Favorite Rentschler Memories

[J187Money]

Bringing my dad in the early days of the Rent...

 

[Carl Spackler]

There are so many personal stories I'm sure we all have. For football, for me, to date - it's the Kendall Reyes turnover return against Cincinnati in 2010. I remember writing a lot about it. That play struck me HUGE, and unfortunately, minus a couple of miniscule flashes since in the past 5 years, and very infrequently in the last 2 years - there hasn't yet been another one to come close.

It struck me, because about 8 years prior - we were a 1-AA team in transition and matched up with #1 ranked Miami in the orange bowl. We competed that night, as we ALWAYS did, minus large portions of the 2013 season and last year's Cincinnati game, but were so physically outmatched the game was never in doubt. At one point, Vince Wilfork blew through the line on the snap and strip sacked Dan Orlovsky, and the other DT - don't remember the name now, picked up the ball. 300+ lb DT for Miami, picked up the ball somewhere around midfield. THe sack was so quick, that pretty much all 22 were within 5-10 yards at most of scrimmage. It was a sprint to the endzone, and we had a couple of backs, and WR's that tried to catch that DT. By the 20-15-10-5-endzone - the 300lb+ Miami DT was outrunning our skill players in a flat out sprint and was pulling away. That single DT was faster than any player we had on offense. We ahd a long way to go.

THen Kendall Reyes, did the same thing to the entire Cincinnati offense in 2010. For me, we had arrived - finally. It's been a fall since, but I hope to see it get back on track again next week.

 

[UConn9604]

There are so many personal stories I'm sure we all have. For football, for me, to date - it's the Kendall Reyes turnover return against Cincinnati in 2010. I remember writing a lot about it. That play struck me HUGE, and unfortunately, minus a couple of miniscule flashes since in the past 5 years, and very infrequently in the last 2 years - there hasn't yet been another one to come close.

It struck me, because about 8 years prior - we were a 1-AA team in transition and matched up with #1 ranked Miami in the orange bowl. We competed that night, as we ALWAYS did, minus large portions of the 2013 season and last year's Cincinnati game, but were so physically outmatched the game was never in doubt. At one point, Vince Wilfork blew through the line on the snap and strip sacked Dan Orlovsky, and the other DT - don't remember the name now, picked up the ball. 300+ lb DT for Miami, picked up the ball somewhere around midfield. THe sack was so quick, that pretty much all 22 were within 5-10 yards at most of scrimmage. It was a sprint to the endzone, and we had a couple of backs, and WR's that tried to catch that DT. By the 20-15-10-5-endzone - the 300lb+ Miami DT was outrunning our skill players in a flat out sprint and was pulling away. That single DT was faster than any player we had on offense. We ahd a long way to go.

THen Kendall Reyes, did the same thing to the entire Cincinnati offense in 2010. For me, we had arrived - finally. It's been a fall since, but I hope to see it get back on track again next week.

I was at both games. You're right.

 

[SAMCRO]

For whatever reason mine all tie back t beating Pitt in various games... and I'm generally pretty indifferent about Pitt.... the first Thursday night ESPN game at the Rent in our first year in the BE, Palko unable to call a play deep in the student section, the often mentioned 2OT win, going for it on 4th and 3 inside our own 30 late in the 4th quarter.

 

[Jax Husky]

Nice thread. Lots of good memories from Rent past. Here are mine in no particular order of favorites:


- Pitt game in 2004 (?) that they couldn't run a single series without a false start penalty for crowd noise. Pretty certain Tyler Palko threw a pick 6 but don't remember on account of being blackout drunk. Bonus: a few drunk girls were sitting in the row in front of us and I'm fairly certain that every guy in our group got to feel up one of them (do you like my new ?!);

Yes, 2nd season of the Rent and our first Big East win at home Thursday night game. We created a couple false starts in a row at a critical juncture in the 3rd. Loudest I've heard the place.

What I would give to see a quote like this again:

QB Tyler Palko:Obviously, they got pressure with four down linemen and when you do that, it’s tough because you can’t keep any more players in to block. We’ll have to see what happens on tape, see the mistakes that were made and move on from here. Our guys were fighting, they’ll continue to keep fighting and you won’t hear me say a bad word about them. We need to get better, including myself. You have to look at this as a learning experience.

We didn’t have good field position for a lot of the game. So, you have to deal with their crowd and they did a tremendous job when we were backed up in the student section. All night it was hard to hear. They were doing some things defensively that aided that. When it’s loud like that, there’s still no excuse for missing the snap count.

 

[John]

First Big East game vs Pitt - night game, full house, electric crowd. Went with my Dad that night and had goosebumps for much of the game. All I could keep thinking is "holy sheet, we've arrived".

Now I'm not so sure of that. .....great memories, but it's sad to look back considering where things are now.

 

[FartMan69]

"Fair Catch" game Vs. the Fightin' Brian Brohms.
Was pretty much a bball only fan until a buddy of mine got us 50 yard line seats behind the L'ville bench, pouring rain only added to the awesome atmosphere and seeing the emotion of the game made me a full on football fan too.

 

[Jax Husky]

For a nice walk down memory lane, check out the "Releases" from the various seasons in the link below:

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/conn-m-footbl-archive.html

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The 2003 Rutgers game had a really cool moment on the sidelines. 3 of Rutgers male cheerleaders and 3 of UConn's male cheerleaders got in front of our section and each held up a female cheerleader on 1 arm in a contest to see who could go longest. I don't remember who gave up first, but it came down to 2 UConn and 1 Rutgers male cheerleaders each holding up a girl. The Rutgers cheerleader looked like he was made out of concrete, and ultimately won after what seemed like forever, and all 12 of them got a standing ovation from the section when it was over. It was even more impressive because the wind chill made it feel like it was 20 degrees that day.

There were three straight monsoon home games in 2007, with USF being the monsooniest. I was drenched to the bone that day.

Larry Taylor's Fair Catch happened right in front of me, and I turned to the people sitting next to me and asked them if you were allowed to call for a fair catch and then run with it, because I had never seen someone do that before. No one around me knew the answer, but it didn't matter as LT was scampering into the end zone without any yellow laundry on the ground.

In the other direction, the holding call in the end zone against UNC in 2009 made me angrier than I have been after a game at Rentschler before or since.

 

[Bonehead]

Baylor - Back and forth - great game.

 

[Excalibur]

I was at a wedding during the Pitt game in 2006, so the 2007 USF game gets my vote. Before the final play, during a timeout, the place was dead quiet -- just a ton of nervous energy but no noise at all. As the team broke from the sideline Edsall suddenly turned and did a full sprint towards the student section waving his arms up in the air. The whole place suddenly went crazy, Grothe got stuffed on a naked boot, and we had our first storming of the field.

Second for me was the 2003 RU game. When Keron Henry came down with the ball and broke free to the end zone, running right toward me, it was the first time that it got so loud you couldn't hear anything.

 

[Jerry27]

All the memories from the very first game, interrupting my anniversary vacation to get to the game against Duke, the Pitt OT game, Michigan in our house, but most of all after every touchdown I used to lift my daughter up who was dressed up as a cheerleader facing the crowd behind us and she held up #1 with each hand, sadly she's ten now and I think last year was it for that little tradition!

Edit: guess she had #2's up in that picture!

 

[Dove]

The USF game for sure. Wasn't it pouring rain that game?

And there was a Matt Nuzie end-game chip shot fail that lost a game. Still never saw a kick bend like that before.

 

[huskypantz]

1. 2007 USF - rushing the field at the end (me included)
2. 2006 Pitt OT game
3. 2004 Pitt, best-tailgate-ever
4. 2008 Cincy
5. 2003 Indiana
6. 2008 UVA first half
7. 2010 WVU win

 

[UConn9604]

Kudos to the OP for lighting this fire. I can't wait for Thursday.

 

[SubbaBub]

Is this the thread that represents the tiny plant from WALL-E?

Is it full speed toward home or do we climb back into our floating recliners?

 

[MilliniumPrince]

2007 USF
2006 Pitt
2010 WVU
Michigan Game
The Beat down on Rutty the year they had a shot at the BCS
LVille....Larry Taylor

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

My Top Five Moments at The Rent:

1. 2007 USF (the end of game field rush was insane, and I'll never forget the look the security and ushers had at the end when people started jumping the wall down onto the field.)
2. 2010 Cincy (I'll never forget at the end of that game with the crowd all chanting "B-C-S" walking out of the stadium.)
3. 2013 Michigan (it was our version of Mystery Alaska- sub the Wolverines for the NY Rangers, or at least that's what it felt like)
4. 2014 Stony Brook (I was so pumped for the start to last season, and the beginning of the Diaco era)
5. 2006 Pitt (...me and my Dad's first game together at The Rent)

 

[UConnTrumbull]

12/5/15: UConn wins inaugural AAC championship game
12/6/15: UConn invited to Big Ten conference

 

[MilliniumPrince]

How did I forget Cinco 2010? The BCS Chant was great!

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

How did I forget Cinco 2010? The BCS Chant was great!

Glad someone else remembers this!

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

12/5/15: UConn wins inaugural AAC championship game
12/6/15: UConn invited to Big Ten conference

+ 1,000,000

 

[Ldandy]

Which year had the game where UCONN went for it on 4th Down inside its own 4o against Pitt? I became an honorary UCONN Fan watching The Panturds go down that night. I hope to get a chance to visit your stadium as part of a game between our schools. I'll bring The Yuengling and kielbasi.

 

[rich1122]

I have been to every home game except 1 in think. Teggart in the snow 2009. Unreal to stay till the end. Tailgating in the snow was just great.

 

[Milo65]

2007 vs #11 USF - late goal line stand to seal the win, rushing the field. My friend picked up tickets in the family section, had to sneak brews in the entire night.