big 8 was neat. Too bad Texas had to screw up that conference. Oklahoma had 2.3 million people by 1940.

 

[Adios]

I was standing in 229 in overtime and was told numerous times to sit down

Those ushers are power tripping.

 

[HuskyNan]

Ever been to a UConn basketball game, either men's or women's team? The crowd starts to leave with 7 minutes left in a game even when the score is close. Same crowd, I guess.

 

[Adios]

Ever been to a UConn basketball game, either men's or women's team? The crowd starts to leave with 7 minutes left in a game even when the score is close. Same crowd, I guess.

It is. I stick around for the whole game at every game. I don't even care if it's Little League baseball.

 

[coachcap]

About the student buses. They will start back to campus as soon as they fill up. If kids leave at halftime & get on the buses, they head back to Storrs. The University should change this & state that no bus will leave until after game completion. I cut the students some slack on Saturday because it WAS homecoming & there may have been some on-campus festivities that they wanted to attend. (such as a concert at Jorgenson that might start at 7 P.M.)

 

[jdb50]

Saw many empty buses leaving as we left after staying to the end. Since the students were long gone I assumed they had all left to party in the Red lots and were catching their own rides back. Buses leaving right after halftime for campus would be nuts. I guess you can't keep them prisoner though.

 

[UConnJim]

For the short time that UConn has played major college football, we are doing well from a fan base standpoint. If you graduated UConn 10 years ago or more, there was no tradition of attending the football games or the Rent. Yet, we had 37k tickets sold for Temple during a depressing season. To me, that is amazing.

Plus, there will be a memorable season or 2 in the future that excites all of us and increases the fan base. The Fiesta Bowl was great, but it wasn't a magical season until the second half, so it kind of snuck up on everyone.

The real question: Is PP the coach to bring winning and excitement to UConn football? My view is no and we need to make a change at the end of the season.

UConn is doing a great job developing a football fan base, but it's going to take another 10 to 20 years to get 50k+ to games (which will happen).