2016 UConn Football Gameday Changes | Page 2 | The Boneyard

2016 UConn Football Gameday Changes

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More changes outlined in the bottom of this release: The Two-Week Countdown Is On!

Benedict announced that UConn students will now receive free bus transportation to and from campus for UConn football games, instead of having to pay for it. For those students who wish to drive, there will now be a special student tailgating lot at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field at a special rate. All UConn freshmen will receive a game ticket to the September 1 opener vs. Maine. There will be a free tailgate for all UConn students prior to the Maine game, featuring Bear's Smokehouse Barbeque.

Fans will see a difference in the video and ribbon boards at the stadium this year. There is a new layout for the video board, which can be seen above, that makes critical game information as score, time, down and distance and game stats easier to read. Those same types of improvements will be made on the ribbon boards as well.

The game presentation will have a better flow with a large reduction in the number of public address reads and on-field presentations. Instead, there will be more of an emphasis on music - by both the UConn Marching Band and loud, exciting piped-in songs. The break between the third and fourth quarter will be an exciting time with the UConn Drumline getting the crowd ready for the last period along with more piped-in music.
 
huskies14 said:
More changes outlined in the bottom of this release: The Two-Week Countdown Is On!

Benedict announced that UConn students will now receive free bus transportation to and from campus for UConn football games, instead of having to pay for it. For those students who wish to drive, there will now be a special student tailgating lot at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field at a special rate. All UConn freshmen will receive a game ticket to the September 1 opener vs. Maine. There will be a free tailgate for all UConn students prior to the Maine game, featuring Bear's Smokehouse Barbeque.

Fans will see a difference in the video and ribbon boards at the stadium this year. There is a new layout for the video board, which can be seen above, that makes critical game information as score, time, down and distance and game stats easier to read. Those same types of improvements will be made on the ribbon boards as well.

The game presentation will have a better flow with a large reduction in the number of public address reads and on-field presentations. Instead, there will be more of an emphasis on music - by both the UConn Marching Band and loud, exciting piped-in songs. The break between the third and fourth quarter will be an exciting time with the UConn Drumline getting the crowd ready for the last period along with more piped-in music.
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Oh so it is just the Maine game for free freshman tix?
 
Drew said:
For those with no twitter, a recap:

tailgating hours now extended from 4 hours before to 5 hours before the game. I wonder if this means season ticket holders get 6 hours to tailgate?

shuttles for students to/from campus are now FREE (thank the Lord)

ALL incoming freshmen get free tickets to the football games (another great move)

Concession prices for hot dogs and waters have been moved from $5 ea to $3 ea -- noted it was too high in price for a college game

Students can drive to The Rent and park there at a reduced rate-- next to the shuttles so all students are in one area

Be in your seats for kickoff


Man this guy just gets it. Having a football focused AD is going to do wonders for this program. I hope this leads to more crowds not just now but in the future too as these kids get older.
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So Warde wasn't a football guy? What did I miss?
 
CTMike said:
Free Bears!!
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Say what?​
 
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uconnfan68 said:
So Warde wasn't a football guy? What did I miss?
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Warde absolutely was a football guy. My comment has nothing to do with him.
 
CTMike said:
Full comments on changes here :
Benedict on Game Day & Big 12 – This is UConn Country
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The highlights for me:

On Parking: "We want all of those lots full so that the lots that are closest, people can park in so they don't have to walk as far. That seems pretty logical, but it's not something that we had been doing previously, but we are going to be doing that this year. We know that based on what our season ticket numbers are, we have x number of spaces in those lots and they aren't going to be full and if we block them off only to those season ticket holders, we are going to have half empty lots in some of them. So we are going to open those up, which I think the CRDA is happy about and LAZ parking, our good partners, they are going to do a great job with that. "

On Scoreboard: "It's amazing how much feedback I got about, 'hey, the board is very complicated to read, you really can't see the down and distance, so I'm going to tweet out the new layout, which will make it much easier for our fans." (This was always a problem for us in 214.)

On On-Field Promotions: "We had 90 promotional reads last year. We are cutting those in half to 45 and will look to reduce those even further during games. The majority will take place prior to the game or in between quarters. We do not want to ruin the flow or the momentum of the game and take away from what is going on down on the field. "

On Additional In-Game Interruptions: "Another thing we did a lot a year ago were on field recognitions. We had 23 last year during just 6 games, which was really overboard. We will limit that to no more than 13 this year over seven games and most of those will be to honor military personnel, who really deserve the recognition. The point is we want to limit the amount of interruptions throughout the game."

On Free Tix For Freshmen: "Working with all the good people in student services, we are going to basically make the first home game part of that orientation week, so while I want to say it's not a requirement, we are going to pitch it that this is part of your orientation and all freshman should take part in their first college football game on campus. So we are going to give all the freshman free tickets."

On Keeping Students Until 4th Quarter: "We are going to do something new this year and in between the third and fourth quarters, we are going to start in with the band and they are going to have a chance to play and then we are going to go into the drum line and they are going to have a minute and a half to do a routine that I think will really get people fired up. At that point in time we are going to turn it over to some type of music for the students to really get going. There are some great examples of this, probably the best one I've ever seen is at Wisconsin, they play the 'Jump Around' song, so they play that and the whole end zone starts shaking"

And then some no-commenting on the B12.
 
"We want to have an environment that flows," Benedict said. "We had 90 promotional reads last year. We are cutting those in half to 45 and will look to reduce those even further during games. The majority will take place prior to the game or in between quarters. We do not want to ruin the flow or the momentum of the game and take away from what is going on down on the field. I've also heard about the great band that we have and am looking forward to seeing them and we will showcase them a lot more. We will be utilizing them to keep the momentum of the game moving. Another thing we did a lot a year ago were on field recognitions. We had 23 last year during just 6 games, which was really overboard. We will limit that to no more than 13 this year over seven games and most of those will be to honor military personnel, who really deserve the recognition. The point is we want to limit the amount of interruptions throughout the game."

THANK YOU Mr. Benedict!
 
Man, Benedict is killing it. Honestly, I'll still love him regardless of what happens in CR. Also, regarding his mention of Wisconsin's Jump Around at the start of the 4th and wanting to create a similar tradition, that's a great idea. I'd personally love to have Let Me Clear My Throat become the song...old school but has a lot of call and response in the song to get the crowd involved and making noise
 
uconnphil2016 said:
Man, Benedict is killing it. Honestly, I'll still love him regardless of what happens in CR. Also, regarding his mention of Wisconsin's Jump Around at the start of the 4th and wanting to create a similar tradition, that's a great idea. I'd personally love to have Let Me Clear My Throat become the song...old school but has a lot of call and response in the song to get the crowd involved and making noise
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So much yes to this......
 
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Football Game Day Changes And Enhancements Announced

Lot of info here about the "new stuff" in the link including...

New Student Loyalty Platform -- Husky Trax
This season, students can swipe their ID at the marketing kiosk at Gate C during every home game to collect points and earn rewards. Student loyalty rewards will be awarded game-by-game and over the course of the season.

Similar Program was in place @ Auburn.
 
Every year we bring in stadium seats with arms. Last year during the season, one time only, at gate b, we were not allowed to bring them in, so we went to the next gate and no problem. I would hate to walk all the way to the gate only to be told not allowed. So what I would like to know are they allowed or not, and who do we contact to find out.
 
uconnell said:
Every year we bring in stadium seats with arms. Last year during the season, one time only, at gate b, we were not allowed to bring them in, so we went to the next gate and no problem. I would hate to walk all the way to the gate only to be told not allowed. So what I would like to know are they allowed or not, and who do we contact to find out.
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First world problems, Nell. Ms. Fancy Pants has chairs WITH arms!?



I kid I kid.
 
Loving the changes, enhancements, perks, etc.

One really minor thing, can the GameDay programs include the words to the fight song and Alma Mater? Maybe include a little history & fan etiquette? For some of us noobs and the great unwashed masses, it would be a nice touch to have thousands of fans singing along with the RIGHT words, and not mumbling gibberish.
 
Waywardson said:
Loving the changes, enhancements, perks, etc.

One really minor thing, can the GameDay programs include the words to the fight song and Alma Mater? Maybe include a little history & fan etiquette? For some of us noobs and the great unwashed masses, it would be a nice touch to have thousands of fans singing along with the RIGHT words, and not mumbling gibberish.
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great first post. welcome to the board and hope you enjoy your experience at the Rent!
 
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The game day changes sound great. Anything to enhance the atmosphere and keep people coming back. I feel like a hypocrite saying that, as the last time I was at the Rent was in 06 and the last game I was able to attend was at Baylor. That being said I do what I can to watch every game even if its DVR'd. I do that at the expense of a lot of other college football action because I don't want to inadvertently catch a UConn score just cus I had 10 minutes to watch whatever game was on. Wish I was still in CT to enjoy all thats going on. Blah blah cry me a river, right?
I've always thought they should do more with actual Huskies on game day. Basic gist of my thought is, hours before game time have an interactive area set up with several Husky dogs. This could involve anything from just a fun area for kids, meet and greet, and pictures to, maybe, a dog rescue/adoption set up. I'm sure someone more creative than me could explore the possibilities on that. Then when the team is introduced have the dogs come out first either in a pack or some reasonable assimilation of a dog sled team. Any riff off that would be fine. Thoughts and criticism appreciated. Go UConn!
 
UCMB just wrapped up its practice at The Rent, broadcast on Facebook Live using its new drone, a run-through for Thursday's game. Pretty impressive.

The one scoop I heard was that after the National Anthem and the band moves to the student end of the field, Big Red will be on the video board to lead the U-C-O-N-N cheer. I hadn't heard that before but it seems like a great idea.

I wonder if the cheerleaders will continue to use the letters after UCONN scores while Big Red leads the cheer on the board. There were some times last year when a great, loud UCONN cheer could have maintained or built the crowd noise during a time out or other stoppage. Curious to see how this will work....be loud on Thursday!
 
For Waywardson and others--the alma mater and fight song. The Boneyardigan Choir will practice nightly from 7 - 8 pm so we can be ready for Gameday.


OLD CONNECTICUT
line.gif


Once more, as we gather today,
To sing our Alma Mater's praise,
And join in the fellowship strong,
Which inspires our college days.
We're backing our teams in the strife
Cheering them to victory!
And Pledge anew to old Connecticut,
Our steadfast spirit of loyalty.

(Chorus)
Connecticut, Connecticut,
Thy sons and daughters true
Unite to honor thy name,
Our fairest White and Blue.


UCONN HUSKY FIGHT SONG
line.gif


U - Conn Husky, symbol of might to the foe.
Fight, fight Connecticut, It's vict'ry, Let's go.
Connecticut U - Conn Husky,
vict'ry again for the White and Blue
So go - go - go Connecticut, Connecticut U.
C - O - N - N - E - C - T - I - C - U - T
Connecticut, Connecticut Husky, Connecticut Husky
Connecticut C - O - N - N - U! Fight!
(Repeat)

I've always sung "Do it again for the White and Blue"...is this another "there's a bathroom on the right" moment?

One of my favorite away game experiences was getting snookered on the UCONN fight song at Notre Dame. We walked around the campus before the game, talking to fans and visiting the student food sale/fundraiser tables. The guys at one table asked if we wanted to buy a hot dog from them. It was a little early, so we declined. One tempted us: "If I can sing the UCONN fight song, will you buy one?" I bit that baited hook and said of course. He sang the fight song--as a ballad--in a clear tenor voice, just breathtaking. Easiest $5 they made that day.
 
Santini35 said:
Link to the UCMB post with the drone footage, go to about 3 minutes 15 seconds from the end to hear the mention of Big Red and the new "Welcome to the Dog House" song

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Beyond pumped!
 
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Santini35 said:
Link to the UCMB post with the drone footage, go to about 3 minutes 15 seconds from the end to hear the mention of Big Red and the new "Welcome to the Dog House" song

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love this, the welcome to the dog house is awesome, deff something you can see the whole stadium "singing" to. get the whole stadium going before they come on the field would be great
 
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